Avex Highland AUTOSEAL Stainless Travel Mug

The perfect double-walled, vacuum-insulated mug for backcountry day trips or daily commutes. Actually, truly leak-proof, exquisitely designed, highly recommended!

In a world with many vices, mine is gambling. Well, sort of: I have a weakness for contests and giveaways. I see it as cheap gambling, costing only time. One lucky day I won this Avex travel mug, forever changing my daily coffee habits, even though at the time I had no clue what I had just won.

I should go on record as saying I am a coffee addic . . . er, enthusiast. Since high school, I have avidly consumed this wondrous, natural beverage sans milk or sugar (though I can handle those variations, too, if I must).

This means that I have used just about every travel mug I could get my hands on over the years. One of my favorites has been the REI Double Shot Press Mug, a sturdy (if weighty) mug that combines mug with French press.

But the Avex . . . well, it holds 6 oz. more than my Double Shot for $4.50 less (although it lacks the French press option and the nifty secret grounds storage of the Double Shot), and that makes it perfect for day hiking or commuting. Moreover, its superior insulation surpasses just about any other travel mug I've used: adding boiling water to the Avex, I tested the bold 7-hour claim for keeping beverages hot; after 7 hours, the contents were still recognizably warm, well over 100˚ F according to my digital thermometer. My coffee brews at 167.3˚ F/75.2˚ C: after 3.5 hours, it remained at 130.2˚ F/54.6˚ C (the coffee was long gone by the 7-hour mark).

Sipping coffee at work this summer, I was still enjoying warm coffee hours after I had poured it into my mug. I've never managed to keep cold beverages in the Avex long enough to test the 20-hour claim—I consume them too quickly—but I have no reason to doubt the claim after my experiences, hot and cold, with this mug.

Oh, and another perk of the double-wall construction, incidentally, is the absence of condensation of the sides of the mug. The polished stainless steel interior does the job.

The genius of this refined travel mug is in the details. The matte black exterior is elegant and refined, imposing in a satisfying fashion at 9.5 in/24.13 cm tall. The heft is satisfying, too (13.08 oz/370.8 g) as a consequence of its stainless steel, double-wall construction. The base features a slim, textured, grippy band of gray rubber that provides the mug with a non-slip base and a pleasing aesthetic contrast to the smooth black stainless above it.

At about 6.25 in/15.9 cm from the base, the mug tapers in, and this is the main gripping area. Ingeniously, the smooth stainless causes one's hand to slip upward towards the lid, where it encounters a second band go grippy gray rubber as well as a button that toggles to lock the mug when not in use. This section flares back out, causing the mug to rest securely in one's hand. In essence, the two tapers encourage one's hand to rest in the perfect place to deactivate the lock and to press the button that allows one to drink form the mug.

Releasing the button seals the mug with what Avex calls its "AUTOSEAL technology." The scalloped top and flared lid give the Avex a nice mouth feel for pleasurable and satisfying sipping. In the image below, the top opening is a vent that allows wire to enter the Avex as the liquid contents exit; the bottom slit is where the contents come out. The hole is too small for chunky soups, but one could easily open the lid and enjoy a soup with a long-handled spoon. (And yes, that's a scratch in the lid, the only visible sign of long, daily use after several months.)

Once I knocked the mug over in my wife's car, causing her to cry out in distress, recalling analogous disasters in which her car suffered coffee spills from my collection of "leakproof" mugs. But there was no disaster this time: this is truly a leakproof mug, one I do not hesitate to throw into my day bag because I have zero fear of it spilling. It works that well, and the piece of mind this brings is enormously satisfying.

I can't wait to set off on day trips during the fall and winter seasons! My Avex will be filled with freshly ground, freshly brewed coffee goodness, a welcome and warming treat on the trail that will save me the weight of carrying a stove, a pot, and fuel to boil water to brew coffee. If you have been searching for a truly leakproof, well-insulated mug for day trips or daily commutes, consider the Avex Highland travel mug. 

This was one gamble that paid off!

While I love this product, I will never buy another Avex product because their customer service is worse than ZERO.

I have bought more than 10 different Avex mugs since discovering them at the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, and love them when they work. Then I had one ship with a defective lid before Christmas.

I filed an online warranty request December 17 and have NEVER heard a word back other than the auto-reply that they would get back to me in 2-3 weeks. I've written two more times. Still no response. It's not worth the risk to pay a premium price if you receive such unacceptable support.