Back in 2015, two of the bestselling kids water bottles in our range were the two photographed above, the Camelbak Eddy Kids and the Thermos Funtainer. Fast forward to 2019 and only the Camelbak Eddy remained in our range. Fast forward again to 2024 and the addition of the Oasis range sees this favourite style of an insulated water bottle with a straw come back in the way of an affordable and more sturdy Thermos Funtainer Dupe (or duplicate). The Camelbak option is a lightweight bpa free plastic with a spillproof bite valve lid, a really great choice for travelling in the back seat of a car.

The Thermos Funtainer is still being made, but we don't stock it and it has been replaced by something very similar that's better quality in our opinion. In 2015, the funtainer had one major flaw, the hinge on the lid was plastic and it was far too easy to break for a childs bottle. Replacement lids were expensive and difficult for stockists to get their hands on. We have no such issue with the Oasis Kids Water Bottle replacements.

The remainder of this blog is a revised version of the original, with details on the Camelbak bottles, the Thermos Funtainer and the new Oasis Kids Bottles that replaced them.

Volume

  • Camelbak | 400ml
  • Thermos |  355ml
  • Oasis | 400ml and 550ml

All of these bottles are at the entry level of volume capacity in both ranges, meaning, they're the smallest size available. A larger version of the Camelbak bottle is available, but not with the kids bite valve. Thermos Funtainers only come in one size, and the Oasis Kids with the soft silicone straw only come in the 2 sizes listed.

Materials

  • Camelbak | BPA Free Plastic
  • Thermos | Stainless Steel
  • Oasis | Stainless Steel

These bottles are both poles apart. While both bottles have a silicone mouthpiece straw, and bpa free lids, the materials for the actual bottles are different. The Camelbak bottle is made from BPA Free Tritan Eastman copolyester plastic. This plastic is hard and cannot be squeezed. The Thermos bottle is made from food grade stainless steel, and again, completely solid. The Oasis Kids Bottle is the same materials as the Thermos bottle.

Insulation

  • Camelbak | no
  • Thermos | yes - up to 12 hours for cold liquid only
  • Oasis | yes - up to 12 hours for cold liquid only

The best insulation, whether it's on a water bottle, a thermos flask or a lunch box is by fair double wall vacuum insulated stainless steel. Anything that's two layers of plastic with foam in the middle will provide very minimal insulation. Stainless steel vacuum insulation is far superior and the length of insulation is always different, so check the specs on anything you purchase. The Thermos Funtainer range is rated to keep drinks cold up to 12 hours. They are not suitable for hot drinks. You will need a thermos flask or insulated water bottle rated for hot liquids for that. Same applies to the Oasis bottles.

The Straw

  • Camelbak | spillproof bite valve
  • Thermos | standard straw
  • Oasis | standard silicone straw

The drinking mechanism on both these bottles is significantly different, and it's the main reason we're doing a comparison on these two bottles.

Any Camelbak Water Bottle with a bite valve (the Eddy range) uses the same bite valve mechanism that the hydration packs do. In the open position, the lid is spillproof, which means if you tip it over, water won't come pouring out. To get water out of the bottle, keep it upright, bite on the colourful silicone bite valve and suck. When you stop biting, the water flow stops. If you're an adult and you think this is kinda cool, Camelbak make this bottle in a 600ml, 750ml and 1 litre capacity too.  In the closed position, one side of the straw is still exposed, which some parents don't like.

The Thermos bottle just has a silicone straw. Same with the Oasis b ottle. When the lid is closed, it pinches the straw shut so water doesn't leak out. When it's open, you just suck on the straw. There is a straw inside the bottle too, so this bottle stays upright for drinking as well. The straw is very thin and really only suitable for water.

Replacement bite valves for the Camelbak bottle are available in packs of 4 in the Camelbak category of our store. Thermos spare parts are not cheap and not easy to find. We can order spares for almost everything in the Oasis water bottle range.

What's on trend in 2024?

The focus on kids water bottles has very much shifted to sports lids, sippy caps and stainless steel bottles both single wall and also vacuum insulated. There are plenty of water bottle companies on the market. Very few of them have invested the money in creating decent lids for their bottles.

Many have replaced the traditional water bottle with a 'Stanley Cup' or one of many of the dupes on the market. We're not fans of the Stanley lid so we wrote a 'Stanley Dupe Choices' article to help you pick the best one for you. These are a basically a travel mug with a straw and a lid that's not leakproof so they're not ideal for carrying around in bags. They have gained huge popularity though and are playing centre stage for the time being. We expect this fad will change in the next couple of years. For now, we're here with them as a viable option for a pure drink bottle for some, but they're not our top choice.

This blog was originally published in 2015. Since then, we have made modifications to it as we no longer sell the Thermos Funtainer, but we have the Oasis Water Bottle 'dupe' which we like better and they're cheaper with spare parts much easier to get and a stronger lid.