Philips AVENT Straw Cup Review

Philips AVENT Straw Cup is a BPA-free, plastic, straw sippy cup made by Philips. The cup has a twist top feature that keeps the straw concealed, and protected from debris when not in use. The cup has a silicone straw with an integrated valve to ensure it is leak-proof. It comes in pink and blue, with a active bunny design. The cup lid is interchangeable with the entire AVENT lineup, it has few parts, and is dishwasher safe. The cup has a slightly higher than average price, but still within the reasonable economic sippy range. This sippy is widely available online, and in most stores.

Performance Comparison

Likes

This sippy cup did well in our leakage testing. It scored a 9 of 10, losing just a point for some dripping when held upside down. In fairness though we suspect that was just left over liquid trapped in the straw, not significant leaking from the main body contents, so it certainly wasn't a deal breaker for us.
We also liked the twist cap that stores the straw inside to help prevent it from getting dirty, and to aid in possible leaking. The lid was easy to turn, and did a good job at keeping the straw debris free. Even the transition babies seemed capable of turning the lid. Some of the in-house testers found the twist lid to be somewhat of a fun play toy as well.

This cup was very lightweight, and scored well in this metric. Its easy to hold, squat style, and lightweight construction made it easier for toddlers and babies to hold than many of the other cups we reviewed.

Dislikes

We did not like the ease of use of this cup. At first glance it appears to be a pretty straight forward run of the mill sippy, but actually using it was another story. This sippy was difficult to drink from, and scored poorly in this metric. Several other cups scored lower, like the Eco Vessel Stainless Steel Insulated which earned a 1, and the Munchkin Click Lock which earned a 3 of 10, so it wasn't alone in its woes for this metric. However we expected a straw cup to be easier to drink from and require less sucking than most sippy cups not more. This meant it was also not a cup the American Dental Association would recommend. Given their preference for straws they might like this cup, but the hard to drink from valve meant increased sucking, something the ADA is not fond of for oral hygiene.

Ease of cleaning was another thing we didn't really care for with this sippy. This cup had several parts that required dismantle, before proper cleaning could happen. It needed a special straw brush to clean the straw, and the fancy twist lock top made it more difficult than its competition to clean in the crevices. It felt like we couldn't get the top clean in the back where the straw is kept when closed.

This cup also scored low for eco-health because it is made primarily of plastic. While it did earn some points for a silicone valve and straw, the body of the cup is made of BPA-free plastic. Given the potential that some plastics may possibly leach chemicals into their contents, especially when exposed to heat, we weren't too keen on any of the plastic cups in our tests.

Our concern was not isolated to this particular cup or brand, but was a general concern for all the cups we tested made of plastic. We aren't saying this particular cup, or any other cup, has leaching properties, we are simply we like to err on the side of caution, and gave truly inert materials a higher score; namely glass and stainless steel.

Conclusion

Philips makes a quality constructed cup with nice interchangeable lid options, and twisting straw storage feature we rather liked. However, at the end of testing, it seemed this cup just failed to measure up to the competition in any metric really. While it was nicely leak free for the most part, many of the cups we tested could boast the same score or higher. So given its lack of above average score in the other categories, it failed to do well, ranking it just 18 out of 21 cups in our tests. Therefore, we had no choice but to not recommend this cup.