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Travel will change your life but there are still some things to consider when you are traveling, particularly when it comes to your personal health. In some countries the water is unsafe but not only that you need to consider the germs spread by plane tray tables and different items we touch on a regular basis.

So, how do you protect yourself while still getting to experience all the incredible things this world has to offer? You need a water bottle that is not only reusable (because sustainable travel is also important) you need something that you could use to sterilize things like that plane tray table.

Enter CrazyCap Water Purifier.

To me this water bottle and it’s sterilizing cap are the perfect travel companion. I have one and love its versatility in the many aspects of my life and wanted to share it with and why I think everyone needs one.

What is CrazyCap?

Though it typically comes as part of a stainless steel 17-ounce (500mL) water bottle, it’s the cap that’s the key. Together though it is a self-cleaning and water purification system.

The kit comes with the stainless steel bottle, CrazyCap and charger. The cap itself is a UVC LED light with a touch button on top that controls the length of sterilization time. And it’s pretty smart too.

What does CrazyCap do?

You can use CrazyCap to purify your drinking water from mold, bacteria, and viruses.

There are two modes on the cap itself, touching the cap twice will sterilize fairly safe water (from the sink or a water fountain). For more streams and other water sources of more questionable safety, you press the top 5 times to enter “Crazy Mode” which sterilizes for a longer time period.

Not only that, every 4 hours the light comes on and runs for 20 seconds to sterilize the bottle. If you, like me, have noticed that after a while your water bottle gets a kind of funky smell, this solves that problem.

That 20 seconds of run time is sterilizing your bottle, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning it or nasty mold or bacterial buildup.

How does it work?

When you first receive your bottle you will need to attach the USB charger to the cap and make sure you have a full charge. The manufacturer says that charge lasts for about a week.

The cool thing is you can check your charge remaining by tapping the button on top of the cap. If it’s green you have >50% of your battery remaining, orange indicates 25-49% and red is <25% charge left.

Use CrazyCap to sterilize your bottle

This one takes very little effort. You don’t actually have to do anything because it does it on it’s own.

Like I mentioned above, every 4 hours it will turn on for 20 seconds and sterilize your bottle. Even if there is water in there.

For sterilizing relatively clean water

If you are filling up at a water fountain, hotel room, or airport bottle fill-up station you might want to do a quick sterilization.

By tapping the top of the cap twice you will activate “Normal Mode” and the cap will sterilize for about 1 minute. This will be enough to kill off anything that may be lingering in this relatively safe water.

For sterilizing water from stream or water considered “unsafe”

If you are by a fairly clean looking stream or in a country with “unsafe” drinking water you would use “Crazy Mode.” Tapping the cap 5 times will activate the sterilization process for 2.5 minutes. After that you’re good to go.

One caveat of this is that the water cannot have organic debris in there. If there is debris in your water, the sterilization process will not work properly.

Use CrazyCap to Sterilize Surfaces

For sterilizing items like phones, laptops, utensils, or your airplane tray table you take the cap and hold it approximately 4-5 inches away from the item you wish to sterilize.

The manual that comes with the product states “Make sure to cover the entire surface of treatment by moving the light slowly throughout the complete Crazy mode cycle. Surface sterilization efficacy is 5-square-inches-per-minute.”

Pros and Cons of CrazyCap

Pros

• Maintenance is a breeze. You do not need to wash the bottle, ever. It just does it itself every 4 hours.
• Life-time warranty (I mean who doesn’t love that?).
• The Cap can be used on other bottles, not just the one it comes with. Meaning, it fits any sport bottle as well as most 9-, 12- and 17-ounce cola-style bottles. So, you can sterilize multiple bottles of water before heading out.
• It can be used to sterilize surfaces.
• It destroys 99.99% of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens in 2.5 minutes (Crazy Mode).
• A single charge lasts one week.
• There are no replacement filters needed.

Cons

I think the two biggest Cons are these:

• Cost ($89.95 on their website)
• Not ideal for water sources on treks
  • Let me explain. Many of the water sources you come across while hiking are going to have an abundance of organic debris, which is often hard to avoid. This bottle is not ideal for that as organic debris hinders the sterilization process. To me this bottle is much better suited for travel to countries where water sources are considered “unsafe” or areas with fairly clean and pristine looking streams.

Concluding Thoughts

I know the cost of this system may cause a lot of people to hesitate, but I am not joking, this thing is amazing. I use it for travel, for working out, and on some of my outdoor adventures (particularly if there are springs or relatively debris free water sources nearby. And with all the options for use, the benefit to me outweighs the cost.

It is also a great way to be more sustainable while you travel. How? Well, instead of buying water in a country with no potable water, you can safely consume the water and not have to worry about all those plastic bottles. It’s a win-win.

So, whether you are getting one for yourself or as a gift for your adventurous friend, it’s my top travel water purification system. For more ideas on top gifts for adventure travelers check out my suggestions here.