Published December 13, 2017 11:00AM
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Brainy Bottle: Hydration is Going High-Tech
Yes, a $55 water bottle may seem like overkill, but the Hidrate Spark 2.0 may do more to keep you healthy than most nutrition products.
Photo: Oliver Baker
Yes, a $55 water bottle may seem like overkill, but the Hidrate Spark 2.0 may do more to keep you healthy than most nutrition products. Attached to the lid and running the length of the 24-ounce bottle is a device that not only measures how much you drink (and stores the info internally for up to two days), but also wirelessly transmits that information to your iOS or Android-equipped smart device, where you can track every sip you took. The free included app also does some impressive heavy lifting: It matches air temperature, humidity, elevation, body type, and level of activity (it also syncs up with fitness trackers like Fitbit and Apple Watch) to calculate your custom personal fluid goals. Not only were we shocked at how much more water we needed to drink in a given day, but the detailed graphs also showed how inconsistently we were hydrating. While the accuracy of the sensors wasn’t always perfect, it was well within reason. The biggest trick was remembering to put the bottle down immediately before and after refilling to get all of the water credit we were due. The bottle glowed when we were behind our pace, and the app has reminder notifications and a social function to create a hydration leaderboard among friends. And while it may not be cheap, it’s worth it if you need the nudge to drink up.
- A BPA-free hinged lid keeps it shockingly water tight. Standard CR2032 watch batteries power the low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 transmitter.
- The bottle is dishwasher safe, but the sensor is hand-wash only.
- An LED inside the bottle lets you know when you’re behind on pace to hit your hydration goals for the day. It also performs a colorful light show when you hit your goal.
- Three-axis accelerometers help know when the bottle has been set down. Capacitive touch sensors read when you’ve taken a drink and know how much.
- The bottle has a soft rubber coating and an indented shape that allows it to fit in most water bottle cages and cupholders.
Hidrate Spark 2.0
$55, Amazon.com
