Review: Thermos Thermax Sportsman Series 16oz Food Jar

After seeing the unpack video by Tynan and his mention of the Klean Kanteen and making the Pack Lite Foods in it, I remembered winter was coming up and a hot lunch at work would be nice.  As well as being something to help hold busy season burnout at bay, a hot home cooked meal when I'm used to packing only cold and ready to go food.  So perusing the local Wally World my eye caught this amongst the camping section.  A simple vacuum food jar, not a tall and skinny one whose inner surface area would contribute to heat loss/gain, and small enough to be just one healthy person's serving.  Additionally it had a self contained folding spoon and a cover for the plug which has a silicone lip seal.  It claimed up to 7 hours hot and 9 cold.  The picture is after filling the jar with 208F water from my dispenser, letting it sit for ten minutes to temper, then dumping that water and refilling with more 208F water and letting it sit on the counter for nine hours.  Yes, not seven, but nine.  The thermometer reads just under 140F.  Then I used it for packing chili into work, which I first tempered the jar as before and filled with reheated to a simmer chili at 5am.  At noon when I opened it faint whispers of steam came out and it was still quite warm.  The next day I added a little water to my chili (I make it pretty thick anyway) so it would be a little more full, and following the same process it was even hotter.  So thermal mass is key.  Today I tempered and refilled the jar with 208F water, sealed it up and put it in the freezer.  It is now seven hours later and despite being in the freezer the water is still 125F.  I think that's doing pretty good considering such a drastic differential.


A note about the included spoon:  First it unfolds like an old carpenters rule.  I am right handed and it worked fine, but a left handed person will find it near impossible to use.  The hinges are one way and while used right handed they will stay open, but used left handed the spoon will fold back up.  When I bought the food jar the spoon's rivets were pretty tight, but I can see them loosening up over time.  The rivets are a hollow style and should be tightenable with a ballpein hammer and maybe a large blunt center punch if care is used.


I have not tried to use the jar yet to store cold food in hot weather, but given the freezer performance I would feel certain it should perform adequately.  The jar is simple, clean and fairly light considering it's all stainless except for the plug and cap liner.  I have given thought to going backpacking and the insulated jar should work for "cooking" dehydrated meals.  My thought being to heat water in a kettle at breakfast, put the dry food in the jar, add the appropriate amount of water, stir briefly and cap.  Walk a couple hours and have a hot lunch without needing to break out the stove.  I also suppose if it was sufficiently cold, the jar's dimensions are small enough to be tucked into a large wool sock which I am sure would decrease thermal exchange.


So for my part I give this product a thumbs up.  The silicone seal looks replaceable, the price point isn't bad, and with the exception of a non-ambidextrous spoon, which a serious hiker is going to be carrying a lighter titanium or anodized aluminum utensil set anyway, looks like it will out last a lot of other gear.