Yeti vs Hydro Flask vs Swell: The Hunt For The Best Flask
When you are heading out on the road or spending a lot of time outdoors, it’s always nice to know you can take your favorite drink with you.
The problem is, no matter what you put it in – coffee gets cold and cold drinks get warm. And let’s face it, that kinda sucks!
Lucky for us, those days are long gone with the popularity of vacuum flasks in all shapes and sizes, specially designed to keep our drinks the temperature we want them! Both cold and hot water :>
You’ve probably seen a few around, they are usually in bright enough colors to make you want to wear sunglasses :> Well, not all of them, but a lot.
The challenge is to know which one to buy. Should you go for Yeti, S’well or Hydro Flask?
They all make top-notch products in a huge variety of shapes, sizes and colors.
But there are some key differences that are worth knowing before you make a decision!
Below is a thorough run-down of all the most important features, as well as a quick comparison table for each brand so you can see the features, sizes, shapes and colors.
Yeti Rambler Bottle, Tumbler & Lowball
S’well Water Bottle, Travel Mug & Tumbler
Hydro Flask Water Bottle, Coffee Mug & Tumbler
The Differences Between These Insulated Bottles
It’s sometimes hard to see the difference between all these brands and models, so I have broken it down by feature to help you find what you need. Yeti vs Hydroflask vs Swell.
Materials & Insulation
This one is pretty easy because they all more or less do the same thing.
Using top-grade 18/8 steel with vacuum sealed walls. None of them use BPA, which as you probably know is not that great for you.
The only real difference I have found is that S’well uses a triple-walled construction compared to only double-walled for the other two. This might result in a little more insulation, but they all promise about the same performance (if they mention it at all) – 12 hours hot, 24 hours cold.
Sizes
In general, they all offer the following three kinds of bottles:
- Bottle: Designed to carry your liquids and not specific to one purpose. Often has a screw top that takes a little more time to get off.
- Mug: More focused on the coffee drinker, but can also be used for other cold drinks. Usually comes with a flip or easy to open lid for quick drinks.
- Tumbler: Meant for more immediate drinks. Like having a cold beer or wine on the beach. They often don’t come with lids, but can be purchased separately.
Bottles:
Hydro Flask has the biggest range of sizes for their bottles with two different widths too (so people with smaller hands can also be happy). They offer anything from 12, 18, 21, 24, 32, 40, 64 oz.
Yeti only offers 18, 36 & 36 oz. Swell has slightly smaller sizes with 9, 17 & 25 oz
Mugs:
Hydro Flask & Swell have 12, 16 & 20 oz.
Yeti has no specific Mug but their tumblers and bottles can both take a different lid or cap to enable quick drinking.
Tumblers:
Hydro Flask has 22 & 32 oz.
Swell has 10 & 18 oz.
Yeti Rambler has 10, 20 & 30 oz.
Shapes – Yeti vs Hydro Flask vs Swell
Bottles:
Hydro Flask vs Yeti – they both go with a more traditional straight-edged design. This gives the best volume for the height, which in the end is what most people are looking for. Function over fashion. Of course, they do not look identical (as you can see below) but they are quite similar.
Swell has gone for a more Coca Cola style bottle with the tapered top and nice curves.
Hydro Flask Bottle
Yeti Rambler Bottle
S’well Bottle
Mugs:
Hydro Flask uses more or less the same shape as their bottles. Just with a different top.
Swell again have a more shapely bottle that is not only stylish, but easier to hold. This is of course a huge plus for these mugs as you will be quickly grabbing or holding them a lot (in the car, during a commute on the train etc).
Hydro Flask Mug
S’well Mug
Tumblers
Hydro Flask has a nice even taper to their tumblers.
Swell also has a fairly even taper, but could not help themselves but add a slight curve, their trademark it seems!
Yeti has a couple of designs – most of them the Yeti Rambler. It includes a square for the 10oz, which makes sense (like a whisky tumbler :>) and a narrower bottom portion for the 20 & 30oz, which is great for allowing people with smaller hands to keep ahold of their precious drinks on the go.
Hydro Flask Tumbler
Yeti Tumbler
S’well Tumbler
Caps & Lids
The kind of water bottle you buy is important, but perhaps even more crucial to your drinking experience is the kind of lid or cap you can get for it. After all, if you want to take a quick sip while driving but have to unscrew the cap, that just ain’t gonna happen!
So, let’s take a quick peek at the kinds of caps and lids that these guys offer with their products. Keeping in mind they are all dishwasher safe.
Yeti:
Yeti has a nice range of lids for their tumblers. Including a simple sip lid (last image below), their Magslider lid, which closes nicely with a magnet, and the lid with a straw and hole for easy drinking on the go.
Yeti Lid & Straw
Yeti Magslider Lid
Yeti Tumbler Lid
Hydro Flask:
Hydro Flask has also got you covered with their range of lids that cover their products: from the very basic (Tumbler lid), the flip lid for sippers (comes in lots of colors) and the flip-up straw for thirstier athletes or those trying to get their water allotment for the day!
Hydro Flask Tumbler Lid
Hydro Flask Coffee Flip Lid
(Various colors)
Hydro Flask Water Bottle Straw Lid
S’well:
With S’well’s focus on design, they have some nice-looking lids on their bottles. But, they don’t really cater to people’s varying drinking habits with their lids. The only lid I can find online that they sell is a sip/cover for their tumbler, which is, of course, otherwise an open container, so kinda needs a lid sometimes.
But, one area where Swell does stand out, and you will see more of that in the next section below, is their choice of colors. Their lids also come in various colors, something the others rarely offer (except Yeti’s flip lid).
Swell Color Caps
Colors & Patterns
All the brands mentioned in this post offer some stylish options when it comes to water bottles and drink containers. Gone are the days of dull plastic bottles or coffee mugs, that’s for sure.
However, there are some big differences in the range of colors Yeti, Hydro Flask and Swell have on offer. So, let’s start with the smallest range first:
Yeit Colors
Yeti:
Yeti have a decent range of about 6 colors in all their bottles, with an extra Pink color also available in the Tumbler range – the Yeti Ramler.
Here are the color names:
- Stainless Steel
- Seafoam
- Tahoe Blue
- Brick Red​​​​​
- Olive Green
- Black
Hydro Flask:
Hydro Flask guys have a slightly larger range of colors and err on the brighter side of things as well, especially with their Tumblers. Rather than list all the colors here, I will just show you their color range per category.
Hydro Flask Tumbler Colors
Hydro Flask Coffee Mug Colors
Hydro Flask Bottle Colors
S’well:
S’well have differentiated themselves from the other two brands with their shapely bottles and their huge range of colors and patterns. I am not sure I can show you them all in this review, but you can check them out on their website or Amazon. They are always updating them and adding limited-edition models with the change of season and other major yearly events.
Some examples include: Swarowski, Ochre, Shimmer, Wood, Gem, Glitter, Metalic – all names of collections (of colors)!
Lifetime Warranty?
All brands offer a decent manufacturing defect warranty. So no, you can’t just drop it and expect it to be replaced. However, if it breaks due to bad materials etc. you can claim.
Hydro Flask has a lifetime warranty.
Yeti has a 5-year warranty, so no lifetime warranty.
Swell has only a one-year limited warranty. So no lifetime warranty either!
Which Brand Is For You?
S’well is a stylish brand with nice curved bottles and an insane variety of colors, patterns, and limited edition bottles.
So, for anyone looking to make a statement, this is the brand for you!
They also have the best insulation with their triple-walled bottles, although to be honest, without any scientific tests to back it up, I don’t think it will make much of a difference.
For anyone looking for sheer size, Hydro Flask has the biggest range of sizes for their standard bottles. But, for even bigger sizes, Yeti has the half gallon and gallon sizes too.
For lid or cap options (coffee drinkers or people needing to drink more often) I would go with either the Yeti or the Hydro Flask. Their lid and cap options are just way better.
About the Author Roger Timbrook
Roger is a little obsessed with travel. He has been to over 40 countries, broken 3 suitcases and owned over 10 backpacks in 12 months. What he doesn't know about travel, ain't worth knowing!
