Guyot Designs Firefly Review

Seems like today just about everyone has one of those wide-mouth water bottles. Even Starbucks sells them now. But what’s so special about a water bottle? Nothing really, even if it is one of those fancy Nalgene brand ones. That is, unless you get some water bottle bling from Guyot Designs.

As we mentioned a couple days ago we’ve gotten our hands on Guyot’s Firefly to put it through the down and dirty. So we took off for the weekend to BootsnAll’s product test facility in Snowden, WA (just outside of White Salmon) to give it a real-world test. And here you be:

The quick & dirty:

Where you can get one:
Guyot Designs $21.95
Various Other Outdoor Retailers

Why it rocks:

LED lights turn your watter bottle into a lantern

You can turn it upside-down and it stands on the lid for more light coverage

Super tough construction should last a lifetime

Dimmer function allows for battery saving if all you want is a night-light

Heavy-duty teather strap

Works with any wide-mouth water bottle – not brand reliant

Light weight

Easy to pack – just screws on your water bottle

Why it bites:

A little bit more light would be nice

Seat-of-the-pants rating: 8.5 out of 10

Long Winded Version:
When we first saw this, we were instantly jealous – why didn’t we think of that?! What a great idea – we are seriously turned on by things that are multi-purpose, so this is right up our alley. But then, we started to think, ya know, it’s probably not going to give off enough light to be able to see anything. I’m happy to say, that assumption is wrong. There is totally enough light to read and you can use it to find your way around easily too.

Now don’t think you can replace your gas car-camping lantern with this. That’s not what it’s made for. The perfect scenario would be when you’re on a multi-day backpacking trip and want to bring along a lantern, but not carry extra fuel. With the LED lights, the batteries last almost forever, and the bottle-top attachment makes for convenient carrying, without taking up extra room in your pack. If your friends get different colored bottles, you can even have the outback disco going on.

The tether (lanyard) strap is made of super strong Sterling climbing rope, and makes for an easy attachment point to belts and clips if you don’t want to stuff it into a pocket of your pack.

Another thing that really impressed me in particular is the quality of this. One would think for 20 bills that it might be a bit on the cheap side, but it’s not at all. The Firefly is made out of glass-filled nylon which endures extreme temperatures and provides for good strength. I’m not worried about breaking this at all.

Finally, the dimmer function and ability to stand the bottle on it’s cap are further examples of the thought and design that have gone into the production of the Firefly.

And now, for our Video Review. We’ve probably totally butchered the pronunciation of “Guyot” and we’re not terribly handy with those photography devices so excuse our amateurishness.