Most water bottles are unremarkable. At best, you can find a plastic-free insulated bottle that’ll keep beverages cold or hot, but most options out there offer the bare minimum — a receptacle that holds water and keeps it from leaking. That’s fine if that’s all you really need it to do (and if you’re cleaning your bottle regularly), but for something you’re likely using daily, don’t you want it to be a bit better?

Even if that’s not a thought that has ever crossed your mind, I’ll be honest, it hadn’t really crossed mine either until I started using a LARQ water bottle. Then it dawned on me that the dirty, sweaty piece of plastic that’s impossible to scrub thoroughly isn’t really cutting it.

The Case for Improving Your Water Bottle

On the most basic level, we buy water bottles to keep us hydrated with clean water throughout the day, but most water bottles aren’t actually doing that. Even if your water bottle has a filter, they can be difficult to clean — and are often tempting not to clean — allowing bacteria to build up within the bottle, inside of the cap, and in other nooks and crannies you may not notice. As a result, you end up slugging back water that’s actually kind of grody. And if you’ve ever taken a whiff of the inside of your water bottle, you’ll know what I mean.

Single-use water bottles can be tempting because they’re inexpensive and don’t need to be cleaned, but with 10 million tons of plastic being dumped into our oceans every year, it’s time to opt for a more sustainable option. Enter LARQ, the only water bottle on the market that lands you in the middle section of a venn diagram for clean and sustainable drinking receptacles.

The Alexa of Water Bottles

Now that I’ve used a LARQ for over a week, I can say it hovers somewhere between an insulated water bottle and a tech gadget. It’s heavier than most bottles I’ve owned, and since I went for the 25 ounce version instead of the 17 ounce, it’s pretty large. That said, I don’t think I can ever be content again without a weighty, mint-colored bottle that occasionally lights up like an Amazon Echo in a reachable distance.

What sets LARQ apart is the UV-C LED light in the base of the cap, powered by a rechargeable battery, that works to purify water in around 60 seconds by eradicating bacteria and viruses. UV light is becoming an increasingly popular way to kill germs because of its ability to break down bacteria or virus DNA through photochemical reactions. LARQ is the first brand to bring that technology to a water bottle, however.

To start using it, you first charge your cap via a USB port and the included charging cable. The charge will hold up to a month, so remembering to charge your water bottle as often as your smartphone won’t be necessary. From there, fill the bottle up to the indicator inside and press the top of your cap once. A blue light will begin spinning around the top of your cap, much like Alexa when she’s processing information, and in about a minute it’ll stop. Don’t open your cap until then because the UV-C LED light is working to eradicate germs inside of your water. LARQ also suggests you dance around while holding the bottle while this is happening to more evenly distribute the light, but I’ll leave that one up to you.

Perfect for Travel

The UV-C LED light also has different settings which are really helpful when traveling. If you tap the top of your cap twice, for example, you’ll enter “adventure mode” which is a three-minute, deeper purifying cycle. This can come in handy, especially when you're visiting areas where tap water doesn't meet the same purification standards you're used to.

If you stay in normal mode, the bottle will self-activate every two hours to continually purify your water. When you put your bottle in your carry-on, however, you can disable this process so you don’t waste battery.

The LARQ is also great to keep on you if you're looking to save money at the airport. Though you can't fill it until after you clear security, you can fill it at an airport water fountain near your gate and feel a whole lot better knowing what you're drinking is significantly less questionable.

For those who enjoy outdoor adventures or like to pack light, there’s the LARQ Movement, which is designed to be bigger (you can get it in a 24-ounce size for $78 or a 32-ounce size for $98), but a lot lighter because it excludes the double insulation.

Does It Work?

An important caveat to note, the LARQ is not designed to get rid of heavy metals or fluoride in water; because it doesn’t have a filter, it doesn’t have this capability, so if you’re looking to remove those particles beforehand it’s a good idea to add filtered water to your bottle.

That being said, if you’re looking for a self-purifying water bottle that kills germs and keeps beverages cold/warm, LARQ is the ideal option. Though I don’t have any means of measuring the amount of bacteria in my water before and after LARQ goes through a purification cycle, I’ve been using the very unscientific method of sniffing my bottle to keep tabs on cleanliness.

Full disclosure, I haven’t washed this bad boy once since I got it a week and a half ago. Instead, I’ve been relying on the UV-C LED light just to see what it can do. While I’ve noticed in the past other water bottles would have definitely had a musty smell by now, I can say there’s no odor to my bottle. Wiping the inside of the cap as well as the bottle, I also haven’t found any gunk build-up. Other insulated water bottles that I’ve owned would often get green gunk around the seal that was extremely hard to clean, but so far that hasn’t been an issue with LARQ.

I also tested the double insulation of the bottle to see if it’d keep water cold for 24 hours, and yeah, that’s true too. I fill my bottle up a few times a day with ice and I’ve noticed the ice takes significantly longer to melt than in other water bottles, with no condensation build-up on the outside. If I take a sip of water that’s been sitting overnight, it still tastes ice cold.

It’s Pricey But Worth It

LARQ bottles certainly aren’t cheap — the 17 ounce costs $95 and the 25 ounce is $118 — but I’d venture to say it’s an investment. You’ll never have to rebuy the bottle, because the battery is rechargeable and doesn’t need to be replaced. You can also sit back, relax, and skip a few cleanings knowing your bottle won’t get musty or moldy. But if the price tag isn't feasible, LARQ also offers a $35 option without the LED light.

Upgrading your water bottle might not seem like the most pressing item on your to-do list, but once you switch to LARQ, you’ll never have to think about it again.

Main photo by Alexandra Tran/Unsplash.