HidrateSpark Pro Lite review: Give your hydration habits a glow up

With daily recommendations, automatic tracking, and dynamic reminders, smart water bottles aim to keep users fully hydrated. If you’re someone who often forgets to take sips, one bottle’s pulsing lights should do the trick. On the other hand, if you’re already chugging plenty of ounces a day, you may still find plenty to like about the device and its companion app. Find out more in our HidrateSpark Pro Lite review.

• HidrateSpark Pro Lite: $69.99

The HidrateSpark Pro Lite is a 24oz smart water bottle designed to track (and improve) your hydration habits. To do so, the bottle equips smart sensors which sync via Bluetooth with the HidrateSpark companion app. These sensors automatically measure and track your water consumption, recording progress throughout the day in a manner similar to Apple’s famous activity rings.

Just like move reminders, the bottle also attempts to prompt you into action. The sensor puck features LED lights that glow whenever you’re hydration falls behind. These glows are intended to help you remember to drink throughout the day so you can achieve your provided hydration goal by bedtime. You can customize your goal as well as your water bottle’s glow color. Each bottle offers six unique glow choices plus the option to create and pay for more custom hues in the GlowStudio.

The HidrateSpark Pro Lite bottle itself comes in six different colors: black, dark blue, Sea Glass, Fruit Punch, and Wildberry. The device ships with two lids, one bottle, a rechargeable LED puck, and a proprietary charger. It is available for $69.99 from the Apple store as well as from third-party retailers such as Amazon.

In terms of effectiveness as a fitness tracker for hydration, the HidrateSpark Pro Lite is a solid A plus. It’s lightweight, ergonomic, BPA-free, and simple to meld into your day-to-day. It comes with a straw lid and chug lid, and both are pleasant to use. I’m partial to straws because I am a child, but I also appreciate the inclusion of two options. In the spirit of further inclusion, the bottle is also compatible with both iPhones and Android phones. HidrateSpark also links with Apple Health, Garmin Connect, the Fitbit app, and Health Mate, so you can sync reminders to your favorite wearable.

During setup, HidrateSpark determines a hydration recommendation based on your personal details (age, gender, weight, height, etc.), fitness activity, and local weather. You can override the suggestion and choose a manual goal if you want to aim even higher. You’ll also set a wake-up and bedtime so the app can calculate a drinking schedule based on when you are actually conscious. Finally, you can customize how you prefer to receive reminders including how many and how often. The app even lets you choose what type of smartphone notifications you want, ranging from funny to motivational. I found these notifications unimposing but less effective than the bright, vibrant glow reminders.

The companion app itself is very simple. On the Home tab, the HidrateSpark app displays your daily goal with a dynamic graphic that closes as you drink. You’ll also see at-a-glance stats of your current progress including how many bottles you have to drink to hit your mark. If you drink water from another container, HidrateSpark accepts manually added data as well (jealousy-free). You can even record tea, coffee, and supplements. I appreciated the ability to manually add drinks from my Apple Watch Series 8 because what’s the point of hydrating if you don’t get credit?

The app’s History tab offers a few more details including an hourly breakdown and a daily drink log. This is helpful if you want to key in on your behavior patterns and determine when you are lacking water. For me, the answer is always, but especially outside of meal times. Throughout my HidrateSpark Pro Lite review, I developed the habit of chugging one quick bottle’s worth in the morning just to know I’d make a dent in my goal by lunch. The Social tab offers drinking challenges and lets you loop in friends who are also on a hydration journey.

Finally, from the Bottles tab, you can add more smart bottles to your account, snooze reminders, or personalize your glow. Light color choices include Rainbow, red, gold, Lemon Lime, aqua, blue, purple, or Moonlight. There are also Special Glows for specific occasions like team colors for the Superbowl. As mentioned, you can also create completely custom glows in the GlowStudio, though these cost $4.99 to enable. I didn’t spring for the studio, but I thought most of the included options were attractive and fun.

Overall, the LED aspect of this smart water bottle is a good time. It’s just entertaining enough to warrant its existence, and it truly does get your attention. I found myself grinding away multiple times only to be alerted by the soft pulsing light that I was falling behind on my water intake. The LED puck itself is unobtrusive and lasts up to two weeks between charges. When it does run out, it uses a proprietary charging cable included in the box.

The companion app is reliable and intuitive and nags you just enough to be effective without getting too annoying. The interface is simple. It’s not necessarily anything to write home about but it gets the point across. When you’re ready to see how much you’ve consumed and how much you need to reach your goal, the information is front and center. I also tested the bottle sensors with various amounts of fluid and the measurements were highly accurate.

It’s hard to complain about a water bottle that holds water well and also inspires you to drink it, but we’ll give it our best shot. For starters, the HidrateSpark Pro Lite is far from cheap. For $70, you can easily buy multiple reusable bottles and set your own reminders to chug. Plenty of “dumb” bottles feature measurements if you are committed to tracking your consumption throughout the day. Sure the flashing lights are fun, but once the novelty of your own personal rave wears off, the HidrateSpark might leave you with buyer’s remorse.

Other shortcomings are completely subjective. For example, maybe you don’t mind room-temperature water. One strength of the HidrateSpark Pro Lite is that, as the name implies, it’s light. However, the plastic build that cuts down the bottle’s weight does not offer any temperature control. Unlike an insulated bottle, the HidrateSpark Pro Lite won’t keep your drinks cold. On the days I added ice to my water, it melted quickly. The bottle is also not equipped to hold hot liquids so double duty as your go-to travel coffee mug isn’t an option.

Again, this raises concerns about the bottle’s price tag. A 26oz Yeti is only $40 and, while not a smart bottle, it does a very good job regulating temperatures. I also spend a lot of time outdoors and wouldn’t want to spend nearly double on a bottle that won’t serve me well on a hot day. Plus, plastic tends to feel cheap and fragile. I didn’t bang the device around a bunch but I would be hesitant to pack it for a hike or toss it into a gym bag.

Additionally, though the smart bottle offers a sleek aesthetic, it’s largely because it only holds 24 oz, or 710 ml, of water at a time. If you work from home or are parked close to the water cooler, this isn’t a big deal. However, many bottles come in much larger, more convenient options. In fact, the stainless steel bottle from the same brand offers a 32 oz size. That being said, I am a big fan of bottles that actually fit in my car’s cup holder, which the HidrateSpark Pro Lite does easily.

In short, this feels like a bottle for pretty specific use cases. Its size, build material, and durability will likely keep it parked at home or on your desk. Unfortunately, even if that’s exactly what you need it for, it’s fairly expensive.

We are all creatures of habit. Any tool that helps us build better habits is worth considering. The HidrateSpark Pro Lite offers some neat features and automates users’ hydration tracking. It can provide helpful insight into your drinking patterns throughout the day and remind you to keep up with your goals. However, it is also $70.

That’s a steep price to pay for something that you can recreate with a pen, pad, and some preset reminders. If you aren’t even someone who struggles to stay hydrated, a smart water bottle in general may not be necessary. Or, you may be more interested in bottles with alternative features like the self-cleaning LARQ Bottle PureVis ($99).

On the other hand, hydration is crucial to overall health and the HidrateSpark Pro Lite is a really solid product. Gimmicky glows might be just what you need to add flare to the nothingness of water’s flavor. It’s a reliable water bottle with accurate sensors and some fun extra features. The company also sells a stainless steel model in multiple sizes called the HidrateSpark Pro ($79). These models boast the same fun features and companion app but will keep your drinks cold throughout the day.