Thanks for tuning in this is a sweet
cyclist today we're going to be looking
at the Camelbak Podium 3.0 water
bottles so here we have the full lineup
of updated Podium 3.0 water bottles from
Camelbak these are a really popular line
of bottles that have been updated for 2019
to better fit bottle cages and also be a
lot easier to clean. Starting from the
left I have the standard Podium bottle,
these are all 21 oz by the way. On
the left is the standard version and this is
$10. Next we have the dirt version which
is $13 and with the dirt version
you have different graphics and you get
this little rubber cap here that
prevents the cap from getting dirty.
Especially if your mountain biking and you
have a down tube mount, this can prevent
all the crud from getting stuck on your
cap. Next we have they're insulated
version, this is the chill and it is the
dirt one again with the little rubber
cap, the rubber cap is easily removable
so you can convert it to a standard
version if you're doing road biking. This
is twice as insulated as the other
bottles and finally we have the big dog
the $25.00 ICE. This is four times as
insulated and uses their aerogel
technology. From the factory you get the
remove tag as well as some informational
pamphlets here that are easily removable.
As you can see it just pops off the
cap and is a lot so a lot easier to
remove. You simply have to yank it off
and you see the plastic will rip so much
better than the previous iteration. The
big thing here are the updated caps. These are
updated whether you have the dirt or non
dirt series, they use the
same caps. You can see they're locking
ring here so you can simply rotate this
and that's what they call their positive
lockout. The form factor here been
updated to have this little smaller ring
here that's designed to be optimized for
bottle cages and they also have a little
grit filter here. If I take this off
this is what I call their gunk filter
and that'll prevent any junk from
actually going through and
just allow the water to come
out from the sides. Now let's take a
second to look at the weight of the
bottles starting with the standard
Podium which is 80 grams. The dirt version
which simply adds a little rubber cap
comes in at 84, so the cap is about four
grams. The insulated chill version with
the dirt cap comes in at 114g, and then
the big ice version which is more
insulating comes in at 142. Now let's
go over the fit and finish of the
bottles. They all have the same cap and
as I mentioned the dirt series only has
the addition of this little rubber piece.
As I mentioned this is $6 separately but
only $3 more if you buy it
with the bottle. I found this to
be a little flimsy, it certainly helps to
cover it but it's not very secure once
you have it. It won't fall off but you
can see it's not very nicely designed,
it's just an add on so that's the dirt
version. What is really surprising
about the insulated bottles is that
they take up quite a bit of capacity due
to the double wall design. If you see
here these are all 21 ounces but with
the chill version, which is twice as
insulated, and you see the cap is a lot
taller as the inner diameter smaller.
Once you go to the ICE version you
can see again you lose some capacity and
as a result you get a much taller water
bottle. Aside from that, I think the most
important thing is the updated cap
design so let's go ahead pop one open
and see what it looks like. All the
caps are the same whether you get
insulated, non-insulated or dirt series.
Camelbak has updated
the form factor to
have this ring instead of the previous
ridges. I found these to be really easy
to use and they're very squeezable, not
quite as squeezable as an Elite
bottle but squeezable enough that it's
really easy to modulate. Also these caps
are interchangeable with the older
versions of the bottle so if you have an
old one you really like you can just
swap it on.
Now let's take a look at how cleanable
these, first you can
see how big the nozzle is. This is a lot
larger diameter than before,
here is the junk filter so it's a little
plastic cap. Then you have a locking
plastic ring here which comes off pretty
easily, then you have the whole jet
assembly here which is just held on.
You can pop that off,
so you can push it through and this is
really cool. In the previous version you
could definitely not do this. You won't
have to go through quite this much work
every time you want to clean your bottle
but after longer rides I would highly
recommend doing this especially if you
use a drink mixture. Lets go ahead and pop
this out, it takes some force.
With that off you can see
the cap is really easy to clean. The
ridges are all accessible. Now we have
the full jet assembly we can further
disassemble this by taking off the
o-ring, next we can actually take the
cover off the actual nozzle. This was
one big issue with the previous version
you'd get a lot of junk on the inside of
this but with this new design it's very
clean on the inside. You can simply put a
little scrubber through here and if
anything gets underneath here you can
pop this off and clean it very easily.
Here you can see everything disassembled,
it is a lot easier to clean and use.
Reassembly is very simple,
we take our o-ring and put it back on. Put
the cover of the cap again, slide that in
so this one takes quite a bit of force
to really pop it in place. Next we just
slide this through, and
compress the little tongs. Next we'll
put our little locking ring here
and then we'll put our little junk
filter back on. So you see it comes down to
a lot smaller pieces than before with a
wider nozzle a lot easier to clean.
Let's do a little comparison between the
Podium bottles and other bottles on the
market. I think for the standard Podium
the Elite FLY bottles are pretty good
comparison. This is slightly larger
version than the 21 ounce here
but you can see design-wise the Elite is
a little bit more modern and more
uniform design. The cap is flat, however
they use a much simpler cap here. This
is a bite valve instead of the jet valve
on the Camelbaks
which means it will leak if you flip it
upside down. It also means you have to
squeeze more to actually drink out of
the Elite however it's a lot more
squeezable than the Podium. Also it's a
lot lighter weight and it's also
biodegradable versus the Podium 3.0
bottle. However I really like the jet
valve on the Camelbak, it's a lot
easier to use especially on the road. If
you compare the dirt version again, just
graphics difference and the little dirt
cap here. If we go to the insulated
version I think there's a little more
interesting comparison this is the dirt
version versus the Elite ICE FLY.
These are both insulated and what you
can see here is they've actually gone a
little bit different design as far as
keeping the cap clean. I like Elite's
cap cover a little bit better here, rather than
this little flimsy rubber piece they
actually went with a full-on cover. Now
this is a little less convenient to
drink out of when you're riding you
always have to stop but that's the same
issue with the little rubber cap.
Otherwise same observations, it's
softer for the Elite, a little bit less
durable and a lot lighter. Again it
uses that same bite valve style. What's
also interesting is if I'll pop off the
dirt thing and compare this to the old
Podium bottle so you can see it's a very
well used version. The outer design here
on the previous bottles was more of
these little ridges, so it's easy to
carry and hold but now it's a lot easier
with the
smaller diameter ring. Also the big
difference here, is the cap. You can see
it's significantly larger so you get a
lot more water out of this one. If we
zoom in here you can see this has
already has a lot of crud in there, to
clean this you can only pop off the
cover and then pop out the valve but
it's a lot more inconvenient and a lot
more ridges that are difficult to access
versus the new Podium 3 so definitely a
huge improvement and a lot easier to
clean. If you have an older bottle
you can always get the cap as they're
interchangeable.
Next is the Podium ICE, this is 4
times insulating version. These are both
the 21 ounce versions, this is the old
version versus the new version. You can
see the new designs a lot cleaner, and the
graphics on this one are a little more
restrained and more modern looking.
The big difference is a cap, you
can see how tall the previous cap was
and again a lot more difficult to clean. Now
let's go over the pros and cons for the
Camelbak Podium bottles. What I really
like about the bottles are the improved
form factor, it is easier to hold and
easier to put in your cage. Also the
redesigned cap is a lot easier to clean.
It actually comes apart in more pieces
and you have less ridges to attract mold
and finally the jet valve is one of the
best parts about the Camelbak bottles.
They're no spill and very high flow. Some
of the negatives are the heavier weight
of the bottles, especially compared to
something like the Elite bottles. Also
removing the valve body does take some
force you really have to push in the
prongs to get it out. Finally
those mud caps on the dirt series
bottles don't feel very secure. I
would prefer something more secure like
the plastic cap on some other
bottles. Taking everything to account I
would give a rating of 9.2
out of 10 for the Podium 3.0 bottles.
I think they're one of the best bottles
on the market and it's great to see more
improvements from Camelbak to make them
easier to use and clean. Thanks for
watching this review, if you like the
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This is The Sweet Cyclist reminding you to
enjoy the ride!
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