Comments on a couple of these I have used:

Playtex Sipster: I found the valve to be low-flow rather than medium flow. I had to remove the valve to make it functional, eliminating the spill-resistance.

Nuby Gripper Cup and Handle Cup: I like the spout design and flow of both of these, but found it hard to screw the top on and keep the spout properly aligned. Most of the time I put the top on they would leak from the sides unless I was very careful. Also, the silicone spout would become more and more leak-prone in a very short time, as the slits would become wider and wider with use, eventually tearing at the edges. The cap was a good idea but I ended up losing it pretty quickly.

I eventually abandoned both of these cups for one you haven’t reviewed yet. I’ll look for it in your top tier!

we use the klean kanteen i agree with the need for a bottle brush, though i have small hands so i have a dish sponge cut in half that i am able to get in there very well.  i do like that it can be used for a long time the advent sippy part is a pain but i find it easy to assemble correctly even in the middle of the night

the foogo, is the one my daughter prefers although i find the sippy part MADDENING, it takes too much care to get it assembled for no leaks and i almost never do it correctly.  if you do if it jsut right though it doesn’t leak but good luck to ya.

i do like the insulation of it and will likely get the straw version for our summer smoothies

We own and use the Foogo sippy with handles.
We actually use this sippy a lot because of the fact that it insulates milk and keeps it cold (a necessity when travelling in hot weather). It is easy to clean, doesn’t dent or open easily and is cute!

But in order to be a top choice they would need to address the following: 1) as far as I know they don’t sell replacement parts, so if you lose one of the small clear plastic pieces, you’re out of luck (and these aren’t cheap) 2) it is easy to not screw this together correctly and I’ve had some major spillage when it wasn’t. The main top two pieces have to be fit just right.

I actually love the born free cup for the fact that it was the easiest transition from breast.  my son took to it right away unlike some of the others that required many many uses (and throwing to the floor) to finally get him to drink out of. This list is great--can’t wait to hear the top tier!!

How do you clean the bottom of the Boon cup?  I’ve seen it in the store and I’ve always wondered that.  I have a bottle brush because we use mostly stainless steel bottles these days, but will it fit down there?

At 2 my daughter finally grew in to the Boon, which was nice.  The original one we got was defective, and after a comment here, they contacted me and replaced it free of charge. 

The Nuby was the one that won out when she was 10 or so months old as her first sippy in our own showdown (we got a bunch and let her pick) However, once there are too many teeth involved, she just destroyed the tops. great infant starter. 

I’m guessing the other ones she uses now will show up in the top picks.  Love that you are updating this, especially now that so many more are BPA free.  Your original ones were an excellent resource for us.

The Nubby No Spill cup will also leak if you press down on the plastic part (esp if the holes aren’t lined up). We had a sippy cup disaster once due to that. But I will say this is my daughter’s favorite sippy cup and we own 3 others on this list.

We use the Nuby Gripper Cups and love them.  BUT they do have a few things that irk me - my daughter discovered that if you turn the cup upside down and press the sippy part on the table, the liquid will flow out.  She thinks it hilarious and has a blast doing it.  She likes these best because they are a faster flow and doesn’t have to work too hard when she’s thirsty. 

Weaning from bottles and she now gets milk in the Born Free training cups.  She loves those too.  If there weren’t so many pieces involved, I’d buy more.  We used the Born Free bottles so it was nice to be able to swap out pieces. 

Can’t wait to see the top picks!

We bought the Born Free Trainer/Drinking Cup and the Advent Sportster after too many drops to our Foogo straw cups made them useless. The Born Free did more than leak, it spewed. With it’s high price point (near $15), I found it absolutely intolerable and went back and purchased another Sportster for less than half the price, and have been using them for about 4 months now.

The belt clips are useless for my almost 2-year-old (which she confused for a really tight handle), so I discarded them. Although she quickly figured out how to open and close the spot cover, she just as quickly discovered how easy it is to simply pull the entire spot cover off at its hinge, and would then become frustrated when her lack of dexterity wouldn’t allow her to put it back on. We didn’t discard these, but we don’t use them.

With the spout covers on, we found them to be leakproof. With the spout off, they’re potentially a bit drippy when full, but we’re generally happy. however, I do find that unless I give the cap an extra turn so that it’s *really* secure, my daughter can untwist and take the lid completely off.

They are highly durable, though; and have sustained numerous falls, slides, and general clumsy mom and excitable toddler abuse. They are not insulated, so I still prefer redesigned Foogo straw cup when we’re out of the house.

We use the Munchkin trainer cups with our 8-month-old. They work pretty well, and we’ve never had a problem cleaning the cup. (No bottle brush needed, it’s pretty easy to get a hand in there with the sponge. No harder than any “adult” cup or glass, at least.)

However, you CAN’T use a nipple brush on the sippy spout, as it can easily tear open the valve. I can see it being pretty easily chewed through once the baby has teeth, too. It’s a good first trainer cup, though.

Anyone else have comments about the Safe Sippy they’d like to share? We’re working on a video demonstrating our findings for this cup and some others, which we’ll publish next week.

Thanks for the detailed comments, everyone! We’ll be incorporating some of the things we’ve learned from you into our wrap-up for this division, as well as offering a Readers’ Pick poll to rescue one worthy cup from the Middle and Bottom Tiers!

I didn’t mention this before about the Safe Sippy, and its a minor issue but…
in the beginning I wasn’t used to the handles not being attached. So when the top was off, I would instinctively grab it by the handles, causing a spill.
I’m thinking about using it more at home without bothering with the sleeve, I think I might use it more this way.

my son won’t drink much from any of his sippy cups yet (he’s 10 months old), but when i’ve given him the nuby with handles, it leaks a ton! he doesn’t turn it upside down, just puts it on its side and it leaks and leaks all over his high chair tray. it’s just water, but still makes a big mess. this is the only one that he’ll actually drink from, i guess due to the nice silicone spout. also, i rarely get the spout to line up with the handles. plus, the little side notches on the spout always get misaligned when screwing the lid onto the bottle, creating extra holes from which more water can leak.

that born free trainer was a big waste thus far. he just refuses to even put that spout in his mouth. i wish i still had the packaging so i could return it, i just thought he might like it given that he likes his glass born free bottle.

we have one more sippy that he won’t use yet...perhaps its in your top picks!

I have the same problem with all 3 of these cups:

Munchkin Mighty Grip Spill-Proof Cup
Nuby No-Spill Gripper Cup
Nuby No-Spill Cup with Soft Spout and Handles

the fact that the silicone spout quickly goes from 2 or 3 small slits that allow liquid thru - to one giant hole that is not spill proof at all.  I still allow my kids to use them but I feel that it degrades the value of the cup.  This usually happens within a week of buying the cup.

The only sippy my now 13m.o. would use right off when I was transitioning from the bottle isn’t listed here...so I’ll wait to see if it’s in the top tier.  I tried the Born Free (we used the bottles)- he screamed and threw it on the floor.  He will use it now that he’s a little bigger, but it was in no way a quick transition, and the extra steps for the valve (assembly and cleaning) are a nuisance. 

I also bought the Playtex First Sipster, which he couldn’t use at first but eventually took to well, and we haven’t had any issues with it.  My MIL got the Nuby one w/handles and has had the same issues with the lid being lost and the notches becoming misaligned when tightening the lid.  (I also got another one with a straw that I don’t see and I’m not sure I know the name of it anyway, and he LOVES it)

Finally I did get the Safe Sippy; I read reviews on Amazon of that and the Foogo and opted for the Safe Sippy.  He didn’t like it at first, it was so different, and for some reason the first time it leaked really badly.  I’m not sure what the problem was but I haven’t had it happen again (fingers crossed).  I haven’t attempted to remove the silicone sleeve yet.  The last time I gave it to him, he could barely be parted from it.  I like the fact that the stainless steel won’t retain the odors of old milk or juice when not washed right away…

Okay this is too long...I can’t wait to see the top tier!

Thanks so much for a great poll!

We’ve personally used lots of different ones out there and have to say that we
use the Take N Toss straw cups a lot more these days around the house.  I hand
wash & soak them in vinegar water occasionally (I know, a little bit of a drag,
but I’m weird about cleaning plastic) and when they start to show some wear, we
“toss” them.  :D I like how they conveniently stack up (so we don’t have an
entire cupboard of sippy cups) and they’ve been pretty easy to clean.

Most breastfed babies will do quite well with straw cups, too, since the
“sucking” motion or mouth formation is similar.  A lot of mothers who use the
traditional sippy cup spout (looks like a tab) find that if their baby begins to
use the spout when teething, this can transfer to breastfeeding.  Ouch!

The only qualm I have about these is when baby figures out how to pull the straw
out and empties their drink.  Ugh!  Small price to pay when I weigh the pros and
cons, though.

We might tend to use our Foogo cups when we’re out and about, but the cups were
“thrown” down and the top part of the cups (cover) broke.  These are about $15
each, so kinda destructable if thrown.

I’m sorry to see that the Kleen Kanteen cups got a mediocre rating, and I vote for them to be elevated to a top pick!  I simply wash these stainless steel cups in the dishwasher, and all the parts too.  I put the valves and spouts right in a little dishwasher basket on the top rack and everything comes out clean.  I also like Tilty cups.  I only put water in them since they will leak a little when turned upside-down, but these are ideal cups for mealtime.  The price of the Tilty cups is also appealing.  I’ve bought an extra set of them for Grandma and Pappa’s house too.  The Playtex insulated cups are also very reliable - especially for when we are out and about, in the car, or on carpeting.  In regards to the other products on the “middle tier” list, I must say that I have despised all of the various silicone-lidded cups that I have owned, including the ones with straws, since my kids love to depress them and watch the water pour out in a stream.  Also the born free cup - what is the point of it? I used it only once and had water everywhere.  I was very disappointed with the Born Free, especially considering the price.  I’m interested to see the remaining sippy cup ratings!

We use the Nuby no spill gripper cup.  They seem fine with water but if I put milk in them they leak terribly and the silicone top indents almost as though my daughter has sucked all the air out and the intake valve is not working properly.

My daughter really likes this cup but I can’t give her milk in it so she still gets that in a bottle and I really want to transition her to sippies only.

Does anyone else have this problem?  Also, a number of you mentioned properly aligning the top but I can’t figure out what you mean.

Thanks

I found it!  The straw cup my son loves is the Iplay Green Sprouts Tumbler Cup.  It’s not the one listed in the Zrecs Guide but looks somewhat similar.  The part of the straw you suck on is attached and folds down as the top slides over it and clicks in place when not in use.  The part of the straw that goes into the cup is detachable for washing (at least I hope so because ours is!); there is also a (silicone?) ring in the lid to help seal it.  It has a sturdy base too. 

Bethany- the Nuby cup has a couple of tiny notches in the lid (the plastic collar part that goes around the top and tightens/seals the cup), that are supposed to line up with a couple of tiny nubs on the silicone sippy top).  I didn’t see them at first and had to look for them.  You get them lined up, put the whole top on the cup and when it gets tightened, the notches come unaligned, at least in my experience.

thanks Lynn.  I find the same thing, you get them lined up and when you fully tighten the lid they become unaligned. 
This doesn’t make it leak thank goodness. 

My biggest problem is that the lid sometimes pops up if she throws it to the ground.  then the contents goes everywhere.  However, this seems to only happen with milk in the bottle and not water.  Not sure why this would be.  So, I am still looking for a good sippy cup for her milk.

I would put the Munchkin cups in the bottom rung for two reasons:
1.  Teething toddlers or toddlers prone to poking will tear up those holes quite quickly.  2.  Unfortunately, Munchkin does NOT sell replacement inserts (BOO!).

Otherwise, we really like them, especially as the tops are interchangable between the large and small version.

If Munchkin would address that issue, all would be better.  They wash well in the top rack of the dishwasher and hold up extremely well.

We have a drawer full of Playtex sippy cups. But I have to say that my son bit the tip off of several lids of the Playtex First Sipster.

I like the Thermos Foogo and my son does too. But when I first received it when he was first learning to drink from a cup, it was a bit heavy for him.

I haven’t tried the Kleen Kanteen, but would like to.

I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the cups with really soft spouts.

More thoughts from me:
The Nubby No Spill Gripper Cup is too long for petite little ones. My daughter couldn’t use these when she was around 1 or under. Now that she is old she still has to tilt her head way back to drink from it. I like the thinness of the middle part as it makes it easy to hold, but it’s too tall.

I found that a soda can cozy fits well on the Klean Kanteen and provides insulation from both cold and denting.  While the lid has a lot of pieces, they are all pretty easy and fast to clean, making it easier, in some ways, than a Playtex sippy.

We had the Foogoo.  I have since given it to someone else as it didn’t really work out for us.  Here are my thoughts:

Pros:
- the insulation
- leakproof, provided you screw it on properly
- tough construction, talk about a well made cup.

Cons:
- it’s slow-flow and you also have to almost bite down on it and suck really hard to get anything out.  My daughter was a chugger and didn’t understand why she had to bite down and suck so hard to get anything out so had zero interest in this cup. 
- yes it’s well made, which then means it’s HEAVY. 
- I hated not being able to tell how much was left because of its nontransparency.
- several (I recall 3) small valve parts to have to deal with; not the easiest thing to put together.
- not the most economical cup out there.

We have used Kleen Kanteens for a couple of years. We have 2 of the original and one of the newer pink ones. They have all held up extremely well. Small dents now and then are for us a small price to pay for a product that is not plastic and that never retains odors.

I have a suggestion for dealing with the chill factor: a cheap foam beer cozy (or “coozy”: that’s what people around here call them for some reason). We found a thin-ish one, used a Sharpie to mark out “Cerveza” (which her preschool teachers thought was funny) and it works like a charm.

we actually really like the born free trainer cup, and don’t find that it leaks much on its side compared with other cups (i’m looking at you, thinkbaby!). i don’t like having to wash all the parts, but that air vent valve does have a good purpose--it keeps my son from taking in too much air. also, the thinkbaby doesn’t have a vent and so the nipple/spout collapses (i have to take it from my son to get the air out every few moments, which really pisses him off). so now the born free is our top pick!