Drinking Water as a Video Game Isn’t as Dumb as It Sounds

That’s at least part of the premise behind the Larq Bottle PureVis 2, a smart water bottle that tracks how much water you’ve consumed throughout your day. The bottle contains an internal sensor system that measures the water level inside it each time you take a sip and reclose the top. That’s one part of Larq. The other part is a proprietary cleaning system attached to the bottle’s straw that cleans and purifies the water inside. All together, the device is about as high-tech as a water bottle can get. And at $140 for the 34-ounce and $130 for the 23-ounce bottle, you likely need to be quite serious about your hydration needs to justify the cost.

Drinking Water Like It’s a Video Game

While I’ve tracked many health metrics in the past, I’ve honestly never thought all that much about hydration. Despite knowing the scary rule that thirst usually means dehydration—and that water is literally essential to life—I’ve mainly just drank water when I’m thirsty and stopped when I felt hydrated. So I was super curious to see how much water I was actually consuming based on vibes alone.

When you first set up the Larq Bottle PureVis 2, it takes you through a series of questions about your water needs, including your age and how often and vigorously you typically exercise. Based on those questions, the app told me that I should consume about 57.1 ounces of water per day. That seemed fairly doable, especially considering how hot it was (summer in New York City has been high 80s Fahrenheit) and the fact that I go on at least a 30-minute-ish run most days.

Each time you take a sip of water from the Larq Bottle PureVis 2 and close the lid, the sensor recalibrates how much water is left and calculates the amount of liquid you just consumed. It then reveals this information on a meter on the app. No matter how little or how much you drank, it adds it into your overall total. This part I found addictive because it basically turns drinking water into a video game, and I got completely hooked. I looked forward to seeing the meter inch closer to 100% with each sip. However, unfortunately, the sensor didn’t work perfectly every time. There were times when I would consume a decent amount of water, and the sensor or app, for whatever reason, wouldn’t register that amount that I just drank, and nothing I did to try to fix it—make sure the battery was charged, refill the water bottle to the top again, etc.—would fix it. I found this somewhat frustrating because again, I had become committed to getting as far as I could to 100% by the end of the day, and if I drank a large amount of water and it didn’t register, that was quite frustrating. And it happened often enough that I couldn’t shrug it off.

When it did work, which was the majority of the time (if I had to put a number on it, it would probably be 75% of the time), it was incredibly fun and also useful to track my water intake. This was especially true throughout the day when I otherwise wouldn’t be thinking about my hydration status. I found that without prompting myself to, I actually rarely drank water. Like almost none at all. I would drink a glass when I woke up and immediately after I worked out, but other than that I basically lived in a dehydrated state.

See Larq Bottle PureVis 2 at Amazon

The other component of this water bottle—the two-step water purification system—I found far less useful. I drink tap water from New York City, which is already well filtered, and I didn’t find that the filter system on the PureVis 2 made it taste any better. I could see this as more useful if I lived in an area where the tap water wasn’t well filtered or if I was traveling and I didn’t know how potable the tap water was in the area I was in. According to Larq, the purification system works via a proprietary filter, which removes chlorine as well as both perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) from the water. PFOA and PFOS are lab-made chemicals (commonly known as forever chemicals) that don’t break down easily, making them potentially hazardous to human health in ways we don’t fully understand yet. It also has a UV light built into the bottle’s cap that periodically sanitizes the water. You can also sanitize the water at any time by pressing the button on the top of the bottle.

Costs Too Much

There’s no way around this: a water bottle that is over $100 feels like too much. But it did make me drink more water than I would have otherwise. I enjoyed turning drinking water—a mundane task—into a game. The fun also didn’t really get old in the couple of weeks that I tried this out. While I would surmise that it would become less enjoyable over time, it would always be nice to know definitely just how much water I was consuming. Do you need a hydration meter to do that? Probably not. But if it works, it’s not like your money is going to waste. Better hydration has been linked to better long-term health in numerous studies. This makes sense: water plays a vital role in just about every organ system in your body.

There is also some amount of upkeep, which you usually don’t expect in a water bottle. The bottle is charged with USB-C, and according to Larq, one charge will last a full month. When the battery is low, the cap will blink yellow. You can also see the battery level in the app. Larq also says the sensor will likely never need to be replaced, as it’s designed to last for more than 100,000 cycles. The filter, though, does need to be swapped every couple of months, depending on use, and the app will tell you when it’s time to get a new one.

So no, you don’t need a $100-plus water bottle. But if you are looking for an engaging way to improve your hydration status throughout the day or you need a filtration system on the go, the Larq Bottle PureVis 2 gets the job done the majority of the time. Just don’t expect it to log your sips perfectly.

See Larq Bottle PureVis 2 at Amazon