Fidlock Fidguard Bottle 600

There are many exciting claims about the Fidlock Fidguard Bottle, but while you may associate Fidlock mostly with its clever use of magnets, the 'Fidguard technology' here won't trouble a single iron filing. It's antibacterial, though, and rest assured this bottle does bottle things in a suitably bottle-ish way.

For more options, check out this guide to the best cycling water bottles you can buy.

> Buy now: Fidlock Fidguard Bottle 600 for £9.99 from Ride Scotland

Fidlock claims this thing hobbles bacteria with its 'innovative Fidguard technology', but also says the same tech has already been successfully used in the food and medical industries. It's hard to see how it's innovative, then. The company also says this tech stops bacteria growing via a physical process, and doesn't rely on 'chemical additives'.

By this it presumably means there are no coatings (that might wear off) applied after the bottle is made, because also presumably – surely – this plastic must use a chemical additive at the production stage.

Fidlock doesn't say what's involved, but silver-ion-based inorganic compounds are often used in antibacterial (and more comprehensive antimicrobial) products, as they react with water to release ions that more or less stab the bacteria to death. And yes, 'more or less' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

The benefit is that damp bottles won't grow musty or mouldy while you're not using them.

To give this a hard time I filled it with the sort of popular cola that can dissolve a metal tooth in under 60 seconds, drank two-thirds of it and then left it on the side for several days before washing it. After that I filled it with plain water and did my very best to detect any aftertaste, mustiness or that oaky, playful hint of diet petrol. There was none.

Valve

I was hoping for magnets, but no – it's the usual sort of valve. Pull up and it opens, letting out a usefully torrential flow when you give the flexy sides a squeeze. Push down and it closes and doesn't leak. It's softish and has a nice big lip to grip with your teeth, but it takes a lot of force to drag it open. A lot. You better have good teeth.

Neither the stopper nor the lid leak, even with the bottle lying on its side, which is good considering the lid doesn't have a separate seal; the lid effectively creates a narrow labyrinth seal with the bottle's rim. It works.

Does it fit in a bottle cage? Yes. Does it stay in there when it's rough? Yes.

Value

At £9.99 this is reasonably priced compared with other basic bottles we've reviewed – some are considerably more, but generally those have extra features such as dirt shields, gel pouches or thermal insulation.

This Fidlock is the same price as the also-simple 600ml Fabric Gripper Bottle, for instance, and an entire penny less than the Lezyne Flow Bottle – though that's bigger at 750ml, and when Jamie tested it in 2021 he found it didn't retain unwanted flavours, but it wasn't a great fit in all cages.

You can pay less, however – the Elite Jet Bottle is still £4.99, as it was when we reviewed it in the summer of 2020, and is now biodegradeable as well. It's slightly smaller at 550ml, though.

Conclusion

Overall, the Fidguard is nicely squeezy, easy to get a high rate of water from, and antibacterial. It takes a proper yank to open, mind you, but let's not end on a negative – if your teeth aren't up to it, this bottle is currently both easier and cheaper than finding a dentist.

Verdict

Does everything you might hope, though the valve is quite tough to open