Contigo Striker AUTOSPOUT kids’ water bottle

I’ve bought my share of kids’ cups with straws. Whether it’s been a straw sippy cup or the take-and-toss variety, I just figured they all had their flaws.

The leaks. The random explosions of liquid in my face. The lids that pop off if thrown to the ground. (Which, in my house, is every bleeding day.)

I wasn’t convinced that something better existed. Then I had the opportunity to be a PTPA parent tester for the new Contigo Striker AUTOSPOUT water bottle.

Please note that this is not available in Canada until September 2012.

THE GOOD

It. Does. Not. Leak. I mean at all. I flipped this bad boy upside down like a DQ Blizzard and…nothing. Not a drip. With the straw up or down – no leaks. (Insert happy dance here.)

BPA-free. A must in Canada, legally speaking, but not so in many parts of the world. Buy this cup and you can be sure there are no harmful toxins leaching into your child’s drink.

The one-touch button that releases the straw is easy for even very young children to manage. Strike that. It’s fun. We’ve had some giggles using it. Although it’s recommended for ages 3+, even Miss Q had it figured out in about 10 seconds.

And it’s just as easy to push the straw back down, making this an ideal cup to send with school lunches, where you won’t be around to help your baby open his drink container. (Sniff.) Plus, take the Contigo Striker AUTOSPOUT on road trips so you don’t have to do that whole getting-out-of-the-front-seat-while-you’re-on-the-highway-to-climb-halfway-into-the-back-seat thing.

It holds a lot – 14 ounces. Great for toting along to soccer games.

Think outside the tap. No need to limit this to just water. Milk or another beverage-of-choice could easily go in (just be sure to clean out the nozzle and straw really well).

Dishwasher safe. (I think we’ve established that I don’t do dishes by hand, right?)

There’s this soft-grip handle at the top of the bottle – perfect for carrying it around or attaching it to the Mommy Hook on the stroller.

It’s about $10. I paid $15 for a zo-li BOT straw sippy cup that is my nemesis. I’ve paid upwards of $20 for kids’ SIGG bottles that are harder for little hands to open. So, I’d call this a bargoon.

With my help, this puppy’s PTPA-approved! And deservedly so.

THE GAFFE

This is truly the only legitimate bummer about the Contigo Striker: it won’t fit easily into any of your standard-sized cup holders. The K Man has a Britax Frontier XT car seat with two cup holders; while the bottle fits, it’s a very tight squeeze and it won’t go all the way down. I sometimes have to help get it out, too, because it’s stuck. Just a few millimetres skinnier and this would be the near-perfect bottle.

The only other thing that would earn it perfect status is if it was insulated.

I think the name is kind of bizarre. Every time I say it out loud, I channel Arnold Schwarzenegger.

THE GEARS

4.5/5

So…where can you buy it?

• Amazon UK
• BigGrassField.com

(I’ll update this section once it’s in stores here in Canada.)