Foogo VS Zoli Sippy Cup Smackdown

Sippy Cup Smackdown – Foogo VS Zoli Straw Sippy Cup

I am not associated with both Thermos Foogo or Zoli BOT company. I purchased Foogo and Zoli straw sippy cup on my own and was not sponsored by any of these companies to write this review. This review is my honest experience and opinion. This review contains affiliated links. That means I will get a commission if you click the link and buy the item (but at no extra cost to you). Your support helps my work in bringing you useful information about baby products. Thank you!

When my daughter was 6 months old, I was very excited to have her try drinking out of sippy cup. There are different types of sippy cups available: sippy cups with a spout, sippy cups with a straw, rimless/360 sippy cups. As you try different types of sippy cups, you will realize that there is no sippy cup that is 100% leak free. I’ve tried many cups and they all spilled a little one way or another. I originally got a Munchikin Miracle 360 sippy cup which leaked the least, however, my daughter had developed love for the straw cup later. I had my daughter try a sippy cup with a spout but we quickly moved on to a straw cup. I chose a straw cup over a sippy cup with a spout because research shows that sippy cups should be used for a short time due to possibility of developing tooth decay and speech problems.

The straw cups my daughter really loved are Thermos Foogo stainless steel straw cup and Zoli BOT straw sippy cup. They are both good straw sippy cups but they are very different. I am going to compare these two cups and let you know which cup is the winner.

First, Thermos Foogo stainless steel straw cup is 10 oz. It doesn’t come in smaller size for the straw cup. (Thermos Foogo Stainless steel straw cup is for 12 months and older toddlers.) I thought this was a little big for my daughter at 6 months to hold this cup on her own. My baby started using this cup at 9 months but I still thought it was a little big for her to hold it on her own. The size is not only big (10 oz) but also it is made of stainless steel so it is heavier than a plastic cup. In addition, it doesn’t have handles for her to grip on so she has to just hold the cup with both of her hands. If there were handles for this cup, it would have been much easier to hold.

[UPDATE Oct. 20, 2017] Now that my daughter is 14 month old, the size of this cup is good. My daughter likes to use this cup. Although I still think having a handle will be easier to hold for her, she holds the cup with no problem.

Thermos Foogo stainless steel straw cup is a very good looking cup and there are many different colors you can choose from. It uses vacuum insulation technology that keeps contents cold and fresh for up to 10 hours.  It is also made of stainless steel so it is safer than a plastic cup.  Plastic cup can leach harmful chemicals especially if the plastic material is heated or is made of #3, 6 or 7 plastic. I wanted to get a sippy cup that is not made from plastics so I got this cup for this very reason.

However, I noticed that the straw part is made of plastic, only the tip where baby’s lips touch is made of silicone material. I wanted to avoid plastic so I got this cup but the straw was plastic where the liquid touches!  Also, I noticed that although Thermos Foogo says their lids are interchangeable with their other phase cups, the parts are hard to find and most likely you would have to buy another cup.​​ So if you want to replace the straw, you have to buy another cup instead of just buying a replacement straw. However, this issue can be remedied by switching Foogo’s straw with a Think Baby replacement straw. Think Baby replacement straw is medical-grade silicone and surprisingly it fits perfectly to the Foogo sippy cup!

Thermos Foogo straw sippy cup’s straw is on the thick side, perhaps because it is for the  toddler. When my baby sips the liquid, it comes out very easily. However, it seems because the hole of the straw is kind of big, water gets spilled a little out of the straw while my baby drinks. I think it’s because of the way my baby sips the straw. I couldn’t let my baby hold the cup on her own and drink water for a while because her bib would be soaked from spilled water. I was planning to use this cup for cow’s milk when she was one and I wasn’t sure if I would like cleaning spilled milk on her clothes. Maybe when she is one, her sipping skill will be better so she won’t spill. Other than that, Foogo sippy cup doesn’t spill as long as you close the lid. Therefore, when you are on-the-go, it’s great because you can just close the lid and put it in the bag. It is also pretty easy to clean. There is no valve so it is pretty easy to use.

[UPDATE Oct. 20, 2017] Actually, I realized later that my baby spits water out when she drinks water for fun. Now that she is 14 month old and drinks cow’s milk, she doesn’t spit out milk at all. She sips and spits out water! Therefore, I make a correction to my original review. Liquid doesn’t spill out while she drinks from this cup. The only time liquid spilled was when the cup was dropped and liquid came out of the straw. Now, my daughter drinks cow’s milk from this cup every day.

Foogo VS Zoli Straw Sippy Cup – Which Sippy Cup Is Better?

Zoli BOT straw sippy cup is made of polypropylene, Polypropylene is type 5 plastic and usually used for ketchup, medicine, etc. It is BPA free, latex free, lead free and phthalate free. Type 5 plastic is low-risk plastic but it is still plastic and I didn’t want to get a plastic sippy cup. However, after researching several cups I wanted to try, this scored pretty high on my list so I thought I would give it a try. The straw is made of food-grade silicone and the weight at the end of the straw is stainless steel encased in polypropylene.

Zoli BOT straw sippy cup is 6 oz so it is smaller than the Foogo straw sippy cup. It has handles on the side so baby can grip on them. It is made of plastic so it is very light. My baby loves holding this cup. This straw sippy cup is easy and light for her to hold.  It is also a cute looking cup and there are five colors you can choose from.

[UPDATE Oct. 20, 2017] My daughter still loves this cup. It is light and really easy to hold with handles. At her 14 months, the size of this cup is still good.

Zoli Bot straw sippy cup’s straw has weighted ball so the straw always moves to the liquid. This is a very nice feature because baby can hold the cup and drink out of it at any angle. This cup is also valve-free. The straw is thinner than the straw in Thermos Foogo stainless steel straw cup. At first, I thought it was very hard to sip the liquid out of this straw. I saw my baby looking at me after she tried it, I tried it myself and no liquid was coming out. If this was hard for me, it will be hard for my baby I thought. However, after several tries, I figured out that if you bite onto the straw a little bit, the airway opens up and liquid comes out easily. However, how am I going to explain to my baby?? Should I return the cup? Luckily, after several tries, she figured it out as well. That was awesome!  So once she figured it out, this cup was better than the Foogo straw sippy cup because the hole of the straw was smaller so it wouldn’t spill as much like Foogo sippy cup. She still spilled a little but it was less. With this cup, if you don’t close the lid very tightly to the cup base, little bit of water leaked when the cup is dropped or turned sideways. Also, you can close the lid to cover straw and water won’t leak from the straw.  Straw is very thin so it is harder to clean than Foogo. You would have to purchase the Zoli Bot straw cleaning brush and clean with it every time. I also assume I may have to replace the straw more often than Foogo in case it didn’t get cleaned properly.

[UPDATE Oct. 20, 2017] When I wrote this review, my daughter was only 9 months and she only drank water from this cup. Now when she tried drinking cow’s milk from this sippy cup, I had a surprising outcome. Milk spills a lot from this cup! When she drinks milk, she often doesn’t finish it and some milk is still left in the cup. Somehow this milk is spilled out of the straw on its own. I am not sure how to describe it. When my daughter is done with milk, there are some milk still stuck in the straw. (straw is very narrow and some liquid still stays in.) If the cup is left alone for some time like that, somehow that milk and more milk in the cup come out of the straw and gets spilled. It happened every time. When she drinks water, she usually finishes it so I had no idea it could spill like this. I have inserted a picture for you to see below. Now, I don’t use this cup for milk at all.  However, when I leave water in this cup, water doesn’t get spilled out like milk does for some reason. Therefore, I use this cup only for water. For water, it’s a good cup to use. It is very easy to hold and light, my daughter still love drinking water out of this cup.

Milk spilling out of Zoli Straw Cup!

For me and my baby, Zoli BOT straw sippy cup is the winner. Although I like stainless steel better than the plastic material, Zoli is more practical than Foogo for my baby at this time. She can hold the cup on her own and sip water out of the cup easily. Maybe when she is a little older, we will give it a try again with a Foogo straw cup.

[UPDATE Oct. 20, 2017] When I wrote this review, the size of a Zoli Bot straw cup was perfect for my daughter at the time. It was also light and easy for her to hold when she was just learning to use a straw cup. However, my daughter seemed to enjoy sipping and spitting out some water when she drank water. For this, a thinner straw of the Zoli cup had less spill than a bigger straw of the Foogo straw cup. Therefore, Zoli was the winner at that time.

However, now I change my verdict. Zoli cup is good for drinking water but not for milk. As I have mentioned, milk spills every time milk is left in the cup. For drinking milk, Foogo is the winner. My daughter only drinks milk from a Foogo straw cup now. For us, Zoli works out great for drinking water and Foogo works for drinking milk.

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