My use-case is quite different than most here. I recently finished ITI350 (a 300+ mile race from Knik Lake to McGrath, Alaska on the Iditarod trail) on my fatbike and used the 22 oz Camelbak stainless insulated bottle as a part of my hydration system. During the race my primary concern was keeping liquid from freezing. Temps rarely were above 0F during the 6 days I was out there, and it was very windy most of the time.
At every opportunity I would fill my insulated 2.5L bladder, a 1L Yeti insulated bottle, and the 22 oz Camelbak bottle with hot water. The camelbak bottle would also get 4 scoops of carb mix (unflavored tailwind) each time it was filled. The plan was to sip on the bottle for 2ish hours, supplementing with sips of plain water from my bladder. I’d refill the camelbak bottle from my bladder when empty and add more tailwind. The Yeti bottle was a backup for when the bladder ran dry.
I kept my camelbak bottle in a feedbag next to my handlebars, and a small portion of the bottle was exposed directly to the air. I would keep the bottle locked and upside down in the feedbag to prevent the valve from freezing.
The only time the camelbak bottle froze was on the climb up over Rainy Pass, where temps were in the -20s F with a 20-40mph headwind over the 16+ hours I was pushing my bike up and over. And, I don’t even really blame the bottle for this, as I was in a rush that morning to leave Puntilla and my water was closer to lukewarm than hot when I filled up. The first bottle of drink mix stayed liquid, but the water that I used from my bladder to fill second bottle of carb mix was no longer warm, and froze solid after about a 1.5 hours. I was able to thaw it out in Rohn and had no other freezing issues for the remainder of the race despite temps in the -20s F and plenty of headwind over the next few days. FWIW, the Yeti bottle stayed unfrozen for the entire race, but was nestled in my pannier and out of the wind.
If the insulated stainless camelbak bottle can keep warm water from freezing for a few hours in those conditions, I’m sure it’ll keep my water and drink mix nice and cold in the summer!
The “lock” feature worked well, and I had no issues with spilling or mixing the tailwind in the bottle.
And, while you can’t exactly “gulp” from it, the liquid came out plenty fast enough for me.