Is the Zak Designs Stainless Steel Sippy Cup better?

The Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup (Kelso) piqued my interest when I’d decided to throw out the plastic and polypropylene drinkware my toddler had been using. But did this stainless steel sippy cup turn out to be a better choice?

Summary (TL;DR)

Deciding to throw away plasticware

As I was updating my baby bottles post the other day, I discovered the lawsuit against Philips and Dr Brown. The two companies are being sued for using polypropylene for their baby bottles. Allegedly, this material, when heated, releases microplastics into the milk.

Now my little one had used her Philips Avent way past the due date (18 months). But reading about polypropylene, I knew I had to toss out the toxic polypropylene bottles stat, and find a good alternative.

So I bought a few Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cups.

PROS / What I LIKE about the Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup

The Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup has a simple design and form, and combines the use of stainless steel, plastic (lid, straw), and silicone (soft spout). It’s easy for little one to grip, and the drinking straw is a nice, big size. I think the purpose of this is for little one to get enough milk without having to try very hard.

No tricky parts

A while back, something our plumber said stuck with me: that sometimes, more parts means more parts could break. So I’m glad this sippy cup’s parts are easy to get to and clean.

This way, mold is less likely to find a spot to hide and grow. For this, I use a straw brush and a bottle brush. And it’s satisfying seeing the straw brush remove clumpy milk off the sides of the clear straw.

I do recommend getting a sippy cup cleaner or a set of small cleaning brushes, the ones for a toaster or humidifier. These will help you clean the nooks and threads on the lid or cover and soft spout/bite valve (a single unit) of this Zak sippy cup.

Replacement parts are also available for purchase from Zak.

Good price, seems durable

Price-wise, it seems to be mid-range at $17+ for this 12 oz. Kelso cup, compared to other stainless steel sippy cups. And while I have yet to find out how truly durable it is as it’s been under 2 weeks since I got these sippy cups…

So far, I don’t see any dents on the cup. It seems to be made of thicker metal that absorbs shock quite well, and doesn’t dent easily.

I’ve seen my little one chew on the soft spout as well, and her doing that doesn’t look like it’s damaged the spout.

No polypropylene?

I’m not sure if the plastic straw inside will release microplastics into the milk, but I feel like there are possibly less concerns with microplastics when it comes to this sippy cup. At least it seems that the use of plastic is minimal.

All in all a good sippy cup

With this 12 oz. sippy cup, my 3 yr. old usually ends up with leftover milk, but I think in time, she will likely be drinking more.

CONS / What I DON’T LIKE about the Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup

It hasn’t been 2 weeks, and the design is peeling off.

Granted, this is just a cosmetic thing and doesn’t really affect the way the stainless steel sippy cup works.

That said…

I guess at first, I thought the design would be covered with some sort of protective thing over it, so the design doesn’t peel off. But now it doesn’t look like it.

So looking at the sippy cups now, I’m thinking it may not have been the best idea to feature designs on them.

Now if the designs started peeling maybe months after buying the Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup, that’s more understandable.

But less than 2 weeks? 🤨 And to think I didn’t even put these in the dishwasher.

No protective silicone on the cup

I wish this stainless steel sippy cup had some type of handle or silicone thing on the body. To protect hands from the temperature of the liquid, whether it’s too hot or too cold. Maybe the silicone could also keep the sippy cup safer from impact. And if you drop this thing on yourself, it may just hurt a little less with the silicone. Maybe.

No “any angle” straw

I understand that this is a travel sippy cup, and doesn’t look like it was made for drinking while laying down, but an “any angle straw” option would’ve been nice.

Doesn’t convert

It doesn’t appear that the sippy can convert to an open cup. At least I don’t think it can. That would be a nice addition.

Does the Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup have toxic metals in it?

This wasn’t something I considered, because when I heard about what happens with polypropylene, my first instinct was to run away from plastic.

But now I wonder if finding the Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup is like finding happiness in a rebound boyfriend. Where after 2 weeks, you realize that your really cute rebound bf keeps insisting that the earth is flat.

So I decided to ask Zak about lead. And I received a likely copied and pasted template response. But I’m glad I was provided an answer. Here’s what Zak had to say.

Reading Zak’s response…

I felt entangled in some reality TV show drama.

First, they said they’re unable to click on “strange links.” Referring to the lead testing blog. Their words. Touché. This also tells you that gurl, the gloves are off.

Then here’s a summary of their response: there’s a “very small liquid pellet with trace amounts of lead” at the bottom of their vacuum insulated tumblers. But it’s really not likely that the sealing will come off from regular use, as the bottom cover is “welded” and “never comes in contact with the liquid inside.” They added,

“All of our products are tested by the global leaders in third-party testing to ensure that they meet all standards and requirements, including lead.”

– Zak (Customer Support)

And in the event that the sealing comes off, they said to throw away the tumbler and ask for a replacement.

For about a day before that, I felt extremely scared

And ended up on a paranoia spiral in my head, where I started questioning what we value as a society, if we have a skewed moral compass, and why we focus on innovating other things when we can’t provide our kids basic safety.

Why try to escape to another planet that we’ll just turn into Earth 2.0?

That planet will just be another place for us to destroy.

Though as I continued to read the lead blog, I did notice that one of the products they recommended was the Philips Avent bottle. Which I first thought was the best baby bottle available. But may be problematic.

This further worsened my fears and had me thinking that we can’t trust anything or anyone, that “BPA-free” is sometimes a red herring that makes you look at 1 good thing so you don’t see the maybe other bad things.

“At the end of the day, leak-free is no good if a product isn’t lead-free,” I thought.

This sippy sent me to a rabbit hole

But after about a day, I tried putting things into perspective. With self-preservation, it’s good to heed warnings and have a healthy level of fear. But sometimes, it’s a good idea to take things with a grain of salt.

Preferably with no lead in it. Sorry, I was still reeling from all the lead stuff I’d read.

Find out if the source of your information is reliable. Thinking about it now, I believe the creator of the blog is well-meaning. And yet I don’t know:

1. What kind of equipment they use
2. How reliable the lead test kits they use are (this article from CPSC says lead test kits can be unreliable)
3. If the blogger is a trained professional, or a scientist that is able to translate or interpret their findings as a professional

What ChatGPT Says

Sometimes, right before I go to sleep at nearly 5AM, I lie awake with a question on my mind: whose team is ChatGPT on?

ChatGPT says that these are the “safe alternatives” available: tempered glass or borosilicate, silicone, natural and safely-coated bamboo, no toxic oils or melamine binder coating.

Dangerous—in other ways

One time, I lost my grip on this cup. Working the night shift, I am often sleepless and sometimes clumsy. And I dropped this stainless steel sippy cup on my foot.

Let me tell you, it hurt like a mutha.

On its own, the Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup, being made of mostly solid metal, is already fairly heavy. Now add 12 oz. of liquid to it. Then drop that baby on your foot (rhetorical—don’t do that).

Boy, it’s going to hurt.

As mentioned, the cup is fairly sturdy. So the sippy cup is going to be perfectly fine and dandy.

Besides, your foot absorbed most of the shock.

Now let’s say you have a tantrum-y toddler that likes to throw things. And they throw this Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup at your vehicle. This thing may leave your car with a dent.

You may then need literal physical and/or emotional therapy from the trauma this sippy cup could cause you. Just saying.

“Preposterous how ponderous this thing is!“

Lego pieces can fit through the straw

If your toddler is like mine, then they will likely try to stuff small things into things that those small things fit into. I found about 6-7 small Lego pieces, and some ended up right in the liquid. Just a heads up.

Similar stainless steel sippy cups

Owala Kids Flip Stainless Steel Tumbler with Spill Resistant Flexible Straw $$

Hydro Flask Kids Tumbler Jr. $$

Owala Kids Insulation Stainless Steel Tumbler with Spill Resistant Flexible Straw $$

And with all that information provided…

I’ll let you decide if you want the Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cup.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

Before I end this review, I’ll come clean about something. During my like 36 hrs. of pure panic where I thought I was exposing my toddler to poison, I ended up buying a few “Brand G” (let’s call it that) insulated drinkware that was tagged as “lead-free” by the lead blog.

And I remember a piece of advice from the blog, telling people not to buy insulated drinkware with a “dimple” at the bottom, as these are supposedly the pellets with lead in them. Likewise, the blog adds that a cover or sticker may be covering that lead pellet.

Inspecting the bottom of these “lead-free” insulated Brand G tumblers recommended by the lead blog, it looks like there’s also a pellet there. Whether this has lead or not, I have no idea. But the dimple looks a lot like the pellet that’s welded to the bottom of the Zak Designs stainless steel sippy cups, from the blog pictures.

And Brand G’s pellet looks painted over, with no cover or sticker on top of it. The hard straw inside also appears to be made out of polypropylene (hard, semi-transparent plastic). And is dyed a dark shade of blue.

Allegedly, this infamous pellet is also used by the cult-favorite “S” tumblers that have become very popular here in the US.

So now it’s hard not to imagine these cups fighting like kids at a playground…

Sippy 1: Your mom has lead!
Sippy 2: YOUR MOM has LEAD!!!

And with all of that said…

Is there really much of a difference? Because at this point, it’s looking like a lot of these insulated travel mugs use these pellets. And it may just be standard practice to do that.

Maybe there’s no escaping that pellet. Or lead. Which seems to be everywhere.

What do you think?

Is there a sippy cup you would recommend? Are you an authority on drinkware safety? Please share your thoughts.

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