LARQ Water Bottle Review: A Water Bottle That Cleans Itself

Caroline Morse Teel is the Managing Editor for SmarterTravel Media. Follow her on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline.

Caroline joined Boston-based SmarterTravel in 2011 after living in Ireland, London, and Manhattan. She's traveled to all seven continents, jumped out of planes, and bungeed off bridges in the pursuit of a good story. She loves exploring off-the-beaten path destinations, anything outdoorsy, and all things adventure.

Her stories have also appeared online at USA Today, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Yahoo, Boston.com, TripAdvisor, Buzzfeed, Jetsetter, Oyster, Airfarewatchdog, and others.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: "Earplugs. A good pair has saved my sleep and sanity many times!"

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E-mail her at cteel@smartertravel.com.

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Are you guilty of not washing your water bottle as often as you should? Hate that musty smell bottles acquire after they’ve been sitting out too long? You need a water bottle that will clean itself and purify the water inside—The LARQ Bottle.

LARQ Bottle Review:

Price and Where to Buy: The LARQ Bottle costs $95 for the 17-ounce size and is available on LARQ’s website and at Bloomingdale’s.

How the LARQ Bottle Rates:

Usefulness: 10/10. The LARQ Bottle is self-cleaning. It uses a UV light that’s built into the cap to clean your bottle. In normal mode, the LARQ will clean itself every two hours, but you can simply press a button to clean the bottle whenever you like, or turn off the feature for traveling. Not only does the LARQ’s UV light clean the bottle, but it also purifies the water inside, making it safe to drink, no matter what the source.
Durability: 10/10. I’ve dropped this double-insulated bottle a few times, and it doesn’t have any dents or scratches to show for it. The UV light is recharged via USB, and one charge will last up to one month.
Portability: 9/10. The 17 oz. size is thinner and more lightweight than most insulated bottles, which makes the LARQ nice to carry around. Water will stay cold for 24 hours in this bottle.
Ease of Use: 10/10. The LARQ automatically cleans itself without you having to do anything, or you can activate the UV light with one press of a button. Other modes, such as adventure (which eliminates up to 99.9999 percent of germs and bacteria) can be easily turned on with two taps. This is definitely the easiest way to purify water, with the caveat that if you’re drinking from a source that has debris or dirt, you’ll need to filter out any solids before putting the water in the LARQ.

Final Verdict: Enjoy clean, cold, and safe-to-drink water out of a clean water bottle anywhere you go with the revolutionary LARQ.

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Caroline Morse Teel is always on the hunt for the newest and best travel gear. Follow her on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline.

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