Stainelss Steel Vacuum Insulated Thermal Carafe Coffee Pot Thermos with Press Button Top, Water Pitcher, 2 Liter

When I ordered this item, it says it will come with a cleaning sponge. It came without it.

I was offered this insulated coffee pot free to test and evaluate.I was excited to receive it. It keeps hot beverages hot for around 3.5 hours, even with rinsing the inside with boiling water first.The lid is plastic. It is hard to seal, it must be pressed down on with your hand. It doesn't close easily after use so the contents are going to be cold before long. People won't know to close the lid properly, AND do you really want someone's potentially dirty hands, touching the lid and spout? Frankly, I find that to be disgusting and is the reason for the three star review.This coffee pot looks dirty all the time because it collects water spots. This is okay for casual family use but I wouldn't put it out at a party for this reason and the above lid closure issues.Yes, it works. But it is not as great as it could be due to the above problems. The lid needs to close without needing to be pressed down with a palm, and the finish needs to be fixed so that it doesn't look spotted and dingy. I am going to use this, but I am not as happy with it as I could be.

I like it

This is a stainless steel, insulated water jug with a stainless steel body and a plastic handle, spout, and cap. There are several areas in which I'm assessing this including ability to keep liquid hot or cold, convenience, cleaning, function, materials, and aesthetics.In terms of insulation, I tested this with ice water to see if it kept the ice longer and the water colder. I found that it did so very well over a period of 6 hours. Though the ice did melt a little, it seemed to do quite well and some ice remained at the end. I think that most of the coldness was lost through opening and closing the spout on occasion to pour the water into glasses for drinking. The exterior of the jug didn't seem to be affected much by the temperature of the liquid in the interior, which is a good indication that it is well-insulated as there's little thermal leakage.Regarding convenience, this certainly is a very easy way to keep a large amount of liquid at a relatively stable temperature for a prolonged time without having to deal with a fussy thermos lid or the slow pour of a conventional thermos. One of the strong points of it's functionality is the duck-billed spout which allows you to pour a lot of liquid out smoothly without spilled or splashing. It functions much like a conventional pitcher in that regard, with the added thermal retention properties. I found this very handy for keeping water at my desk to encourage me to drink more throughout the day without having to get up and get fresh water and ice. I think it'd also be good for serving a table full of people over a long period of time, so it certainly is fulfilling it's purpose.This is actually a very nice-looking pitcher, though the top material is silver plastic and apparently another reviewer received a damaged pitcher with sharp edges and chipped areas. My pitcher arrived in perfect condition, though I will say that my box was a little beat up and looked cheaply made (thin-nish cardboard). Unless you're giving this as a gift, that isn't a big factor, but it may explain how another reviewer got a damaged pitcher as the box may not provide sufficient protection under some shipping conditions. The overall construction seems pretty solid, but the closure of the top is inelegant. It's like a cork or stopper. You have push it down with some force (not hard, but you have to push a bit) and there's no way I could figure out to use the lever that opens the top to release the stopper to close the stopper. This makes usage feel somewhat clumsy and laborious. I would regard this as the main weak point.When you pull the stopper up, if there is any liquid around the edges where the seal is, tiny droplets of it will spatter outward. For water, this isn't a big problem, but, for coffee, it may create an issue. The droplets on mine didn't go far and tended to settle on the curved edges of the spout, but your mileage may vary. The curved spout directs the pour well. I experienced no leaks or dripping when pouring and no leaks from the sealed top. However, if there is any water around the seal when you first fill it, it will drip off to release that water. This isn't the contents leaking out, but residue water that has settled in around the seal. All of that being said, though I could hold my jug upside down with no leaking, this is clearly not supposed to be used for travel. The curved handle (which is well-designed to be easy to hold and pour even when the jug is full) sticks out in such a way that it really isn't compact enough to toss in a backpack or put in conventional cup holder (though the base is very wide and weighted and therefore super stable). This is clearly designed for table top use and not supposed to be knocked over or placed on its side.Cleaning effectively is explained in exhaustive detail on the product page, but I'm just washing it by hand with a bottle brush and dish soap. Since no one will put their mouths on the spout or contaminate the interior with contact, I think you mainly need to make sure it dries well after cleaning so mold/mildew can't form (especially around the ridged stopper at the top – scrubbing that out if you have coffee or tea or whatnot will be pretty important as accumulated gunk is sure to mess up the seal).Other than the clumsy closing mechanism, I'm hard-pressed to come with any weaknesses for this jug. It looks great and has worked well for me. My main concern in the long run is whether or not the seal on the stopper will go the distance over time. It's a ridged, flexible plastic piece that compresses when pushed down and I don't know if friction will diminish the seal. If I have any issues with it, I'll update this review.Note: I received a free sample of this product for my assessment.