The First Years Insulated Review

This insulated sippy cup is made with BPA-free plastic, a spill proof, one piece lid. The cup offers a slim body, that fits in most cup holders. The lid is easy to clean, and interchangeable with other lids in The First Years line up. The cup is dishwasher safe, and comes in several popular Disney characters. This cup is widely available in stores, and online.

Performance Comparison

Likes

We liked the slim design of the cup body, which allowed it to fit in most cup holders and in most little hands. Given that many of the cups we tested were too wide for cup holders, this was a nice feature.

We liked that this cup was insulated, and it earned points in eco-health for being able to keep contents cooler than the non-insulated cups. This meant that juices, and milk type contents, were able to travel better than they would in the other cups.

This cup scored well for ease of cleaning, and we gave it extra points for having only two parts, and no separate valve to clean, or special cleaning tools needed to get the job done.

Dislikes

We didn't like that this cup was hard to drink from, and that was our major complaint for this cup. We really feel like toddlers won't want to use a cup that is difficult to suck on. So whatever simplicity was gained by the one piece design, was lost due to difficulty to drink from. In addition, we felt that the more sucking required in a cup, the less it aligned with the American Dental Association's recommendation that children use valve free cups for better oral hygiene, so it scored poorly for that as well.

We did not like that this cup was made of plastic. In general, we prefer inert materials be used in cups for children. This means glass and stainless steel cups earned higher marks for eco-health. Our concern about plastics is not exclusive to this cup.

Conclusion

Its hard to get too excited about a cup that doesn't seem to be excited about itself. This cup has an uninspired design, duller than average presentation, and it was difficult to use. We wanted to like this cup, and the simplicity it offered, but after testing it it felt like it sacrificed function for boring form. With 13 cups scoring better than this cup, and two of them offering similar design but better function, it just wasn't a cup we could recommend.
Above are photos of the First Years Insulated (left) and the Munchkin Click Lock Insulated (right)

If you are drawn to this cup for the design or insulation factors, the Munchkin Click Lock Insulated scored higher, and managed to crack the top ten out of the 21 cups we tested. It is almost indistinguishable from the First Years cup, so you won't be missing much, but you will be gaining a lot.