Zefal 164 Water Bottle, 33 oz

I have two of these, I think. One is a Zefal-labeled one I bought on Amazon, which I'm reviewing. The other is a souvenir bottle I bought in France which looks identical except the graphics. Naturally I compared them.They're both great water bottles with one key difference. The Amazon one has a strong plastic smell inside that is still noticeable after 3 months, hundreds of miles of riding, and multiple washes with hot water, detergent, vinegar, bleach, you name it. The one I got in France doesn't have this issue. It almost makes me wonder if the Amazon one could be a fake, after all it's Amazon, where there's probably 3x more fake stuff than real stuff, but then, who fakes an $8 plastic water bottle especially from a fairly low profile (albeit well respected) brand like Zefal? And if it is, it's a very good fake.I can't taste it when it's squirting water through the nozzle, it's just a little unsettling to still get that whiff of plastic after all this time when the cap is off. I hope I'm not ingesting anything I shouldn't be...I only rank it 4 stars for easy to clean because anything this big is going to be annoying to clean. It's not Zefal's fault (or if it's a fake, then it's not the fault of the people who made the fake).

The bottle is claimed to hold 975 ml, but I found (by weighing it: 85 grams empty without the lid, 998 grams filled with water to the rim, also without the lid) that its true volume is 914 ml (if you forgot physics, 1 liter of water weighs 1 kg; 1 milliliter of water weighs 1 gram).For those who does not understand metric system, 914 ml is 30.9 fluid oz by volume. Or, if you go with same volume of water but by weight, 914 grams is 32.24 ounces by weight. Go figure. Anyhow, it looks like "33 oz" is the result of a creative way of conversion from metric to the U.S. system of units combined with "wishful thinking" rounding of numbers. You can fit into this bottle almost 33 oz of water by weight, but only about 31 fluid oz by volume. Thank the SAE system for this confusion.Aside from that, the bottles are still quite a bit larger than average, fit nicely and tightly into a bottle holder (tested with Bontrager bottle cage), and do not leak (so one can disregard reports of leaking bottles from the past model years). The visual appearance of these bottles (Zefal Magnum) is not an exact match to the appearance of bottles (Zefal Magnum) on the manufacturers web site. Last year's model? A special model for the U.S.? Hard to say. The label says "Made in France".

While I am impressed with the capacity of this bottle, the plastic taste it imparted in the water was unacceptably strong. Rinsing it several times did little to remove the taste.What worked for me was filling the bottle 98% full with very warm water, adding about 5 or 6 drops of Dawn dish soap and then shaking the bottle vigorously for a minute. I then let the water sit in the bottle for 24 hours, periodically shaking it. To let the bottle vent, I left the nozzle open except when shaking it.After 24 hours, I emptied the bottle by squirting the water out thourgh the nozzle and then I rinsed it. For good measure, I then repeated the process for another 24 hours. That pretty much removed the plastic taste and now I can enjoy the bottle on bikepacking trips. In general, this is a good bottle; the nozzle operates smoothly and I have no problems with leaks around the lid.If this trick does not work for you, you might substitute two tablespoons of baking soda or two tablespoons of vinegar in place of the Dawn.

Better than cheap giveaway bottles, these are strong and last. I had a pair that cracked when water froze and it cracked but it was 15 years old

These bottles have been out of several years. The original design was all black. The problem with the original design, as another reviewer pointed out, is that the lid was not water tight and the bottle would often leak. That one fact essentially made the original completely useless.Having heard that these were redesigned, I thought I'd give them another shot. The extra 8 ounces this gives you over the most of the other large quantity bottles is just really appealing.After tying the new design out, I can confirm what another reviewer posted in that the clear bottles definitely feature a smaller lid than the original design and are absolutely water tight, as you can see in my photo.Additionally, this bottle is likely going to be just fine in your holder, even with the additional ounces. The reason is, it's really not that much longer than typical 25 ounce bottles. It fits tightly and firmly with no wiggle.In sum, I definitely recommend the clear bottles. The black bottles look to have the original lids that leaked(though that could be an outdated photo). Unless you really have a preference for black, stick with the clear ones. If you must have black, I'd drop the seller a line and see if the lids have been updated and when the bottles were manufactured. If the bottles are anything older than 2016, buy the clear ones instead!Cheers!

I am always looking for high content bottles, 800ml or 1l, which are hard to find, and this one is perfect size.Also, being wide opening means it's easy to fill it with ice cubes, a prerequisite for me, and to wash (with a baby bottle brush).The mechanism for opening the bottle is both very easy (with teeths!), so single handedly, and leak proof.Finally, I like it being transparent, nice to see what I'm drinking and to check if it's clean.All this and very reasonably priced.

Good service

These are my go to bike bottles but I'm Throwing them away every few months as I can never quite clean in between the nipple and valve properly even with a tiny bottle brush. Other than that they are the best bottles I've used.

Exactly as it should be

I bought this mainly to take with me when playing football, but I honestly use it all the time. I’ve had it for a couple of months and there’s no foul taste or leaks.