Keith Titanium Ti3060 Canteen Mess Kit - New Ultralight Carrying Pouch

Edited 09/2019 to add some more info after a few real world camping trips.After taking this camping a couple of times I am still very pleased except for one thing. The lid for the cup ended up warping slightly after getting too hot. I would sometimes place the cup in the fire with the lid on to boil water. One time the lid came off and went straight in the coals. I did not think anything of it, and fished it out after a minute or so. I later found that the heat had caused the lid to warp slightly in the middle. This meant it would no longer fit snugly in the cup and would pop off.I eventually had to bend it back slightly, but it was not as perfect a fit as when I bought it. Will contact the seller to see about a replacement and post updates. UPDATE: The company was more than happy to send me a replacement lid for the cup free of cost. And yes, the canteen has developed that lovely "blueing" titanium gets. It now looks beautiful.Dropping $150 on a canteen mess kit seems foolish, but then you have to remember that when it comes to camping equipment, you should only have to buy it once and then keep it for the rest of your life. This is no exception.First of all, it's titanium so it's light as hell and tough as the devil. The canteen has a nice wide mouth(Good if you want to add ice cubes or use a water filter), and the silicone o-ring in the lid(which has a carrying ring) makes sure it doesn't leak. The cup has a nice two piece handle that locks ever so slightly off-center, and the lid that comes with it fits so snugly that you can fill the cup with liquid, turn it over and the lid will not come off. It's not watertight so it will leak slightly, but that's not the point. the point is to keep the lid on. A lot of titanium camping gear and cookware that have lids usually fit flush but snug enough to stay on and so will fall off if jostled or moved(Looking at you, Toaks!). Speaking of which the lid has a carrying ring on top. This is so that if you wanted to lightly place the lid onto the cup while it's on a bed of coals, you can use a stick to lift it up to see if the contents are boiling. Well, I did a little test and if you are careful and the lid is placed on tight, you can lift a full cup just by the ring on the lid. Again, it's not foolproof, you can't just yank it around and hope for the best, but used with a light touch it is a nice touch.So far the bag that came with it seems solid enough and the belt straps are thick and durable. There is an inside extra strip of nylon fabric that goes around the inside middle for extra strength. When the complete kit is placed in the bag and on held on one's belt, it's quite easy to undo the clasp, flip back the holding straps and lift the canteen out of the bag for easy access, leaving the cup at the bottom of the bag.The straps were stiff at first, but a few minutes of kneading and stretching them, they 'gave' a bit more. There is a pocket on the inside of the bag to hold the lid for the cup. The most minor quibble I can think of is that the grommets holding the belt straps to the bag are not covered by fabric on the inside, and will probably end up scratching the finish. It can easily be remedied if you care to with some stick-on felt pads, but let's face it: Camping equipment should show wear and tear and you should not allow yourself to be bothered by it.The shoulder carrying straps are adequate. They're not the thick nylon webbing that the belt loops are made of, but that's OK as well, it would have been overkill and merely added more weight. As it is, I'll probably just use the belt straps. There is also no rattle whatsoever when the entire set or just the canteen is placed in the bag, empty or full, something which I very much appreciate. If I'm outdoors enjoying some peace and quiet the last thing I want to hear is a clinking or rattling. The bag is the only thing I can see eventually needing maintenance with extended use but so far, so good. If I have any issue with it I will amend my review but for now I am EXTREMELY pleased.Incredibly light, incredibly durable, understatedly stylish enough so that it doesn't look like something for, as another reviewer on this item stated, a "Mall Ninja" or "Paul Blart: Rugged Outdoorsman And Stoic Veteran Who's Seen Some THINGS, Man!". This is something I could put in a carry on for long flights or bring to work and not look like I'm writing a manifesto in my Montana cabin during.my spare time. I'm looking forward to using this on a campfire and seeing the titanium finish acquire that beautiful blue-ish rainbow hue once it oxidizes.I didn't receive this as a gift or a promotional freebie for this review, I dropped a hundred and fifty bones on this by myself and buyer's remorse is nowhere in sight. I have a nephew in the UK who's coming over here to travel around the states for his gap year and I am already considering buying a second one of these for him. It's that good.

Update2: After using it just as my daily drinking cup for several months, I found something that is concerning. Not sure if it is a health risk yet. The whole canteen and the cap are made of titanium. And when screwing the cap on the canteen, the friction is titanium vs titanium. Which is not smooth. And it inevitably shed off small flakes of titanium that falls into the water. Some of them will go into my body as I drink the water. I worry this will create health issues in the long run.Update1:Conclusion: This is a very high quality set of titanium canteen. I highly recommend it to people who can afford it. It is extremely light weight (so light to a point that I didn't trust it's rigidity at first), it feels nice in hand (hard to explain, it just feels nice to touch), it adds no taste and no smell, it heats up quickly. It is the ultimate canteen set.There is only one part in this set that is not titanium. That's the O-ring. Everything else is titanium. The whole set looks and feels like an designer's item.Some people find the o-ring easy to fall off. Fortunately, mine is fine. It stays there pretty tight. Either they has fixed the issue or I am just lucky.The titanium is so neutral that it revealed the smell of my water. The canteen itself has no smell and adds no taste at all. But when I first used it to drink water, I kept smelling some weird smell. At first I thought it was the canteen, and I was planning to give it a 4 star or 3 star rating. But after several experiments and some investigation, I discovered that the smell is actually from the water itself. I've been drinking this type of 1 gallon packed spring water over a year and never realized that it has smells.The titanium material on this canteen feels soft. It's probably because that it's grade 1 pure titanium. Grade 1 titanium is the most soft type.At first I worry that this canteen set will be prone to dent and other damages. The material is so thin and so light. It also feels soft. But after some days of usage, I found it holding together well. I don't know whether it will be as strong as other steel canteens, but it surely is much stronger than I first thought.

My intention here isn't to insult anybody, but to be direct and honest. The quality of this item is not worth even half of the price currently being asked for it. If like me, you've seen people review this and sing its praises, it is because they are more mesmerized by light weight than they are interested in owning quality, well-designed, robust gear.Just because titanium is light weight does not mean that it has to be made cheaply, or be flimsy and lack robustness.Let me tell you why you're probably considering buying it: 1. Weight 2. Quality 3. Properly designed butterfly handles (which are curiously difficult to find) 4. The included lid.The properly designed butterfly handles and the included lid are nice, but they aren't $100 + dollars nice, and they don't make up for all of the other flaws, which I'll tell you about now:1. The overall product is flimsy and cheap. This is not made with a robust thickness of titanium. They've skimped in order to sell a titanium product at a premium price. Various parts of it have already bent on me with minor handling. Pay particular attention to the picture that shows the inward curved portion of the mug - you can bend this with your thumb without any effort whatsoever, almost like aluminum foil. 2. For some reason, Keith decided not to completely roll the lip around the outer edge of the mug. They've left it hanging, and this is extremely prone to bending - again, with the most minor of handling - which then affects the way the lid fits. (See pictures where I compare the lip of the Keith mug to the Lixada titanium cup, where they've properly rolled the lip of their cup correctly. 3. Notice in the third picture how Keith inexplicably did not machine the canteen and mug to fit together properly. That seam that you see around the canteen is meant for the lip of the mug to fit right up against it, flush. It doesn't. Instead, there is an inexplicable gap left between the two for absolutely no reason whatsoever. In this regard, the Boundless Voyage Titanium Canteen Mess Kit is much superior. The mug itself is already unnecessarily small. Making it a little larger seems like it should have been a no-brainer to me, but apparently not so to the Keith design team.To illustrate how small this Keith mug is, see the pictures where I do a comparison with the flawless British canteen cup design (which is made of stainless steel). The last three pictures I am including here include the British canteen and mug. The Keith mug practically fits inside of the British mug. Since Keith clearly already copied the butterfly handle design off the British cup, it is baffling to me why they did not go ahead and imitate the other strengths of its design, such as its robustness, it's broad deep bowl.

Summary: I like the canteen itself, but I think the case could use some improvement.The canteen itself is great. I own several products from Keith Titanium, and they are all well-made. It is important to note that this canteen holds 37.2 fluid ounces (1.1L), which is larger than the 1 quart (947 mL) canteen used by the US military. I will mention that again below.I was a bit disappointed by the fabric case. It seems to be well constructed, but I'm not a fan of the brown digital camouflage color. I would prefer a standard "olive drab" green, to match my web belt. Also, I believe that the case was originally designed for a 1-quart canteen. The included case has a drawstring, but it is too low to effectively retain the canteen. You have to use the brown webbed strap to hold it in place, and it's a tight fit to get it over the canteen.Initially I had hoped that this canteen was the same external dimensions as a standard 1-qt US military surplus canteen, and I even went so far as to order a US military surplus canteen cover, but since the Keith Titanium canteen is larger than a standard canteen, it does not fit. The Keith Titanium is a bit too tall to fit in the standard military surplus cover.Overall, my opinion is still positive, which is why I'm giving the product four stars. The canteen itself is excellent, but I think the case needs improvement. If you like the fact that you can carry an extra 5.2 fluid ounces (154 mL) of liquid, then you will like this canteen. If you're hoping for a canteen that is a drop-in replacement for the US military surplus plastic canteen, then you may be disappointed.I am attaching some photographs below. As I mentioned above, the US military surplus web belt and green canteen case were purchased separately and NOT included. As you can see, the Keith Titanium canteen is larger than a standard 1-quart US military canteen, so the green case is too small. Also, you can see that the drawstring on the included case is too low to effectively retain the canteen. Ideally it should be over the shoulder of the canteen, which is why I think this case was originally intended for a smaller canteen.

The only thing this canteen set can do better than a 32 fl oz Gatorade and a small aluminum bucket is hold 5 more fluid ounces. If you’re into backpacking/bushcraft and you’re looking to shed some precious weight off your pack just use a polyethylene bottle and a (preferably food grade) aluminum pot for boiling. Yes titanium is stronger but if you fall hard enough to break a PE bottle and or an aluminum pot, water storage will likely no longer be a concern. For strictly practical purposes this is not worth the money.B U T I D O N O T C A R EI am enchanted with this canteen set. The construction, material, and aesthetic make it all worth it for me. Is this mess set necessary? No. Would I buy it again? Yes, but I know I won’t have to. Could you achieve the same things with cheaper gear? Yes and you could go backpacking with a trash bag and a burlap sack but you’ll probably prefer a backpack and a sleeping bag.