The simple, inexpensive, light, and effective sports drink bottle is a long-time budget and thru-hiker favorite for water bottles. It is better known popularly as Gatorade or Powerade.
These sugary, neon-colored beverages with a touch of salt make for highly marketed beverages of debatable value for most people in all but limited circumstances.
With over 4 BILLION cases sold in 2023, call me skeptical that marketers sell that many beverages for heat-related or intense exercise situations.
But I digress.
Many backpackers, myself included, buy one of these sugary bottles of electrolyte marketing, swig it, and pocket the 1.25oz/35g bottle for their backpacking needs.
Lighter than a Nalgene, more durable than a Smart Water bottle, and the wide mouth makes it handy for gathering water: an all-purpose bottle, an excellent one for the quiver.
But in the past years, the 32 oz bottle got pinched by shrinkflation and now comes in 28 oz sizes only. Boo!
But my lovely wife came up with a solution this past year. Something equally inexpensive at ~$2, wide-mouthed, weighs 1.75 oz/ 50g, found at your finer gas stations, and, best of all, comes in at a full liter! This wonder bottle? Arizona Iced Tea!
Get that full one liter of hydration goodness back, get yourself to a Maverick gas station, and pick up an Arizona Iced tea!