Do expensive insulated cups keep your drink cold for longer?

They say you get what you pay for but sometimes — just sometimes — real life is NOT a cliché.

Take the surprising results of Fair Go's tests involving the latest mobile drink accessory, the giant insulated drinks holder known as the 'Stanley' cup.

It's huge — holding six cups of liquid — it's robust — and in some cases it carries a hefty price tag.

So, here's the question — if you buy top of the range, will it do a better job?

Fair Go tested four cups: the Stanley Cup cost $109, one from Stevens was $49.99, The Warehouse's offering was $29 and Kmart's cup was $19.

As to how good they are: Stanley claimed its cup could keep cold drinks cold for 11 hours, Stevens and The Warehouse both said 12 hours, and Kmart boasted just 4 hours.

Under controlled lab conditions, and supervised by a Massey University expert, the cups were filled with both hot and cold liquids and then regularly measured to see if they lived up to the claims.

The cold test was a revelation — all four kept their contents cold for the maximum claimed time — 12 hours — even the Kmart model, which had only claimed a 4-hour chill.

And the warm test was also a bit surprising. Each of the cups claimed different "warm" times ranging from four to seven hours. But after our expert team put in 80C water, all of the cups kept the water warm.

We put these results to the manufacturers.

While Stanley and Stevens didn't want to comment, both Kmart and The Warehouse weren't that surprised by the findings, saying their drink bottles had been flying of the shelves.