January 19, 2010

Travel mugs continue to be one of the most popular product categories in the promotional product industry.  They are highly used by consumers and are available in many different price points.  We recently undertook an experiment to show the difference in the ability of travels mugs to retain their heat.  We compared four popular models and discuss the reasons why there is such a difference in the results. 

For our experiment, we picked four popular travel mugs; a plastic 16oz. Double Wall Travel Tumbler  that is pictured on the far left (item # JEBYF-CGISA), the 14oz Fusion Acrylic and Stainless Steel Tumbler that is pictured in the middle left (item #  DEGZB-FABIG), the 15oz. Columbia Stainless Steel Tumbler that is pictured on the middle right (item # FBDCK-FPORX) and the Thermos 16oz. Stainless Steel Travel Tumbler that is pictured on the far right (item # MEEDG-DTAZN).

The plastic mug is made with a double wall layer of plastic for warmth protection and the Fusion mug has foam insulation with a single stainless stell wall.  The Columbia Tumbler is made with a stainless steel double wall with foam insulation and the Thermos mug is made with a stainless steel double wall with vacuum insulation. 

Vacuum insulation is the premium choice for long lasting heat retention.  The vacuum insulation virtually eliminates temperature changes by creating an airless vacuum space between two stainless steel walls.  The result is an insulation layer that performs better than any other. 

Knowing that vacuum insulation is better than other models of insulation, we wanted to quantify the difference.  So we heated up liquid to 167 degrees and poured it into the four different mugs and left them out at room temperature (70 degrees).  Below are the results

As you can see by these results, the plastic travel mug performed the worst at retaining its heat while the Thermos vacuum insulated travel mug was still significantly warmer after 7 hours.  While after three hours the three other mugs had cooled significantly, the vacuum insulated mug was still piping hot at that time.  The one surprise that we had was that the single wall and the double wall foam insulated mugs retained their heat at basically the same levels. 

Now you do pay for this performance.  The plastic tumbler runs as low as $2.59 each and the Vacuum insulated mug can be as much as $15.21 each.  The other two mugs, the single and the double wall fall in-between these price points. 

The old adage is you get what you pay for and again in this instance, it is true.  If you are looking to impress and want to offer a high end product for your clients, prospects and employees, then consider investing in the vacuum insulated mug.  It does cost more per piece, but it does have a wow factor in how well it retains its heat and will surely be the mug of choice by its users.  

To order these mugs, click HERE.