Here’s what the real deal looks like:

When placed next to each other, it looks like the same thing at a glance, but there are a few important differences.

If you get to touch it, you’ll find that the fake one (blue) feels more like thick tough plastic sheets while the real one has a softer and more flexible feel to it. I imagine if it’s flexible, it’ll be less prone to cracking if you fold it and put pressure on the folds (like stuffing it in a bag between other objects).

The most important difference here is the bottle cap. I described the fake one as similar to a detergent bottle cap. The original is a bit bigger, made of clear but tough plastic and needs a bit of work to pop open. In comparison, the fake one easily slips open and close, which isn’t something you want in a water bottle.

I’ve been using mine for several weeks now and I really like it. It’s attractive and easy to stuff into a bag pocket in the rare occasions that it’s empty. My current work bag setup does not leave room for a water bottle inside, so I usually wear it clipped to a connecting ring.

Vapur holds 0.5L of liquid, is BPA free and is available in 6 colours. For full details, visit their website.

If you are interested in getting one of your own, my buddy Denise is a retailer for Vapur bottles in Singapore. They’re available for SGD19.90 (around RM49, not including shipping. She ships individually or in larger numbers if you have friends who want to share the shipping cost with. You can reach her at antibottles4u[AT]gmail.com. Tell her I sent ya. ;)

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Vapur Bottles – Real vs Fake

This year, my mission is to travel more and travel lightly. I am envious at how some people can jump on the plane with one small backpack. I used to be able to do that, but I managed to fail rather spectacularly in my last one or two trips. In an effort to put on a serious “I’m a minimalist traveller” face, I was reading blogs on travelling light when I came across Vapur, a reusable and foldable water bottle.

Yeah, foldable. Like a tube of spent toothpaste or a Capri Sun drink pack. I love space saving and environment friendly ideas so I went about seeing how I can get one. At USD9.99 (RM30.48), I thought it was a steal for such a great idea, but international shipping was nearly USD30! Uh, guess not!

But I couldn’t get it out of my mind so I searched around to see if there was a stockist in KL or Singapore. And guess what? I found a seller in KL via an online marketplace.

The seller was using the photos from the official Vapur site but the price was suspiciously low – RM9. I figured it can’t hurt to take a look at one, so I ordered it and it arrived today.

It looked like the real thing but there was a couple of obvious giveaways to suggest that it isn’t.

Hello, Made in China!

They must have copied the packaging exactly, except for where they added the ‘Made in China’ and a barcode at the bottom. The language is disappointingly Engrish-free. They even left the URL to the official site intact.

I’m also pretty sure China didn’t print it with soy ink or use wind powered presses to do it.

Let’s take a closer look at the Chinese knockoff.

The bottle was delivered flat. The front bottom said that it has a 16oz capacity (Vapur official site sells 14oz and 18oz). I’m going to take the ‘BPA Free’ notice as part of the design that was ripped off and not as a claim of quality.

It folds and tucks into the carabiner, which is pretty neat. You can use the carabiner to hook the bottle to your bag.

Here’s a closer look at the bottle cap. At first handling, you can already tell this plastic is no better than the ones used for dishwashing liquid bottles.

Here’s what the bottle looks like filled up with water:

You have to squeeze the bottle into shape to make sure you’re filling it up to full capacity. Then it stands up, which is pretty cool considering it was delivered in an envelope. It’s pretty fun to drink from what’s essentially a super squeezy bottle.

I’m not sure if there is an official retailer in Malaysia, since all I can find online are dodgy forum and blog posts that are probably selling the same thing I got. The nearest place we can get the real deal appears to be Singapore.

Someone in a forum somewhere pointed out that Platypus carries something similar and for a slightly cheaper price. For those of us in Malaysia, Tiny Tapir carries this version of the soft bottle. You can get it with a holster, which I find pretty attractive in a juvenile way. A holster for a water gun… teehee!

I’m gonna try this fake Vapur and see how I like using soft bottles. I’ve never considered anything more complicated than metal water bottles but I never bring those when travelling.

Next, the search for a good microfibre towel!

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Vapur Bottles – China knockoff industry approves

Taking a page from the GTD gurus, I will be processing these links from top down. If it’s worth sharing, I’ll post a link to Facebook. If it isn’t, I’ll delete. If it’s going to be future reference material, I’ll file it accordingly.

I have a feeling those of you on Facebook will be hearing quite a lot from me today. ;P

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Clearing up the To Read folder

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Did you find what you were looking for?

Election season is when friends who normally don’t send me anything start forwarding election propaganda.

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Ah, elections.