Zojirushi SM-SA36BA Stainless Steel Mug, 12-Ounce, Black

I was not satisfied with the performance of my travel coffee mugs, so I set out to find one that would keep my coffee hot for as long as possible. I gathered together a variety of travel hot beverage containers from my own personal collection as well as any others I could borrow. Some that I found do a remarkable job of retaining heat. Presumably, these same containers will be remarkable at keeping beverages cold as well. Don’t want to get into the thermodynamics of it, but at room temperature, the change in temperature from hot to ambient is always faster and more noticeable than the change from ice cold to ambient. OK, so I wanted to do something more than just a subjective comparison of different containers. It doesn’t do much to say my coffee is warm, hot, or scalding after 3 hours, so I decided to do a quantitative temperature comparison. First I filled them with boiled water, and then measured the temperatures over 24 hours or more. I’m uploading the results in tables and graphs. See for yourself how each one performs over several hours. The comparison includes some generic double-walled cups that might only be insulated with Styrofoam, or maybe even just air. These were grouped together as the worst performers. The best performers were the vacuum wall stainless steel cups. These were somewhat similar in performance, but there were a few that were much better than others. I recently bought a Contigo, 20 oz. vacuum wall stainless steel travel cup with a screw-on top with a pop-up opening. Nice, and much better than anything I was using at the time. Then I heard about the acclaimed performance of Zojirushi travel cups, so thought I’d try one. In short, it was amazing. If possible, it was too good, because if I filled it with hot coffee straight from the coffee pot, I ended up with coffee that was too hot to drink for at least 3 hours. Yes, I heard that complaint from other reviewers, but didn’t believe it. It’s true. Maybe not too surprisingly, one of my oldest thermos bottles was the best performer. Unfortunately, it has a vacuum glass liner and a very small opening. That makes it somewhat undesirable to use for travel or carry. Overall comments: Zojirushi containers are great at heat retention, and they are beautiful. Also, the Life Sky UQTOGB is a beautiful deep red. Life Sky says it’s red, and you better believe it’s really red, unlike the Zojirushi that claims to be red, but is really a rose or pink color. The Life Sky does not leak, even when the top is loose. The top seal is different from the similar style Zojirushi The Life Sky seal is wider that the Zoji seal, and as a result of that, the seal tightens down when the top is turned only a half-turn, and forms a leak-proof seal. If the Life Sky top is tightened too much, it gets to be very hard to loosen later. Tighten it just enough to be leak-proof, and it’s much easier to open later. Zojirushi containers do not leak, and the tops are easy to turn, but because of the thinner seal, they need to be tighter. Some reviewers say they have trouble with the Zojirushi SM-YAE48-GA, but I have had no problem at all. This one did not leak, and like the Life Sky, the seal is thicker, so the characteristics are similar. Separately, I compared a few stainless steel “sports bottles” which have screw-on tops, but do not have any pop-up covers for drinking. These are from Life Sky, Geysa, Glacier Point, and Simply Simily. Simply Simily and Glacier Point bottles were larger in size, but not so much larger in volume. They were better at heat retention, presumably because they have more space between the walls. The Life Sky and Geysa bottles were almost identical, the main difference is that the Geysa bottle has a highly polished exterior. It did not perform any better than the Like Sky bottle, which is about half the price. The screw tops were so similar that they were interchangeable between the Glacier Point, Like Sky, and Geysa bottles. One thing I noticed will all, is that at the top where there is no vacuum wall, they all get warm. These comparisons were run at 3 separate times. Once with 10 different cups of varied construction. Then 2 more times, keeping the groups among cups with similar designs. Update 3/16/16: I'm not happy with the way my graphics uploaded to this review. The original was high resolution, but Amazon reduced the size to the point that it's unreadable. So here's some raw data. These are temperatures vs elapsed time in hours & minutes. The column headings are numbered, and the number key is below the temperature data. If you look at the heat loss vs time, the best performer was an old glass-lined vacuum thermos jar with a loss of 54 deg at 19 hrs, 30 min. Second place was the Zojirushi at a loss of 61 deg at the same time. Watch for more reviews to be added to some other travel vacuum bottles. Hot Beverage Container Temperature (F.) vs. Time Hrs Min 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 0 190 181 181 179 174 165 159 168 165 174 0 40 186 168 177 168 143 132 125 138 136 168 1 5 185 165 176 163 134 120 114 127 123 167 2 5 177 158 172 150 107 98 95 107 104 163 2 30 176 154 170 147 102 93 91 100 96 161 3 15 172 149 167 140 96 84 82 91 89 159 4 0 167 145 165 132 87 70 70 82 75 156 11 30 140 114 145 96 66 62 62 64 64 131 19 30 118 93 127 86 113 29 30 100 80 111 75 Hot Beverage Container Heat Loss (F.) vs. Time Hrs Min 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 40 -4 -13 -4 -11 -31 -33 -34 -30 -29 -6 1 5 -5 -16 -5 -16 -40 -45 -45 -41 -42 -7 2 5 -13 -23 -9 -29 -67 -67 -64 -61 -61 -11 2 30 -14 -27 -11 -32 -72 -72 -68 -68 -69 -13 3 15 -18 -32 -14 -39 -78 -81 -77 -77 -76 -15 4 0 -23 -36 -16 -47 -87 -95 -89 -86 -90 -18 11 30 -50 -67 -36 -83 -108 -103 -97 -104 -101 -43 19 30 -72 -88 -54 -93 -61 29 30 -90 -101 -70 -104 Brand 1 Subzero camp thermos 2 Thermos Food jar 3 Thermos glass-lined bottle 4 Contigo travel vacuum bottle 5 COPCO 6 BODUM 7 Starbucks 8 Holland America 9 Generic 10 Zojirushi SM-SA48-NM

I’ve been using this Zojirushi thermos for over six months, mainly for work; I use it daily for coffee or other hot beverages during my long shifts. Although it is compact, it holds enough to last me eight hours or even longer. It keeps coffee piping hot for about five or six hours, and even after eight hours, the temperature remains good. Even though I open and close it repeatedly throughout the day, it still maintains the right temperature very well. It is the best travel mug I have ever used for daily purposes. Plus, it has a fantastic design and size, and I love the color I chose. All in all, I would definitely recommend it.

STAYS HOT - DISHWASHER SAFE - NO SPILLS alright. I can’t recommend these Zojirushi mug/bottles enough. They exceed their promises. First of all - we make French press in the early mornings and pour it into these for drinking during the day. When I tell you the coffee we rinse out last thing at night is still PIPING HOT, I’m not exaggerating. Unbelievable thermal efficiency. Secondly - we have no fear of the durability when it comes to occasional drops (they happen) and running them through the dishwasher. The lids pop apart very easily for cleaning. Couldn’t be easier. After years of various bottles getting used and run dozens of times, each one performs as if new out of the box. We haven’t even had to replace so much as a seal. And finally - I found this company because anyone who rides a motorcycle knows any leak from their bottle catches the wind and you’re wearing it for the rest of the day. The lids pop apart on these bottles won’t leak, even if shaken upside down - and even with pressure changes. There’s a sliding lock to prevent accidentally opening them. Every other bottle I’ve used that claims they don’t leak has disappointed. These exceed their promises. We give them as gifts now. Friends are becoming fans. And so many colors, nobody’s confused whose coffee is who’s. Finally - and this is just personal preference - we get the ones that are UNLINED inside the bottle. I know they make a Teflon style coated version. We don’t feel the need for those, so consider this review for the straight stainless style, only.

Bought this tank of a cup 5 years ago. It's used every single day. Few years ago it was run over by my 700 lb can am Spyder, got a big dent pretty bad but popped back into shape and didn't leak. Today, it fell out of my pocket at 85mph on my motorcycle on the freeway. This cup and I have history and go back so naturally later in the evening (Sunday, lite traffic) went and risked life and limb or possibly getting arrested and having the motorcycle impounded, pulled over on the side of the freeway with 8000 trucks whizzing past at 90 mph, I got my cup and was on my way. It's beat to hell but doesn't leak and my coffee was still hot. This is one tuff cup! Possibly the best $30 I've ever spent. Highly recommended. Your milage may vary

After using a different brand travel mug for years (this one had a push button to drink and was difficult to clean because of that mechanism) I switched to this Zojirushi insulated mug. I've had other Zojirushi products in the past - this one lives up to the high standard that the other ones set. Pros: excellent insulation - in fact, make sure your hot beverage is at the temp you want before you pour it in, because it will stay that way until you are done with it! I used to have to start off hotter to account for heat loss during my commute in to work, but that does not happen with this mug. The lid opens with an easy push of the button, and you don't have to hold the button down to drink - something I didn't realize was an annoyance (and could be a hinderance for someone with grip strength issues) until it was gone. The lid opens in two steps to keep from flinging condensation on you as it opens. You can close the lid easily with one finger - it clicks closed easily and is leakproof once you've closed it. There is a toggle to lock the lid for extra security as well. The lid is comprised of two pieces and has two removable gaskets - this clever design makes for extremely easy cleaning. No more weird gunk left over from my version of coffee (coffee + milk + collagen peptide supplement + flavoring). Cons: this boils down to preference, but for a 20oz mug, this is extremely skinny! I have added a drink coozie to my cupholder in my car so that the mug sits securely during travel, rather than rattling around in the cupholder. The skinniness also made cleaning of the main body of the mug a bit difficult. The interior is coated with a non-stick material that is easy to rinse, but if you want to scrub it, you'll need to find a perfect scrubby brush. I ended up finding a good one in my stash that was skinny enough, soft enough, and had padding on the end (I really don't want to scratch up this coating). I listed this as a pro, but it could be a con for some - this insulted mug is *super* insulated. Keep that in mind when loading hot beverages in - it will stay at that temp for a very long time! I have yet to experience a cool down, even after having my coffee in the mug over an entire work day. In summery, this was a mostly great departure from my old standby travel mug. I'm getting used to the skinniness and am super thrilled at how easy the lid is to clean. EDITED TO ADD: I've been using this thermos for a few more weeks and have come to a few more realizations: I have a very low nose bridge and a little nose - the silicone stopper in the hinged lid gets fairly close to my face when I'm drinking from the spout (there's really only one way to drink from the top since the spout is in one direction) - not a problem for me, but this could be too close and/or will boop the snoot of anyone with a higher nose bridge/more pronounced schnozz.

I got this for my mom, and I specifically wanted something small, easy to clean, leakproof, and can hold hot and cold liquids. This was pretty perfect. A lot of other water bottles had straws or sippy tops, but she's not a fan of those. A lot of other smaller bottles don't have wide openings which makes cleaning difficult. The lid on this is super secure, not a spill or a leak anywhere, and it locks easily which is helpful when you don't have the hand strength. It's also small enough where my mom can put it in her coat pocket to take along with her. It is a bit pricey, but I feel like with this, you get what you pay for. My mom loves it.

I ordered one of these in February 2019 and have used it almost daily since. I even take it on vacations and road trips. I did some caculations, and I estimate that I have consumed about 245 gallons of coffee from this bottle over a span of roughly 2000 days. So it's been washed about 2000 times, and has been dropped and rolled around and inserted into and removed from many cupholders as well. Plenty of paint is missing from the outside, but it functions exactly like new and still keeps my coffee hot far longer than it takes for me to drink it. The only issue I have now, after 5.5 years and 2000 washings, is that the liner has begun to flake off inside the bottle. When a piece of it ended up in my mouth yesterday I knew it was finally time to get a new one, and I didn't think for a second about getting any other kind. The size is perfect to fit in any receptacle and slips neatly into the water bottle pocket on my work backpack. The lid does not open accidentally, even if you don't use the handy little lock, and the stopper is tight. The pour spout is perfect for decanting into mugs or drinking out of directly, though I always use mugs because it keeps the coffee perfectly hot for so long that it's the only way I can cool it down enough to drink. It amazes me that such a skinny bottle is so thermally efficient. The parts are very easy to disassemble for washing and none of them have worn out in any way--only discolored, as one would expect. I will note that even though this has a nonstick lining, it will still pick up coffee oils and stains over time. I chemically clean mine (Cafiza powder) when I clean the coffee machine at 90 day intervals and it always comes back to bright and shiny inside, but the brown cleaning solution I pour out is both gross and satisfying every time. The rubber gasket and stopper became permanently discolored quickly, as did the spout, but that's normal and doesn't bother me. Tea and other beverages probably wouldn't do that. The other note is to be careful not to overfill. If you fill it up past the bottom of the neck, when you twist the lid on and close it, it will leak out over the sides of the bottle due to the superior sealing of the stopper. Simple physics, as the liquid has nowhere else to go, but when you're tired and bleary in the morning sometimes it's easy to miss the mark. I recommend you put the lid on with the stopper in the open position and then snap it closed. In conclusion, I am extremely satisfied with the 5.5 years of near-daily use I got out of my first bottle and was happy to buy another. They may seem expensive compared to the more common brands, but during the 20+ years I've been bringing my own coffee to work and on trips, I've tried several examples of almost every other one--Oxo, Contigo, Stanley, etc etc--and this Zojirushi is the only coffee bottle I ever plan to use, for as long as they sell them, anyway.

One day I decided that I could use a new thermos, because I realized how awful my Contigo was that I picked up from Walmart a few years ago. For reference, I could pour in hot coffee and it would be lukewarm to cold about 2-3 hours later. This was also a vacuum insulated mug. I just quit using it because it was such a hassle trying to clean it every day, and I was tired of lugging the thing around. I was ridiculously big and bulky. I don't know about you, but I don't need another huge item to keep track of every day. Enter the Zojirushi. I went with the 12oz size, because I generally don't need a gallon of coffee to get me through the day. It's just slightly bigger than a normal can of soda, for size reference. I'm a grown man and the tiny thing is adorable; it looks like some kind of cute artillery shell or something. It's the perfect size for me, because I can dump in a can of Red Bull or a large cup of coffee and sip it through the day. In terms of performance, I was pretty blown away by how effective it is at maintaining temperature. I generally do pour-over, so my water is about 205F when it hits the grounds. By the time I get it into the thermos, it's around 180-190F, which is way too hot to drink (ideally I prefer my lattes at 135-140F). After sitting on my desk for about 8 hours, the temperature is STILL above 150, which is still piping hot. You can literally burn your mouth drinking coffee out of this thing after it's sat on your desk for an entire work day. Now, this will change if you're drinking out of it frequently, or leaving the lid open. Every second you open the mouth, you'll lose a bit of heat. However, I found that I could take a lot of sips out of it and still have very warm and drinkable coffee by the end of the day, or at least far past the time that you would normally need to be drinking coffee. When it comes to cold drinks, it still performs great. However, I think that if you add ice to whatever you're drinking, you'll be amazed at how long it stays cold. I tossed in a can of Red Bull (no ice) and it was cold for several hours. I left it overnight, and the next day it was still cool but no longer cold. However, ice would probably last in there for a few days, if not a week. The mouth design is genius. It has two holes, and one lets air in as liquid flows out. This results in a bit slower and more controlled amount of liquid coming out of the mouth, so you don't burn the hell out of your mouth when you try to take a sip. However, you can still get plenty out of it if you're drinking something cold, so it's not like it's barely trickling out or something. The lid opens easily with the press of the button, and the lid lock is handy if you're tossing this into a bag and don't want the button accidentally pressed. The lid also comes apart for easy cleaning, which is nice. I've seen other posts of people claiming that there is mold and such in their lid after a year, but honestly I can't understand why you wouldn't just pop the plastic lid part in the dishwasher every now and again and hand wash the other parts. Regardless, this thing costs like $20...you can probably afford to buy a new one every year if it means drinking super hot coffee every day. The inside of the thermos has a non-stick coating, really similar to what you find on ceramic pans and such. It's great if you drink milk-based drinks, which can be kind of a pain to clean off bare metal. I highly recommend getting a bottle cleaner or something that won't scratch the surface. Also, this bottle will start to smell like whatever you put into it, so deodorize it regularly if you plan on putting multiple types of drinks into it. Once I tossed a Red Bull in there, and the mouth piece smelled like Red Bull regardless of what I washed it with. Finally I had to use baking soda and vinegar with boiling water, and it's back to a neutral smell. Overall, I really love this thing. It's a great size, and nice and slim rather than huge and bulky like so many other similar products. I don't want to put a 64oz nuclear warhead on my desk that weighs more than my computer, I just want a small and slim vessel to drink hot drinks out of. This definitely goes above and beyond my expectations. I don't give a ton of 5-star reviews, but this is a great item for $20.

Good

Este termo es espectacular. Ya es el sexto que compro. Toda mi familia tiene uno. El único problema es que tienes que realizar trámites y gastos de aduana. En el último pedido ascendieron a 44,40 € y el termo costaba 49,35 €. Prácticamente el doble. Por lo demás, estupendo.

Item arrived in the original package, in good order

J'ai été agréablement surprise du temps de conservation de la chaleur de cette bouteille isotherme. Je l'utilise principalement pour du thé et il reste brulant au minimum 4h. Le contenu est encore chaud 12h après. La bouteille est petite mais contient la même quantité de liquide que des tasses de transport régulière. Après un mois d'utilisation, il y a un peut de peinture qui se détache de la base, rien d'alarmant puisque je la met dans la poche latérale de mon sac à dos. Le prix est plus élevé, mais ça en vaut le prix. Petit contre, c'est que le bec verseur est un peu difficile à nettoyer.

The best travel/work mug! I've put 200F° water in it and it stays the same temperature all day. Plus, the next day at the same hour I made it the day before it was 165F°. It was still warm! It's childproof, you can lock it by sliding the thing next to the button. That also means it doesn't leak, you can put it in your backpack without worrying about it!