This Spaceship of a Bottle Injects Your Water With Healthy Stuff That Tastes Good
Buy $149, amazon.com; lifefuels.com
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Hydration—it seems to be your mother’s solution to every ailment. Migraine? Have you been drinking your water? Not sleeping? How much water have you had today? Broken arm? That wouldn’t have happened if you drank more water. Well, guess what mom, I have proof that I've been drinking my water. LifeFuels is a smart water bottle that not only tracks your water intake and feeds you good-tasting nutrients, but also looks like a spaceship while doing it.
Gym fashion can largely be boiled down to what 2005 us thought we’d look like in 2020. Shiny material, weird tapers, unnecessary bands—it's all there. LifeFuels fits right into that aesthetic in the best way. Everything from the bottle design to the flavor cartridges to the incredibly smart LEDs on the bottle makes it look like it should emit carbon steam every time you press a button. I was more than skeptical of it. But whether it's because of this alien bottle’s mind control technology or because it's truly just that damn cool, I’ve done a full one-eighty on LifeFuels.
The bottle's design is really smart.
The LifeFuels bottle is easy to use, honestly. There are two buttons, one at the bottom for power and one on the front for flavor dispensing. When you toggle the front dial to your flavor of choice (more on that in a minute) and press the button, a plume of flavoring rises into the water, and then you shake it until it’s mixed. The bottle itself holds three flavor pods and 16 ounces of water—for reference, that's a grande at Starbucks. As someone who carries a large water bottle to the gym, I thought the smaller size would bother me, but I got used to it. It has just a smidge more weight to it than a regular water bottle, and it has a four-day battery life. I realize it may feel weird to charge your water bottle, but luckily you only have to remember once or twice a week.
Arguably the coolest design aspect of the bottle is the LED lights. When you plug a flavor cartridge into one of the three slots on the bottom of the bottle, both the ring of LEDs around said cartridge and the small dots above the power button light up in a color that matches the corresponding flavor, so you always know what taste you’re set on. And I should mention the bottle automatically reads which flavor is plugged in, so there’s no screwing around in an app to set the right pod. It just knows.
Buy $149, amazon.com; lifefuels.com
The flavor pods make water enjoyable—and healthy.
Okay, so this bottle may also seem like a glorified Propel. It is, but it isn't. The flavor pods are actually good. I’m personally not a fan of sweet beverages; I drink my coffee black and my alcohol clean or with plain soda. Not a brag, I just eat so much sugary crap that I keep my drinks mostly pure. But the flavors here range from white grapefruit to strawberry mango, and all of them taste great. Some are sweetened, while others remain at a La Croix level of flavor accent.
The best part is the flavors all give you benefits, like energy, electrolytes, vitamins, and antioxidants. For example, I rely on the natural energy pod for post-work, late-night workouts to give me the kick I need. Plus, they make water fun. It's basically a healthy Kool-Aid squeeze pack for adults, and I’m extremely into it.
The app keeps track of your hydration and nutrient intake.
There are a lot of water trackers out there. A lot. I’ve used them, and then promptly stopped using them a few days later. But the LifeFuels app tracks everything with no input needed from you, as long as you're using the bottle. It will keep tabs on how much water you’ve had and how full your bottle currently is, as well as your flavor level intake along with all those aforementioned bonuses (i.e. vitamin C).
The app also allows you to customize your intake. If the flavors are too abrasive, you can lower the amount that gets dispensed, or add more if you just really hate water. Also, if you're a mad scientist or one of those kids who would stick shit in their chocolate milk in the cafeteria, the app allows you to make your own recipes using multiple flavor pods. Again, I’m fairly boring when it comes to drinks, so I can't say I’ve found any combos, but the site has some recommendations. The app also has a version for your Apple Watch for easy management while working out. It’s a remarkably comprehensive partner app for a remarkable water bottle.
Buy $149, amazon.com; lifefuels.com
Prop styling by John Olson
Photography by Timothy Mulcare
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