Tommee Tippee Sporty Bottle Review

Performance Comparison

Likes

The Tommee Tippee Sporty Bottle has a slim tapered design that allows it to fit in most cup holders. The bottle body has ridges on it that help little ones hold, and grip the cup easily. The cup is also lightweight, so when combined with the other design features, it creates a cup that is easy for little ones to hold, rotate, or return to their cup holder. It is a comfortable cup to have in hand, and is simple to bring to the face, and set down solidly without tipping it over.

This cup scored a perfect 10 of 10 for leaks. It was impossible to convince the cup to leak, and we even tried threats. Whether it was upside down or sideways, shaken vigorously or tossed on the ground, this cup didn't lose a drop of liquid.

Which is exactly what a sippy cup should do, so imagine our surprise that many of the other cups we tested had trouble with this basic metric of a sippy cup. Only 5 other cups out of the 21 we tested managed to score a perfect 10 in this metric. On top of that, many of the perfect leak score cups were difficult to drink from. Which was NOT the case for the Sporty Bottle.

The Sporty Bottle also earned a perfect 10 for ease of sucking. A feat not many cups managed, and those that didto hold rarely coupled it with leak score, which made this cup somewhat of an anomaly.

The easiflow technology of this lid really did its job of being easy to use and leak proof. The sport cap design didn't require a push/pull top, but instead, it closed on its own when not in use. The flow rate of the liquid was constant and predictable, which made it comfortable to drink from and limited air swallowing, and possible choking from unexpected water flow.

It is also a benefit that the lids of all the easiflow cups in the Tommee Tippiee lineup are interchangeable. This meant the lids could be changed if a toddler preferred a different spout type, or was ready to move on from the sport bottle spout. The spout and valve also earned points for the cup by being easy to drink from and requiring little sucking action to make it work. The American Dental Association prefers a cup that had no valve, and required no sucking for better oral hygiene, so we gave cups that required little sucking a better score for aligning with the ADA recommendation.

Dislikes

This cup was only lacking in two metrics, ease of cleaning and eco-health. For ease of cleaning, it lost points for having 4 parts,

and taking longer than average to take apart. The pieces were dishwasher safe, but we recommend hand washing to avoid exposing the plastic to unnecessary heat. While the cup did have 4 parts, once we took them a part a few times it was fairly easy to get them back together, and it seemed like second nature over time.

For eco-health this cup lost points for being made of plastic. While the manufacturer does specify the plastic is BPA-free, they do not specify what specific kind of plastic is used in the cups. Plastic of any kind gives us pause, it isn't specific to this particular cup. In general, some studies indicate that some plastics, besides BPA plastics, potentially leach endocrine interrupters into their contents. So while we have no way of knowing which cups have these properties, we do feel it is worth consideration when choosing a cup. Certainly we are not demonizing plastics, as much as we are saying parents should be aware of the potential risks, and why we prefer stainless steel and glass over plastic cups in general. See our article on Are Plastics Safe for Baby Bottles and Sippy Cups.

Conclusion

This is a well-functioning, plastic cup that offered everything a great sippy should. It is easy to use, easy to drink from, and it never leaked. While we weren't a fan of the plastic cups in general, the plastic cups did tend to be more economical than the cups made of stainless steel and glass. That aside however, there is no question, or doubt, that this cup held its own with the big boys, and eco-healthy big hitters. Which really just goes to prove how great this cup is. Without any eco-health point bump, this cup managed to outscore all but 1 other cup in our tests. This indicated that the Sporty Bottle was a better overall cup than just about any cup we tested. Not too shabby really. We do recommend this cup, which is why we gave it the Best Value Award.