This insulated bottle gained our approval for its reasonable price tag, insulating properties, and simple design. We like the Simple Modern Summit as an everyday water bottle with its screw cap in place or as a larger vessel for hot beverages with its flip lid. Two lids are better than one. The Summit held its own against longstanding vacuum insulated favorites, like the Hydro Flask and the Yeti Rambler.
To further praise the Summit, we also liked its dimensions and found it to fit well into backpack side pockets as well as car cup holders with its slightly wider base. Its simple, interchangeable lids and size made it ideal for hot beverages. These factors all contribute to the Simple Modern Summit's title as our Best Buy Award for an Insulated Bottle.Simple Modern Summit Review

Cons: Paint chipping after a few months of use, flip cap seemed to lack security
Manufacturer: Simple Modern
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
![]() This Product
Simple Modern Summit | |||||
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Awards | ![]() | ![]() | |||
Price | $17.99 at Amazon | $11.95 at Backcountry Compare at 3 sellers | $26.21 at Backcountry Compare at 3 sellers | $20.84 at Backcountry Compare at 3 sellers | $19.59 at Amazon Compare at 2 sellers |
Overall Score ![]() |
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Star Rating | |||||
Pros | Affordable, insulates well, has interchangeable lids, portable | Light, durable, resists flavors, simple design, wide mouth makes for easy filling | Stylish, well-insulated, easy to clean, simple design, durable | Lightweight, well-insulated, simple design, reasonable price tag | Lightweight, easy for one-handed drinking, re-designed sport cap is effective, durable, good color options |
Cons | Paint chipping after a few months of use, flip cap seemed to lack security | Diameter too big for cup holders, wide mouth makes it difficult to drink from when walking or driving | Heavy, expensive | Carrying handle is an odd size, rim of bottle is a bit sharp | Sport cap not as secure as a screw cap, carrying handle is small |
Bottom Line | This lightweight and affordable bottle made the cut as one of our go-to's for everyday use | It's hard to compare to this iconic bottle in terms of weight, price, and simplicity of design | This insulated bottle ticks all the boxes for one of our favorite bottles ever | We appreciated the lightweight, sleek design of this insulated bottle | We are still stoked on this long-time favorite with its easy-to-use design |
Rating Categories | Simple Modern Summit | Nalgene Wide-Mouth | Hydro Flask Standard Mouth | GSI Outdoor Microlite 720 Tw... | Klean Kanteen Classic |
Ease Of Use (40%) | |||||
Durability (25%) | |||||
Weight (20%) | |||||
Taste (15%) | |||||
Specs | Simple Modern Summit | Nalgene Wide-Mouth | Hydro Flask... | GSI Outdoor... | Klean Kanteen... |
Body Material | 18/8 stainless steel | Eastman Tritan co-polyester | 18/8 stainless steel | Stainless Steel, Polypropylene, Silicone | 18/8 stainless steel |
Empty weight (oz) | 12.4 oz | 6.3 oz | 12.9 oz | 10.5 oz | 7.4 oz |
Volume (oz) | 22 oz | 34 oz | 24 oz | 24 oz | 27 oz |
Bottle weight (oz) per fluid oz capacity | 0.56 oz | 0.19 oz | 0.54 oz | 0.43 oz | 0.27 oz |
Mouth diameter | 2.25 in | 2.5 in | 2 in | 2.25 in | 1.75 in |
Base diameter | 3 in | 3.25 in | 3 in | 3 in | 2.75 in |
Height | 9.5 in | 8.25 in | 11 in | 9.3 in | 11 in |
Body Type | Hard-sided/traditional | Hard-sided/traditional | Hard-sided/traditional | Hard-sided/traditional | Hard-sided/traditional |
Free of Materials | BPA-free | BPA, BPS and Phthalate Free | BPA-free | BPA-free | BPA-free |
Cap Materials | Not available | Information not available | Polypropelene | Polypropylene, silicone | Polypropylene, Silicone spout |
Cap/Lid Type | Screw Cap | Loop-top screw cap | Wide-loop cap | Screwtop | Sport cap wih spout |
Volume Options | 14 oz, 18 oz, 22 oz, 32 oz, 40 oz | 16 oz, 48 oz | 18 oz, 21 oz | 17 oz, 24 oz, 34 oz | 18 oz, 40 oz, 64 oz, loop cap/sports cap, wide mouth |
Warranty | Limited Warranty | Lifetime Guarantee for normal use | Lifetime Warranty | Lifetime warranty | Lifetime Warranty |
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Summit is easy to use, fairly easy to clean, and keeps hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. It fell a bit short in the durability metric as well as in our leak tests with its flip lid, but not with its screw cap. These issues are balanced out by the bottle's overall performance and reasonable price tag.
Performance Comparison
Ease of Use
The 22-ounce Summit is well proportioned and sleek. These features set it apart from the narrower bottles out there because the Summit is much easier to fit securely into backpack pockets, cup holders, and messenger bags. These features made it our go-to for use around town since we could put water or hot beverages in it interchangeably.
The other defining feature of the Summit is its interchangeable lid options. The first option is a basic screw cap. This lid is stainless steel on the exterior, plastic on the interior, and can be easily removed. The other lid option is a flip cap, designed for hot beverages. Caveat — there is no way to secure the flip cap. Though we never had any major leakage, we were nervous about putting the Summit in a backpack with this lid, as the flip cap can easily be opened accidentally. If transporting this model in your pack, we highly recommend using the screw cap until you get to your destination.
Having multiple lid options kept flavors separate and made the bottle easy to clean. Its wide mouth also made it easy to keep clean, since it is easy to get down to the bottom of the bottle.
Durability
The Simple Modern Summit receives a slightly lower score in this metric than some of the other vacuum insulated bottles we tested. Right off the bat, we took this bottle out climbing and promptly dropped it in the boulders. We were bummed to see that the paint chipped immediately and the bottle dented. Perhaps the Summit falls a bit short in this metric because it is one of the more affordable stainless options.
As we mentioned above, the Summit has interchangeable lids, each one scoring differently in terms of durability. The lid for hot beverages is a bit less durable than the traditional lid, as it has a flip cap and a carrying handle that are made of relatively thin plastic. Compared to the burly lid of the Yeti bottle, this harrying handle did not seem to be as durable.
Weight
With a total weight of 12.4 ounces, the Summit is a relatively lightweight option for a vacuum insulated, stainless-steel bottle. It is comparable in weight to the Hydro Flask Standard, which weighs in at 12.9 ounces. Both of these bottles felt like they could be carried on day hikes or on climbing days without too much stress about extra weight. We especially liked bringing the Summit out on winter hikes, ski tours, and climbing days in winter with tea or other hot beverages. Its wide mouth and secure lid made it a great option for an added treat in the woods, without too much added weight.
Taste
In terms of taste, the Summit was comparable to the Hydro Flask. Stainless steel bottles, in general, are better at getting rid of flavors than plastic ones, and these two were the top-scoring in this metric. As we discussed above, the Summit is easy to clean, and the bottom of the bottle is relatively easy to access, which helped it succeed in this metric.
Having two lids also helped the Summit, since it was easy to remove the hot beverage lid when using the bottle for water (and vice versa with the standard lid). This was a nice feature since flavors tend to linger in the nooks and crannies of the lid.
Value
The Summit is one of the most inexpensive options for a stainless-steel, vacuum insulated bottle. The Summit performed as well as the better-known Hydro Flask in terms of insulation and costs half the price. We did find the Summit to chip and dent easily — making cosmetic durability a concern. But, with such a great price, who can resist? Plus, the bottle comes with interchangeable lids and is available in a huge variety of color choices — we are in! With high scores in insulation, ease of cleaning, and overall ease of use, plus the Summit's many color options and overall sleek design, this bottle earns our Best Buy Award in the stainless steel, insulated category.
Conclusion
It was hard to find much to complain about with the Simple Modern Summit. We were happy with the bottle's shape, insulating qualities, and design. We especially liked the two interchangeable lids — one for securing contents tightly during transport and the other perfect for drinking hot liquids. It's hard to beat the Summit, especially for its price, in a category that is typically overrun with $40+ bottles.
— Jane Jackson