Camelbak Groove: A practical lifestyle choice.
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 5:52PM 
Guitar Ted says: I received the Camelbak Groove bottle recently to test and at first was wondering exactly what I would use it for. However; since trying it, and looking into it a bit further, I realized it could become an important part of my training for longer events on the bicycle, and could be a nice addition to my travels. Here’s why....
First of all, I think it is necessary to point out what the Groove isn’t. It isn’t for your back-country, water filtration needs. That isn’t what the bottle was designed for at all. What it does do, is it filters out stuff from your tap water that you may not appreciate, like chlorine and other contaminants, for up to three months or over 300 uses. It makes your water taste better, and if your water tastes better, you’ll drink more. Being well hydrated on your biking adventures starts well before you push a pedal, so I can see where the Groove fits in that way.
But I thought about it more. Camelbak says this can replace the plastic drinking bottles you see in convenience stores, airports, and in vending machines. You know, those use-it-once-and toss-it type distilled water bottle offerings. These bottles cause more pollution and use up more petroleum products than you might think. It is a huge problem. Using a filtered water bottle, like the Groove, eliminates the need to buy these other bottled water products, since you can simply hit the restroom and fill up with tap water, which the Groove can filter and make to taste great. You save hundreds of dollars and keep the Earth cleaner. What’s not to like?
Well, you might not like the Groove if it didn’t work, but the thing does work, and it works quite nicely, thank you! My entire family took to the thing straight away. Even my children thought the bottle was fun to use, and they have been drinking more water since the Groove hit our doorstep. It is handy as well, with the little handle on top which makes it easy to grab as you are headed out the door. It fits into car cup holders well, and since it doesn’t seem to leak from the top, and it has a close-able nipple, I can see tossing it into a bag of athletic equipment when you head to an event, or to the gym.
While the Groove does life-style well, and certainly can go with you on your walks and hikes, it doesn’t fit into my bottle cages on my bicycles, so it doesn’t work there for me, (but the Podium Chill Bottles do, and those are pretty nice “on-the-bike” bottles by Camelbak), so your filtered water needs will have to be met in another way for those activities. Otherwise, I would highly recommend the Groove bottle as a great way to rid yourself of the plastic distilled water bottle habit. It makes water taste great, and makes it easy to have filtered water with you most anywhere, so you can drink tap water and save money.
Grannygear says: My wife is a water snob. Tap water? Hardly. Filtered water from one of those kitchen sink pitcher things? Nope. So she really likes bottled water. However, to me, bottled water represents a practical example of our cultures wasteful and disposable habits, not to mention the ridiculous cost of buying water in a pre-packaged container. So here we are at an impasse...my wife wants her water to taste better and I want her to drink from a readily available source. Enter into the grannygear household a sample of the Camelbak Groove. I realized that here I had, in my very family, the perfect tester. She was active, always on the go with her business as a Pet Sitter/Dog Trainer, as well as heading to the gym or off on a bike ride. She was picky. She was honest. If it did not work, she would not pull any punches.
After many weeks of filling, sipping, and generally dragging the Groove along with her busy schedule, she is a fan. She has been filling it straight from the tap wherever she is and the taste has been pleasing. It has not leaked, has been easy to carry, etc. So it is a win all around. She is drinking more water since it now tastes good and I am not being repulsed by the empty water bottles being dropped into the recycling bin.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
And, to encourage our readers to get a Camelbak Groove into their hands, we are running a contest. Along with Camelbak, we are looking to give away five of the .6L Groove bottles and here is how it will work. We ask you to comment on this post and supply us with an answer to one of these five questions:
- Where would I fill my Camelbak Groove from? What water source?
- What does my CamelBak® Groove™ Portable Filtration System reduce?
- How often should I replace the Fresh™ Filter?
- Is the CamelBak® Groove™ BPA free?
- If you used a Groove for 3 months, how many disposable water bottles could you save?
All the answers can be found on this Camelbak web page including the YouTube video linked there. Now, that is really easy, too easy, so we would also like to hear, in your words and in a couple of sentences, how having a Groove would improve, enrich, and bring meaning to your life. Make it serious, funny, or compose a poignant haiku. We, the esteemed editors of thecyclistsite will choose the top five winners based on the combination of a correct answer to any of the five questions combined with the essay answer, and they will receive a Groove shipped to them by Camelbak. We will post the winners here and have you email us with your shipping info.
Sound fun? I think so. Get to it and may the best thirsty commenter win!
admin
I hearby pronounce this contest closed! The winnahs are...
Garrett, Doub, Chad 1 and Chad 2, and Spiff. All of the reasons were good ones and you folks were fastest to the draw. I will email all of you to make sure that your emails are correct, so ping us back and we will connect you to the good folks at Camebak who will arrange the delevery of the prizes.
Best wishes and thanks for playing.
The Management.
camelbak, groove in product test
Reader Comments (7)
1. Tap water source
2. Reduces chlorine, taste, and odor of water
3. Replace filter every 300 refills
4. Yes, BPA free
5. Save 375 water bottles
I need to ween my wife from buying bottled water too!
1. fill at any tap
2. reduces chlorine, taste, & odor
3. replace filter every 300 refills/ 3 months
4. BPA free
5. Save 375 water bottles
Their regular "Better Bottles" rock - already a fan. Filtration is a nice add...
1. Fill only with potable tap water. So, safe to drink anyway, just tastes bad.
2. Reduces the taste/odor of chlorine and some other contaminants. Indirectly reduces plastic waste by providing a refillable alternative to bottled water.
3. Replace the filter every 300 refills of the bottle, or approximately 3 months of use at 3 – 4 bottle per day. Honestly, I will lose track and just change it when the water starts to taste bad.
4. Yeah, it is BPA free. Would a company like CamelBak make something that wasn't? I think not
5. Bottles I would save: 0
I should explain number 5. I don't drink bottled water. There is just too much plastic waste, and it costs more than I care to pay. I have a Brita filter at home that I fill a bottle with for the day. It lasts until about lunch, then I run out. Then between lunch time and when I leave work to go ride, I drink normal tap water (actually, I sip tap water because I need to hydrate for my ride, but it tastes too bad to drink a lot of at one time). Summer will be here soon, and I'm going to need better hydration. I really don't want to carry multiple water bottles to work...
4. Yes,the bottle and straw material is BPA free.
I would use my bottle for pretty much anywhere I go. Being a 2 time cancer survivor, I know how important it is to have a clean source of water. I currently use a regular camelbak bottle that I fill from a filtered water pitcher, as the water from my apartment has a heavy chlorine taste. But having to refill the pitcher almost every time I fill a camelbak bottle is getting kinda old.
1. Where would I fill it? From the water fountain across the hall from my office (although any tap will do)
2. What does it reduce? The slightly sulfurous taste of the water from the fountain across the hall (although it reduces chlorine, tastes, and waste too)
3. How often to replace the filter? Camelbak says every 3 months (although I'll probably procrastinate 'til it's jammed with goo)
4. Is it BPA free? Why yes, it is (I trust that's true)
5. Saves how many water bottles? 375 (if it's not, I'll sue! OK, I won't, but sometimes you have to exaggerate for a rhyme)
Save me from the noxious water fountain across the hall! It's so close, so convenient, so tempting... and yet so so gross.
1. garden hose or any tap
2. chlorine and bad taste / odour
3. 3 months
4. yes
5. 375
("supply us with an answer to _one_ of these five questions")
4. Yes
Would feel great to own the coolest, most versatile and technologically advanced water bottle that is the Groove.