Technology can improve everyday life and even health. This is one of the beliefs that led Apple to develop the Health app and create the Apple Watch. Around the idea of Apple, to smartphones. to wearable devices, to Bluetooth connectivity to the applications that accompany them, a constantly expanding universe is now flourishing, made up of companies fighting with genius and innovation. This is the case of Hidrate Inc., an American company born on Kickstarter where it raised almost 5 million dollars in funding with a project: to create a smart bottle that favors and encourages proper hydration of the body. In almost 7 years (the debut on the collective financing platform is in 2014), Hidrate has not only materialized its initial idea but presents very solid products from the point of integration with various platforms , the first Apple of everything (not by chance Hidrate sells its products on the Apple Store) but also Android and the Fitbit world. These days we are testing the latest creation from Hidrate Inc., HidrateSpark 3 Steel.
What is HidrateSpark 3 Steel?
At first glance HidrateSpark 3 is a cross between a bottle and a thermos . The (linear) design and the (quality) materials do not reveal anything particularly sophisticated at first sight. In reality we are faced with a smart accessory capable of changing the way we approach a simple and fundamental gesture that we tend to forget often: drinking to stay properly hydrated . HidrateSpark 3 in fact using a sensor and an application that integrates with both iPhone (or Android) and Apple Watch (or other devices such as some Fitbit) measures the amount of liquid we take and reminds us to drink when we don't do it correctly. . This applies whether we are sitting in an office chair, exercising or lounging under an umbrella.
We will not mention here the reasons why drinking is critical to our health. There are hundreds if not thousands of sites that can explain it better and with more authority than us; here we limit ourselves to underlining that although it is important to drink a lot during the day, it is also often difficult to do so because on the one hand the feeling of thirst is subjective and on the other hand the frenzy of everyday life leads us to be neither regular nor rigorous in this physiologically essential activity. HidrateSpark 3 can act both as a sentinel and as a tutor to ensure that there is the right amount of water in our body.
How is HidrateSpark 3 Steel made?
HidrateSpark 3 Steel is a cylinder with a capacity of about 600ml (but there is also a 500cc version), made with excellent care of the materials. The external part, as you can easily guess from the name, is in brushed steel . A smart choice because the metal prevents condensation from forming when we pour a cold liquid inside. Speaking of temperature, the HidrateSpark 3 Steel is built according to the canonical elements of a temperature-stabilized container: a vacuum cavity, according to the manufacturer, keeps the liquid contained fresh with a protection, says the manufacturer, up to 24 hours. The cap of the thermal bottle, equipped with an efficient rubber seal, has a safety lock to avoid the risk of accidental opening.
Under the cap there is a spout that we can easily bring to the mouth to drink without pouring the liquid on us. In the USA there is also a version with a straw; in Italy only the version without it is on sale. So far, as mentioned, little or nothing different from a common thermos; the difference can be seen by looking under the HidrateSpark 3 Steel: here there is in fact the “smart” heart of the system.
The Bluetooth “dongle”
We are talking about a sort of “counterplug” that is screwed onto the lower wall. And here we find the battery, a crown of LEDs and the sensor. It is important to underline that the lower block has nothing that goes inside the HidrateSpark 3 Steel but instead measures the weight of the liquid . This is a more sophisticated system than a previous version of the smart bottle that read the amount of water by means of a sort of rod that was immersed in the liquid, removing the capacity of the bottle itself. The block containing the heart of the HidrateSpark 3 Steel is reloaded by means of a magnetic connector .
Probably the manufacturer has chosen this system to increase the watertightness of the block that contains the battery but this certainly represents a problem from the user's point of view. Not only is it not possible to use an alternative cable to the one we will have connected, for example, at home or in the office, but once what we find in the package is lost or broken there will be no way to refill the smart bottle.
It should also be noted that the sensor protrudes from the rest of the bottle by a few millimeters. Since the sensor is smaller than the rest of the container body, this makes the bottle somewhat less stable when we place it on a plane.
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The sensor of HidrateSpark 3 Steel 
The part where the sensor is screwed 
The proprietary magnetic connector 
Charging
How the HidrateSpark 3 Steel works
To put the HidrateSpark 3 Steel into function, you must first of all proceed to recharge the battery. The signal that the magnetic plate for recharging is in action will be given by the ring of green LEDs ; the recharge must be considered complete (a couple of hours are required to fully restore the 420 mAh of the accumulator) when the LEDs stop flashing. Then you proceed to download the Hidrate application for iPhone (or Android) which acts as an interface between the battery and the phone and finally follow the registration procedures (possible with Apple ID), pairing and calibration. All this is very simple because each step is totally guided even if you have to understand a little English since the interface is not translated .
When we have reported our vital parameters or told the application to draw them from Health if we have an iPhone, just put a non-carbonated and particle-free liquid (no juices or drinks with suspended elements) and cold (no tea or herbal teas) or with ice and we will be ready to “keep hydrated”.
The Hidrate application
The Hidrate application is the real heart of HidrateSpark 3 Steel . It is this program that measures, on the basis of the parameters we have entered, the amount of liquid we will have to drink during the day and at what intervals. The sensor will measure the quantity of water (or other drink, but the alternatives are not many: essentially drinks to restore the saline level) sipped and will show the progressive total gradually; to calculate the total, simply place the bottle on a flat surface for about ten seconds. At that point HidrateSpark 3 Steel will measure the weight of the residual liquid and will know how much we have drunk and how much we have left over the course of the day. When the water is finished, just fill the bottle up to the edge and start over.
Over the course of the hours we will be prompted to drink from motivating , witty messages or quotes from phrases centered around water and its relevance for the human species and civilization. Those with an Apple Watch will be able to track their progress and receive messages on their wrist device as well . It should be noted that the lower edge of the HidrateSpark 3 Steel is semi-transparent; behind it there are LEDs which, lighting up and flashing, work as a light reminder. A “geek” touch that has however in our opinion offers limited utility, as (very) limited is the option that allows you to buy the function to draw colors to your liking in the app. Much more interesting is the fact that the Hidrate application interfaces with Health which will record the level of liquids taken during the day and day after day by adding the data to our personal file, enriching the nutritional information.
We tested using a millimeter container the amount of water drunk and what is measured by the app; the accuracy is very good since the difference is between 2 and 3%.
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Login in the application 
Some information on the functioning of the HidrateSpark 3 Steel 
LED Warning System Preferences 
Compatible Apps 
The recovery of vital signs 
Calibration of the app 
Zero hydration 
First step 
The app also provides some “medals” when reaching the prefessional milestones 
The app integrates with health 
The fluid intake progress 
Data is also presented on Apple Watch 
One of the incentives to drink 
Motivational phrases 
notification on Apple Watch … 
… and the one on the iPhone
Conclusions
The question we asked ourselves from the beginning when we first opened the box was: does it work? We are not talking only from a technical point of view, but of the incentive to drink. The answer is a firm “yes” on both fronts. The technology of the HidrateSpark 3 Steel is convincing and the integration with the phone and Apple Watch transparent. The data is read by Health and constitutes another piece of all the information we need to understand how much we are taking care of our well-being.
Also on the incentive to drink we must spend words of appreciation : it is not nagging and the tone is polite and sometimes even funny with the result that we tend to willingly comply with the solicitations. The problem remains that the notices are in English which limits the effectiveness of the notices for a certain audience; obviously it is not necessary to grasp the sense of a play on words of a message like “Drink or Dry” and “Oh Water Boy!”, just know that it is time to drink, but if it had been in Italian the effect would have been better .
The only concrete doubt that we allow ourselves to advance is about the charging system. Using an ultra-proprietary connector like the one used by HidrateSpark 3 Steel is not only inconvenient because we will only have one possible charging cable but it is also worrying in view of its possible loss or breakage. We will in fact be forced to go hunting for a spare part that currently only sells Hidrate on its website.
Pro
Versus
Price and purchase
HidrateSpark 3 Steel is on sale in the Hidrate shop on Amazon Italy in two capacities: 500cc or 620cc at a price of 74.99 or 79.99 euros.
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