The Best Thermoses of 2024-2025

Another widely known and trusted brand in the thermos world is, well, Thermos. With a name like that, it would be hard to imagine anything but quality, and at less than $40, the Thermos Stainless King does it without rifling through your pockets too deep. This thermos is designed to function as a holder for hot or cold liquids, and the brand has food-specific thermoses as well, but this 40-ounce thermos is the best coffee thermos in its line.

Thermos’s patented vacuum insulation keeps liquids hot or cold for 24 hours, and the bottles are designed to keep the exterior temperature lower, making them easy to hold. This also prevents the bottle from sweating when holding cold liquids in the summer months. Compared to the top dogs in our temperature test, the Stainless King only came out 10 degrees shy of the top numbers — an impressive feat.

As with other brands of thermoses, the Thermos King’s lid doubles as a cup. To make pouring easier and to maintain liquid temperature longer, Thermos integrated a clever twist and pour spout that lets you pour out the liquid without removing the stopper. The 18/8 stainless steel design is also industry-standard, but did feel a bit thinner in our hands, and was marginally easier to ding versus other thick-skinned thermoses.

This stainless steel thermos is easy to use, BPA-free, and dishwasher-safe. It may not have the absolute highest heat retention, but it’s a top-quality pick, especially because of the budget pricing. For $30, you may also consider the 1-liter Stanley Adventure To-Go Bottle — a proven vessel with slightly better heat retention — but a bit heavier overall and lacking any type of handle.

If you know you’re going to be wailing on your drinkware and don’t want to invest too much, the 40 ounce Stainless King is the perfect balance of budget and functionality in a thermos.

CamelBak really upped the ante with its versatile MultiBev ($52) thermos design. This two-in-one thermos is both a thermos-style water bottle and an insulated travel cup. Unlike many other thermos cups that double as the lid, this thermos’ travel cup portion is the base, and it comes with a roll-up silicone lid.

The CamelBack MultiBev bottle lid has a small compartment underneath the handle to hold the travel cup’s foldable silicone lid. If you don’t plan to use the lid, that compartment is big enough to hold a tea bag or a handful of nuts. This unique design seems most applicable to working people looking for travel coffee mugs that can also function as water bottles.

Both the upper bottle and lower cup are vacuum-insulated; however, when screwed together, this does create a sizable uninsulated area between the two vessels. This is our best guess as to why the temperature test numbers for this bottle were a bit below the highest temps we saw after 24 hours. Still, 100 degrees is right in the middle of the pack. No slouch, but also no standout.

The overall capacity isn’t that large, and it’s heavy for holding just over 20 ounces, so it’s not the best option for snowshoeing or hiking. Still, the MultiBev is a durable design that keeps liquids hot or cold for extended periods and is perfect for sharing. If the versatile nature appeals to you but need a bit more space, consider snagging a smaller 12 fl. oz. Hydro Flask Food Jar for your snacks, and a small thermos like the YETI Rambler Hotshot or Zojirushi SM-TA48.

But for an all-in-one option? The MultiBev is just dang handy. We used it extensively this autumn to carry hot water to work with us, along with a selection of teas and broths, which allowed us to enjoy whatever struck our fancy.

“Unbreakable” is a dirty word in gear testing, and as such, the Stanley Forge Thermal Bottle ($72) — dubbed as unbreakable by the brand — arrived as sort of a challenge to what we know about a good thermos. Looking suspiciously like our favorite Stanley Classic, this beefed-up version gains 1.0 mm thick walls, a rigid handle, and a promise of undying longevity. 

So does it keep that promise? After running it over with our trucks, sinking it to the bottom of the bay, and plinking it with .22 caliber shot, this thermos might not be unbreakable — but it’s damn near. Our stress testing was obviously overkill, but it proves the point well enough. This is a lifetime purchase and then some.

The Forge uses the same proven 18/8 stainless steel used in the rest of the Stanely line, but bumps the thickness up to 1.0 mm over the 0.7 of most other bottles. This doesn’t seem like much, but it increases the dent-proofing by a good margin. So much so that we went back for seconds after rolling over it with our pickup.

Behind those walls is another upgrade: QuadVac insulation, which adds an additional copper lining and foil sheet within the vacuum chamber. The idea here is to limit radiant heat transfer, and is a bit of a new spin on an old idea. OG Stanley bottles had something called “Char-Vac,” where charcoal dust was packed into the vacuum insulation, and the result is the same with QuadVac: a claimed — and proven — 40-hour heat retention. 

All that extra durability has to even out on another scale, and in the Forge Bottle, it’s weight. Compared to the most similar 1.5-quart Stanley Classic thermos, this 1.4-quart bottle gains an extra pound of heft for the armor cladding. Fully loaded with brew, this is one heavy beverage container, and only the Zojirushi Tuff Sports Bottle was close to a similar weight — but has more internal volume.

But even so, you can rest easy knowing that whether it’s rolling around in your truck bed, submerged in the bilge of your fishing boat, or clanking around in your toolbox, the Forge Thermal Bottle was made to last. Buy this thermos if you plan on giving it to your grandchildren one day.

YETI has made quite a name for itself in the world of coolers, but the brand’s drinkware is top-notch as well. A fine example of this is the YETI Rambler Hotshot ($30) insulated bottle which is perfect for everyday carry as well as random solo missions in the outdoors. Currently available in seven colors, the Hotshot doesn’t have your typical removable thermos lid cup. Instead, you drink directly through the lid at all degrees of approach — perfect for on-the-go sipping.

Out of all of the vessels we tested, the HotShot was the only one that didn’t come with a heat retention claim. However, after 24 hours, the contents were still at 149 F, which is right in the middle of the sweet spot for tea and coffee drinking. In fact, this is one of the best travel-centric insulated bottles we’ve ever had our tea out of. And that includes all of the bottles we went through back in the day when we had to commute to the office every morning!

At only 18 ounces, the HotShot is easy to stuff in your pack, bag, water bottle pocket, or carry along with you. This is the one bottle we chose to take with us on both outdoor and indoor adventures and we found it to be perfect for an afternoon at the library with the kids. For that excursion, we swapped out the tea for some hot chocolate, and it kept the kids even-keeled throughout the afternoon.

Fair warning, even though the HotShot cap does provide 360 degrees of drinkability, the cap can be a little tough to securely tighten. This will lead to leakage but can be eliminated if you remember to really give it hell when you’re tightening it closed. A small thermos like the Zojirushi SM-TA48 will have a more secure lid (with a locking feature), but won’t be as quick to sip from or leave open, like the Hotshot.

For on-the-go coffee sipping, it’s hard to do better than the Rambler HotShot. Check out the 12 ounce size for espresso drinkers, and the 18 ounce size for drinks to last your entire commute.

Nothing beats a hot lunch on a cold day out in the backcountry. But if you’re not lugging in a huge thermos, how will you get your soup out there? The Hydro Flask Food Jar ($35) solved that problem as a functional, compact container made specifically for food.

The TempShield double insulation keeps your soups or stews hot for hours, and in our testing, it held tough with the other food-specific vessels like the Thermos Funtainer before dropping below the 136-degree threshold at around the 3-hour mark. It isn’t just ideal for cold weather, though. The container is a perfect size for a fresh fruit salad in the summer. It’s fully leakproof when closed correctly, and has an air valve to ensure no internal vacuum builds as food cools, making it a packable container for any trek.

While this insulated jar is made in four different sizes — 8, 12, 20, and 28 fluid ounces — we find that the latter two sizes are fairly small for fitting much into. The 20- and 28-fluid-ounce jars fit a respectable amount of soup, but the smaller sizes may be better suited to snacks. The long-term temperature retention was also a bit lacking on the Food Jar — hitting room temp by 24 hours — so aim to tuck into your soup before lunch.

Unlike a standard thermos, the Hydro Flask Food Jar is designed more like a bowl to provide a wide-mouth opening for ease while eating. Compared to more narrow-necked hot food vessels like the Maxso Insulated Thermoses, we vastly prefered eating directly out of the Hydro Flask jars. The tradeoff is in heat retention, so if you want to save some broth later in the day, the Maxso pack makes sense.

For autumn soups on the go (as well as mini charcuterie selections), the Hydro Flask Food Jars are our go-to for lunch out on the trails.

The YETI Rambler Mug ($30) took all the benefits of a classic thermos and put them into a trusty coffee mug. This Rambler Mug gives cabin retreats and backcountry camping ventures the perfect morning start by ensuring that your coffee stays hot and your tea is a continuously warm treat each night.

Since our initial testing, YETI has now upgraded the Rambler Mug to include their MagSlider lid, a hot or cold liquid-ready lid that uses magnets to help seal in your drink. It still isn’t 100% leakproof, but now greatly increases its spill protection. And yes, YETI kept the price the same. We will urge a full cleaning to strip the rubber O-ring after each use, however, as liquid likes to hide here, and frequent washings will keep this mug funk-free.

The 14-ounce mug is made from stainless steel with a DuraCoat finish, adding to its durability and preventing sweating when holding cold beverages. Because YETI designed the Rambler as a mug, the lid doesn’t provide the best heat retention, and after a full 24-hour test our coffee was stone cold. But to its credit, this mug did keep brew at 157 degrees for up to an hour, which is easily longer than any of us can slowly sip a cuppa joe (and for coffee snobs, still above the ideal range to serve your mug at — 136-150 degrees F).

For commutes where we won’t be using a cupholder (such as a 2-stroke-powered jog out to our favorite fishing hole), the Rambler Mug holds the pole position in our books, and when combined with a larger thermos like the Stanley Classic Legendary, the combo is nigh-unstoppable in providing toasty beverages all day long. When cupholders are obligated, we tend to gravitate toward the Hotshot bottle, but for enjoying a cup of joe in a cup — the Mug is where it’s at.

The Stanley Artisan Thermal Bottle ($45) is 20 ounces of nostalgia. Available in Hammertone Green and Black Moon, the Artisan is a fantastic balance between form and function. It’s sized right to be carried along in your bag or water bottle pocket, and won’t wince if you drop it on the trail and it rolls around for a while. The stainless steel cap/cup holds 8 ounces of liquid at a time which makes it perfect for a break on a trail, at the office, or between classes.

Unlike the Stanley Classic Legendary, the Artisan doesn’t have a handle, but we didn’t see it as a problem in terms of carrying or pouring. With that being the case, there’s no way to hang the bottle off anything. It needs to go in your pack or pocket or you’re going to have to carry it around. In either case, when filled to capacity, the Artisan only weighs a little over 2 lbs, which is nominal at best.

Stanley makes some wild claims about the Artisan. Where most of the other bottles we tested only had claims about keeping their contents hot for up to 24-hours, Stanley boasted that the Artisan would go a full 35-hours before the contents started to cool off. They were correct, as the temperature was still at 171 F at the 35-hour mark. 

In terms of durability, Stanley makes bottles meant to last a lifetime. If they were good enough to be carried around jobsites, factories, and campsites 100 years ago, there’s not much reason to believe a bottle like the Artisan couldn’t stand up to some serious use and abuse for years to come. Having dropped it a few times during the course of testing, we can attest that you’ve got nothing to worry about in terms of durability.

In the end, its a propensity to roll that keeps the Artisan series a notch lower than the Classic Legendary bottles. When chucked in the footwell of our trucks, the Artisan had a tendancy to work its way into a slosh, where the handled thermos stayed put. Even still, the good looks are undeniable, and if you’ve got a classic lunchbox to toss it in, the Artisan makes the grade.

With a history of creating high-quality vacuum bottles since 1923, Zojirushi is a market leader in insulated vessels, and the Stainless Mug SM-TA48 ($30) is proof positive that they can make one heck of a good thermos.

Made to exacting specifications, the beauty is in the details with the SM-TA48 Stainless Mug. The double-wall design is coated on the interior with a nonstick ceramic coating, which not only makes cleaning a breeze and protects against corrosion, but adds an additional layer of thermal retention, much like the glass-lined thermoses of old.

The lid is ingeniously designed and easily the favorite in our review, opening with a two-step release that locks out of the way for simple sipping.

There’s also a safety lock that ensures that your piping hot beverages stay where they should en route. Because it is a more involved lid, you’ll want to clean it after every use. You also, unfortunately don’t get a lid that doubles as a cup here, so sipping will be the one way to enjoy your beverage.

Our tester lent his Zojirushi thermos to a coworker who was headed to climb Denali and later reported still-hot results from the summit of North America. We saw similar temperature retention numbers in our own bench testing (only dipping below 136 degrees after a full 12 hours), so it’s safe to say that the SM-TA48 Stainless Mug can keep your cuppa warm wherever you might go.

We find this bottle in between the YETI Rambler Hotshot and the Contigo Byron 2.0, where the Hotshot is easier to drink from on-the-go (the flip-up lid of the Zojirushi makes it off-balance), and the Bryon didn’t have the best long-term heat retention numbers. Choose this thermos if you want impressive warmth over time, but take your time to enjoy the brew as well.

Unlike the standard travel coffee mug, the Contigo Byron 2.0 Travel Mug ($17) is designed with a SnapSeal lid to make the seal leakproof and keep coffee hot longer. In our leak testing, we found the claim to be true

The most popular size for the Contigo Travel Mug may seem small, but Contigo makes 16-, 20-, and 24-ounce size options. To further add to consumer design choices, Contigo gives you the option to have a handle, grip, or neither. We most appreciated the low profile of this mug when it came to commuting, where the Byron 2.0 slotted easily into any cup holder.

During our durability testing, we did find that this insulated mug didn’t have the most durable outer coating, which chipped a bit more than we expected when toppled from our truck tailgate. But the Contigo redeemed itself during the temperature test, where it held above the prime coffee drinking temp for four hours — twice as long as the YETI Rambler Mug.

It still won’t hold heat as long as the large thermoses, but for a commuter coffee mug, that’s plenty long in our books. We tend to enjoy the 360 degree sipping lid of the YETI Hotshot for most of our commuting these days, but for far less money, the Contigo makes a great case for itself.

The high-quality stainless-steel body is BPA-free and insulated well enough to keep liquids warm for up to 7 hours and cold for 18 hours. The lid on the Byron 2.0 Mug is plastic, so be aware that sometimes the flavors may overlap if you drink tea and coffee in the same mug.

First and foremost, if you’ve got small paws, keep scrolling — the Stanley Adventure To-Go Thermal Bottle ($35) is going to be too much bottle for you to handle on the go. However, if you’re stationary and have both hands free, you may just love this bottle as much as we did. Especially considering that the Adventure To-Go has a pour-through stopper that makes it easy to control the flow of the liquid you’re pouring.

Touted as being Stanley’s largest bottle in the series, this Adventure To-Go bottle can carry up to 44 ounces of your favorite liquid and keep it warm well past 24 hours. Like the Stanley Forge Thermal, the lid on this thermos is also vacuum insulated, and coming in at 186 F after 24 hours, this bottle was one of the highest rated in terms of temperature retention. A couple of people could easily rely on the Adventure To-Go to supply them with hot java throughout the day in the outdoors.

The smooth finish and the absence of a carry handle make the Adventure To-Go a little more cumbersome to manage and carry. And at 5 pounds at capacity, it can prove to be a little bit heavy for some. But we found that once you slide it into your pack, due to its slender profile, the bottle slips away amongst your gear.

Overall, however, the Adventure To-Go makes a great companion once you get to where you’re going. This thermos is the modern to the classic Artisan bottle, and lands just below the Classic Legendary in our rankings (mostly due to the lack of handle). Leaving it on a tree stump all day and going back to it to access more bean juice proved to be the perfect way to handle this modern take on a Stanley classic.

Maxso 2-Pack Insulated Thermoses ($37) are the perfect lunch companions for soup on and off the trail. The size and functionality of each can give you the confidence to store these anywhere in your pack or lunchbox.

They’re vacuum-insulated to keep food hot for up to 12 hours and cold for 24 hours. The top lid doubles as a bowl for eating, and the air-pressure-sealing lid secures the food within the thermos. With an updated design, a foldable spoon fits into the sealing lid.

While we did enjoy the all-in-one aspect of this thermos set, we found that in practice eating something like soup from the lid can be tough to clean from the threads. Be sure to bring along a way to give it a quick swipe before stowing. Eating directly from the vessel is better, and while the mouth isn’t as wide as the Hydro Flask Food Jars, it’s still manageable. We tend to reach for the Food Jars more often for day hike snacks, and these thermoses when we need soup or broth for dinner.

There’s one larger and one smaller thermos in the two-pack, and it comes with one foldable spoon. The containers are designed with a nonslip bottom and an easy-open air-pressure system that even your kids could get used to. For the price, the Maxso 2-Pack are excellent thermoses for soups and drinks alike.

Some of these bottles were designed to meet industry standards, but the Klean Kanteen TKPro Insulated Thermos ($50) took the assignment to the next level. How so? Well, how about the fact that the TKPro is rated to keep liquids warm for a whopping 38 hours? And does! Klean Kanteen also claims that it’ll keep liquid ice cold for up to 100 hours. That’s a challenge we’ll have to take on this summer for sure.

The TKPro features a really gnarly (pun intended) thread pattern for its cap and cup. We listed it as a pro and a con because when it works, it’s awesome (serious ASMR), but we found that in the cold and dark of night it took a little too much fumbling around to get it to close properly. Even still, it’s well-balanced — if you can see what you’re doing, you’ll do just fine.

There’s no getting around that the TKPro is big. In fact, it shares its diameter with the Stanley Adventure To-Go Thermal Bottle. But the big difference between the two bottles is that the TKPro has a grippy, matte finish that makes it easier to get a handle on — wet or dry. That Klean Coat finish is designed for use and abuse, and even though you’ll probably end up carrying the TKPro in your pack, it won’t mind getting dropped and rolling down a couple of rock screes.

After 24 hours of sitting in a below-freezing shed, the Klean Kanteen TKPro was still pouring at 182 F which is more than enough as well as an indication that you could more than likely expect to be drinking warm tea from it 48 hours in. If the cap design appeals to you, this thermos is a great option.

Utilizing the classic Thermos design in a smaller package, the Funtainer is perfect for kids. The Funtainer ($17) is a 10-ounce food jar for kids to pack in a lunch and is available in multiple designs and patterns. It will keep food cold for up to 7 hours or hot for 5 hours while the container’s exterior remains cool enough for your kids to handle.

The Funtainer has an extra-wide opening for food to make it easy for kids to eat directly from the container. They’re vacuum-insulated and use BPA-free materials, making them leakproof and easy to clean. Plus, this kid-friendly thermos comes with a packable folding spoon.

The downside, here, is that heat retention isn’t exceptional — passing the 136 degrees threshold just after four hours — and that the plastic lid and lock mechanism felt cheaper and more liable to breaking. If you pack a school lunch for your kids every day, this thermos is the perfect size for a lunchbox. Just note it won’t regulate hot food temperature well if put in a lunchbox with an ice pack.

Ground control to Major Tom — we found your thermos, it was on an expedition to Everest. With a capacity of 2 liters, the Zojirushi Tuff Sports Bottle ($72) is one of the largest stature bottles that we put through the wringer. It’s also the largest in volume which makes the Zojirushi perfect for sharing. But what’s more, it looks like a classic thermos bottle, if NASA designed it.

One shining feature of the Zojirushi is its easy-pour spout that allows you to keep the cap on the bottle and preserve the internal temperature. In testing, the temperature of the contents dropped the least out of the batch we tested — coming in at 191 degrees after 24 hours of living out in the cold. Coupled with the collapsable grab handle, you can be sure that you won’t spill even a drop when pouring, even with gloves on.

Probably overkill for a day hike or for traveling, the Zojirushi is the perfect bottle for sharing or extended expeditions. If not both. The secondary drinking cup, stored under the primary cup, is the chef’s kiss, allowing whomever you’re with to have their own means of drinking whatever delicious elixir you carry around in it. 

With its non-stick liner and wide mouth opening, we found that the Zojirushi is best suited for carrying around soups and stews. At 13” tall with a diameter of 5”, the bottle is pretty big, but considering some of the other food-carrying containers out there on the market today, this stainless steel tube can slip into your pack without being unruly. That said, we’re still puzzled as to how the cap seemed to lock into the same position every time without cross-threading or getting misaligned. That’s science for you!

There’s a reason this thermos comes with an over-shoulder strap, and it’s the sheer size. We feel that this thermos is just a bit too large for everyday use, but if you need to port around hot drinks for an exceptionally long time, this could well be the thermos to do it with.