20 Best Water Purifier For Hiking (2023 Updated)

I recently bought a LifeStraw — was out of the loop for way too long! This thing is absolutely amazing. It’s a game-changer. I set up camp in a secret spot in the woods next to a mountain stream, and my new LifeStraw has allowed me to stop purchasing so much bottled water to bring to camp.

Now I can just go down to the stream and drink whenever I’m thirsty, safely, and it is up there with the best water I have ever tasted. For convenience, I’ve started collecting stream water into a big stockpot to bring to camp so I don’t have to climb down to the stream every time I need a drink.

I would highly recommend this product for anyone who like exploring the outdoors, even if you just go on hikes every once in a while. Imagine hiking to a waterfall and then drinking out of the pool when you reach it! The LifeStraw opens up a whole new world of opportunity when it comes to drinking water, which is, you know, a pretty key aspect of life.

I bought two Survival Frog gift cards for my daughters for Christmas 2020 and they placed 2 large orders to S. F. When the orders arrived, my youngest daughter’s LifeStraw was badly cracked in several places due to rough handling during shipping (we live in Ontario, Canada).

I contacted the Survival Frog team and spoke with Ash, who was INCREDIBLY helpful and pleasant to deal with and Ash sent out another LifeStraw immediately. This one arrived packed extremely well, in a box to ensure it would not be damaged.

My kids LOVE their S. F purchases! I know this is supposed to be a review for the LifeStraw, but I have to say that every purchase my kids received was amazing and works well (quadra pro solar banks, Tesla lighters, paracord bracelets, neck knives, lock picking kit, solar lanterns) my kids are having so much fun building their “bug out bags” with Survival Frog gear.

and we are customers for life thanks to Survival Frogs quality of merchandise, super affordable prices and EXCELLENT customer service! Thanks Survival Frog! The Irving Family.

Bought this to accompany our recent 9 day backpacking adventure – split between the Idaho wilderness and Glacier MT. Had the kids with me for their first experience -not- car camping. Everyone had a LifeStraw, and more fun was had sipping out of the various creeks than I could have imagined.

All these years of just boiling the water. this generation has it so good. Lightweight, great to fill a bottle on the go -drop the straw in- and quench the hiking thirst, which was significant with this year’s smoke :(.

Kids liked the strap to wear around their necks. The only issue was 3 kids, 3 identical straws. they solved their ownership issue with some personalized light scuffing at the campsite. Didn’t know this little piece of camp-tech would add so much joy to our experience.

(Also, it works – not a smidgen of ick from any water we drank in any of us). 100%recommend.

Packed this unit around Tasmania and used it to keep a party of 4 people hydrated and healthy. pushed out 10 L each time we refilled in about 15-20 mins with bottle changes and that was on long life mode.

Raw water water alpine creeks and lakes, some sediment and colour, plenty of bacteria as well from past experience. Filtered water was clear, good tasting and no one got sick. We pushed 10-20Km a day so refilled a couple of times.

The ceramic needed a clean once and the micropore I’ll change out due to the amount of muck it removed (and saved us drinking). A little bit weighty at 500g but so worth the effort. Great piece of kit.

My purchase from Al’s has nothing to do with the items review. Al’s performed as expected AAA+++. This filter unit is a great idea from a design point of you, but requires either better tolerancing or better mold making, so it would not leak.

I owned and still own 6 different Katadyn products going back decades and all function flawlessly from day one to date. Not this one. The upside is Katadyn has a customer service second to none. A big plus.

After replacing some major parts did not resolve the issue, Katadyn just simply sent me a new filter. This one works absolutely perfect and very happy to have yet another Katadyn product, that will serve me for many years.

Now this is what I call integrity. Old company old values.

We used this filter for a one-week backcountry trip to Algonquin. I did not bring the cleaning set as I expected the pump to be fine for one week without maintenance, but I was wrong. After about 5 days the prefilter did not let any more water through.

The great thing about this filter, you can simply switch to the filter mode without prefilter, and it would work perfectly find for the remaining days. It’s not the best for the filter life but better than not having enough drinking water!.

Purchased the 3 liter gravity filter system with the hope that it would simplify water filter tasks while in the backcountry. For reference I have always used my MSR Sweetwater filter for several decades and have had few issues with that system.

However, after seeing the gravity systems I was intrigued with the idea of simply filling the reservoir and let gravity filter water while I set up camp and attended to other tasks. I’ve also tried the Sawyer Squeeze system and after a couple of trips, I went back to my old reliable MSR.

The first few trips using the BeFree gravity system my water sources were all mountain streams and it was great. It provided easy camp water for 4 of us on several weekend trips. It was even easy to use during trail side rests to refill everyone’s water and provide drink for lunch.

One trip was a week long canoe lake trip where the filter provided clean water for 6 of us. It was great to be able to fill several water bladders while we set up camp. The flow through was great but did start to slow down after several days (and MANY liters of lake water).

After cleaning, the flow did pick back up but not nearly as fast as when it was new. I did a good cleaning of it after returning home and used it again on a day hike and while filtering clear flowing stream water the flow was back to near new condition.

Overall, I’m very happy with the filter system. It is light and relatively compact (especially compared to my Sweetwater). I’m somewhat disappointed with the fact that the flow slowed down but I think that was a result of particles in the water source.

I’ve had similar issues with EVERY filter when the source is not super clear. The difference is with the MSR Sweetwater the cleaning brush restores the flow very well. Finally – I plan to get another larger (6 liter maybe) reservoir for larger groups.

The 3L was a little small for a group of 6.

I LOVE my Katadyn BeFree. It is so easy to use and it genuinely makes me happy to pull it out. I have been camping and canoe camping many times before and used friends’ Sawyer Squeezes. The Sawyer works very well and has improved the quality of my trips each time.

However, I ultimately chose to purchase a Katadyn BeFree for myself for a few reasons. – The Katadyn is simple to clean, as you just need to swish water through the filter – no extra equipment needed.

The Sawyer is finicky to clean – you need a syringe and you NEED to clean it all the time for it to work well. – The Katadyn has a soft silicone bag that packs easier and is much more pleasant to hold.

The Sawyer bags seem cheap to me – they’re simple plastic bags, and the edges are a little sharp/uncomfortable to grip. I sometimes worry about getting a “paper cut” style slash on my hands from the Sawyer bags.

– The Katadyn can essentially serve as its own water bottle, so you could theoretically scoop up water and drink it on the go very easily. The Sawyer would not do so easily and requires devoted time to filtering water.

– The flow rate out of the Katadyn is faster as well (and I’ve found it’s much, much faster in the field). – And finally, everyone says that the big bonus of the Sawyer is the long lifetime, whereas the Katadyn’s is shorter.

However, unless you are thru-hiking or going on dozens of trips each year, I don’t see that as something that really has an impact. The Katadyn will hold up for my basic needs (more than 2, less than 10 trips a year usually).

Ultimately, I just really like my Katadyn and feel very good about choosing it over the Sawyer. I liked it so much, I bought my parents one! If you’re not someone who is spending an intense amount of time outside, I would recommend the Katadyn.

However, I would never complain if I went on another trip with a friend with a Sawyer, so long as they’re the one cleaning it!.

Sadly, I have to retract my original “5-star opinion” on the BeFree. I had used it several times in summer 2021 and it was great – light, stowable, and had a fast flow rate. I always used and cleaned it according to Katadyn’s instructions (found in the packet when you buy or on their website).

I didn’t do much backpacking this summer so when I took my BeFree along for a quick trip September 2022, I didn’t think to give it a quick test before leaving (my mistake). When I went to filter water, it came out at a dismal rate – drops.

I tried every field cleaning method but nothing worked. Shaking vigorously improved flow rate to faster drops, but a far cry from 2L per minute. The filter was also new in 2021 and hadn’t been used to filter more than 20-25L of water.

Not quite sure what was wrong but after 30-40 minutes of shaking, switching, etc. nothing fixed the flow rate. Thankfully, we had our emergency iodine tablets (which you should always, ALWAYS bring with you).

Without them, our trip would have been over. 2 stars because when it works, it works great. Just a warning to prospective buyers and a reminder to check your gear before you go! D’oh.

I ALWAYS carry a water filter when I work in the woods. Today I forgot to bring extra water for a 12hr day out in the Forest, and lucky me had my #LifeStraw with me, so I could take advantage of all the water this monsoon season has brought to the desert & mountains!! Both the personal water filter straw and collapsible squeeze water filter bottle systems are extremely easy to use.

They’re lightweight and pack down to take literally anywhere (and I recommend you take them everywhere!). I actually preferred to use this collapsible one over the straw filter attached to a bottle, however I’d probably be more likely to carry just this straw on longer backpacking trips for the convenience and ability to attach it to bottles I’m already using.

The filters performed exactly as they should and even better than expected. I was not expecting the flavor of the water to be so good, it was way better tasting than the water I had previously been drinking out of my water bottle.

It had no taste, per say, but was especially crisp and fresh! Over the years I’ve used many types of water filtration systems. I’ve worked as a wildlife tech for the last 8 years and I’m also an avid outdoorsperson in my free time, and I do NOT go into the woods without a way to filter water.

I recommend this for anyone who goes into the “wild”. Or anyone who just wants to make their water taste great. Better to be over-prepared than under, and these products make it easier than ever to feel prepared.

Disclosure: LifeStraw gave me this free product to try.

I have been taking advantage of the warmer than usual spring temperatures lately, getting outside to hike, climb mountains, and go backpacking with my kids. Now when I go, I make a point to bring my LifeStraw Peak Series Personal Water Filter, so that I can have a backup when I run low on water and need to hydrate.

I can’t tell you how many times I have gone out on a hike, and it went from 1 hr. to a few. And, I didn’t bring enough water for a long hike. During these times I wished I had a LifeStraw Peak Series Personal Water Filter to use near a stream or river to hydrate or fill my water bottle up.

But, now I got smart, and I picked up a couple of the LifeStraw Peak Series Personal Water Filter. I leave one in my backpack, and have another in my car glove box. This is definitely one of those items you never think to buy.

But, once you do, you wonder how you ever lived without it. I highly recommend you pic yourself up a LifeStraw Peak Series Personal Water Filter and add to your backpack or emergency kit, as you never know when you’ll need to filter water.

The Katadyn Hiker pro water filter is the most reliable filter I’ve used in the backcountry. Recently, we went to Paria Canyon and although my friends carried tablets and drops to purify the water, we also used the Katadyn Hiker pro to filter the red clay out of the spring water.

I’ve had this filter for six years and used it multiple times. It does not require a lot of muscle power to pump the handle if you occasionally lubricate the pump handle and ensure the filter isn’t clogged with dirt, and in need of replacing or cleaning.

When my children were small their job was to use this pump to get clean water for the trip and they did it effortlessly. On the Paria trip, my husband, in his enthusiasm, acccidentally snapped the handle off.

Katadyn immediately sent us a free replacement. This is a first rate item. I recommend it as essential kit along with any other water purification items you may have.

This thing is great for larger groups. If I’m backpacking with more than two people I always tell them to ditch their squeeze filters and just share this thing and it is always the right decision. I love my Sawyer squeeze, but this thing kicks it out of the park.

The ease of use, the flow rate, the fact that I can drop the tube into water instead of filling up bags and scrambling into a creek, the lever vs having my hands cramp squeezing a bag, and the fact that I have never had one clog up, even with brown water, all beat the ultralight competition.

Only downside is it weighs 4x as much.

My caveat is that I have not been good about taking it apart and rinsing out the filter after each use. That said, I’ve only used this on 6 trips, and the filter started to get a little slow. Last weekend, while trying to pump water through the filter (difficult, but still a good flow rate) the one-way valve at the bottom of the filter broke and became a two-way valve.

It took us a while to figure out a workaround by kinking the uptake hose when pumping out. Still, even applying as little pressure as possible, that hose would pop off and spray water everywhere – not fun when it’s 50 out and getting colder.

My friends and I were trying to go light on a backpacking/climbing trip, so our backup was boiling water – not a good option when we don’t have a ton of extra fuel. We were talking about having to cut our trip early or just drink the stream water and hope we don’t get the squirts until we get home.

For me and two guys, we probably spent a total of 8 or 9 hours AT LEAST across a three night trip trying to squeeze drops of water through the filter. We also drank a LOT of near-boiling water, which wasn’t fun.

We were generally dehydrated the whole time because of how much time and effort it takes to filter water. Don’t let this bulky piece of gear potentially shorten your trip or force you to drink less water than you should be.

I’m online looking at how much it costs to replace a filter. Yes, I’ll be better about cleaning my filters going forward, but $50 to replace a filter that only got me through 6 trips. I’m gonna try a Sawyer next.

The whole thing costs less than just the replacement filter anyways, is lighter, and thru-hikers rave about em.

manque un mode d’emploi détaillé du produit. Huereusement, il y a des vidéos du fabriquant sur son site.

TraduireAfficher dans la langue originaleI loved this thing until my fourth backpacking trip. The filter itself is straightforward, and if it slows you can backwash it easily. The plastic bags they provide are very difficult to fill, even in running water, and they break quickly.

You have to squeeze them very hard to get the water through the filter. I did this for four High Sierra backpacking trips before both bags cracked, on the same trip, rendering the filter useless (thank god my buddy had spare chlorine tabs).

On my next trip, I brought an CNOC bag to use instead of Sawyer’s provided plastic bags. That also worked great, until the CNOC broke from the squeeze pressure. I am not that strong, and the water was not coming out that fast.

I love this filter but it feels like I’d have to buy new fill-up bags every trip to keep using it. Not worth it.

TraduireAfficher dans la langue originaleI must say, we are a die hard Sawyer fan now. When I first started backpacking, the options were much more limited than they are now. We went with a Sawyer filter and it lasted us for years, arguably it’s still usable.

However after 7 years, we decided it would be best to simply purchase another one. It’s so reliable and we have rigged ours into a gravity filter system with a dirty water bladder and tubes. It’s so trusty, and we have not had it fail on us.

The only issue is that you need to back flush it after every trip, which isn’t difficult. It’s become a routine for us now, and we think it would be weird to not have a Sawyer to back flush as our after trip routine! We even bought a few extra to put in our bug out bags.

I can comfortably say that sawyers are super reliable, and it’s the #1 filter that I recommend people when they are getting into backpacking.

I love this filter! I’ve had it for a couple years now and it’s super lightweight and easy to use. I will eventually have to get another cap/filter for it, but I’ve probably filtered 50 qts of water through it so far, and it’s just starting to get a little harder to squeeze.

The mouth is large enough and flexible enough to get under even the smallest trickle of water. You can leave the water in the filter and drink directly out of it, or just squeeze it into your nalgene and then store the empty folded-up bottle in your pack.

We took this BFree on a 3 day backpacking trip where another person had a classic pumping-type filter, but my BFree pumped water faster so all 5 of us ended up just using it. You do have to take some care with it as the plastic could get a tear or hole in it if you just shove it in your pack alongside something sharp, but if you’re careful I think it will last a long time.

It is great for filtering out amoebas like giardia in probably any water in the backcountry of North America, but it does NOT filter out viruses and very small organisms, so it’s not appropriate for use in developing countries where you need to filter out some deadly diseases.

We have used several of these, including six weeks on the PCT through Oregon. The Sawyer mini always works and is the lightest filter solution out there. The bag is not the most efficient way to use it.

We just keep the Sawyer mini on a dirty water bottle, take it off for easy filling, and squeeze. Smart water bottles work best, very durable– they last us more than a year. Backpacking in the Tetons, the Olympics, the Cascades, and the Andes these are our go-to filter.

Never had one fail. Backwashing will give them a new lease on life. If there are more than two of us on a trip, we take an extra filter. Speeds up the morning and evening fills.

Check your products make sure they are sealed and not contaminated or tampered with!!! Mini sawyer water filtration system arrived three days late, presume because of weekend, unsealed and clam shells were partially closed product has definitely been tampered with, could not get through to corporate to make a record of this but one Walmart managers, promptly gave refund.

Person who used this, on vacation definitely six from using it in the wilderness. We gave them the box and when they opened it, it was either use it then or dirty water from there camping area where they were.

What a joke! Never order on a Friday because the three days they have there’s no telling what the transportation and it was FedEx did to it. Definitely not good ! 12 unreturned calls to corporate , ordered in Wichita , came from Dallas Texas , fedex.

I mean this in a literal sense. I went on a weekend camping trip with my boyfriend. We had full camelbaks and extra gallon jugs of water for refilling. A few miles in, both of our jugs fell on the ground and burst open.

It was getting dark outside and we were already about 5 miles into our hike with about a mile left until we reached the campsite. Luckily we found a small spring and were able to use our mini water filter to fill our camelbaks with clean water.

Without it we would have had to either hike 5 miles back to the trailhead, or spend the night in the woods with zero water. Worth the $20.

TraduciMostra in lingua originaleFirst use was 5-night trip to BWCA 7/22. 2 of us, so volume a bit of overkill, but very nice to have plenty of easily accessible potable water at a base camp. Pretty lightweight and fairly compact when empty.

Very easy to fill out in lake. Scoop water into bag and carefully lift over gunwale into boat and seal top/clip shut. When full, weight makes it hard to hang if doing alone. Once up, very convenient and pretty fast flow.

One bad mark: before first bag fill used up, after only about 3 L filtered, red valve developed drip/leak. Could not get drip to stop despite messing with valve and trying several positions. Ended up having to hook blue filter piece and hose with red valve up, above level of water in bag.

Inconvenient and annoying as unit was brand new, but not a deal breaker.

TraduciMostra in lingua originalethe water taste plastic! i claim warranty but no solutions was made! i don’t trust this product ! it’s just advertising! and fraud ! horrible product! plastic taste! poor quality! please avoid buy this product if you don’t want headache.

no guarantee you will get disease 🦠! using this product will not keep you safe ! the manufacturer sells faulty product! plastic taste ! just avoid.

TraduciMostra in lingua originaleThis is a handy, well made water purifier. It will be indispensable for frequent campers and adventurers. It’s easy to use and has the instructions printed on the bag to guide you until you have it all figured out.

The wide mouth of the bag makes it easy to fill, and there’s an area on the side of the bag where you can see how much water is int he bag at a glance. It filters slowly, but this makes me more confident that the water I will be drinking is safe to drink.

The bag is quite large and holds a good amount of water (12 liters) so it will be great for a group of people. A little patience is required for filling your drinking container – it’s a trickle, so it’s not going to come through the filter as quickly as filling your cup from a kitchen faucet.

Ultimately though it’s more convenient to me to use this than to lug water bottles around or boil water. You could also place a large container underneath the tube for collecting water while you’re off doing other things.

We actually brought water bottles with us as a back up, just in case we weren’t happy with the performance of the filter or the flavor of the water, but we never used them. It’s easy to snap the strap around a tree branch for hanging.

The bag empties and rolls up quickly and easily and has a carrying bag to store it in. When empty, it’s extremely lightweight, and when full you will be able to carry it around easily from your water source to your campsite with the carrying strap.

As far as the flavor of the water goes, it’s pretty good! I was pleasantly surprised by how flavorless it was, and it came out crystal clear. It’s not as good as tap or bottled water, but it’s not bad at all.

The “dirty” bags are not available for separate purchase in the 4. 0 and 6. 0 liter sizes. This is silly. I made a warranty repair request today that I wouldn’t have even bothered with, if I could buy a new “dirty” bag individually, even at $32.

I’m a loyal customer with an original 1. 0L platypus water bag from the late 1990’s It’s been on hundreds of trips, to the tops of high mountains and deep into caves. It’s taken a LOT of abuse and is still watertight! I *think* my 4.

0L “dirty” gravity filter bag has a defective seam, judging from the way the pinhole opened up from the inside rather than being a puncture, so the warranty will probably be honored, but why make us go through these steps when longtime loyal customers will gladly replace individual parts? Don’t make us buy 2 bags.

Even if your stated purpose of selling pairs of bags is for “extra capacity,” the reality is, extra water is only gained by hauling 2 dirty bags on a water run. Nobody really needs an extra “clean” bag, because the group always has plenty of empty water bottles.

Sell clean and dirty bags separately please!.

Used this again recently on remote area of Kodiak island traveling overland hunting. every ounce of weight I had with me was carefully thought out and critical. I could only carry so much. This is by far the best filter I have had.

You can put it in your pack and carrier in country that has ample water in ponds rivers and lakes. Carrying water in any volume always seemed crazy to me but time and effort to get water filtered was always a problem.

Now when you’re thirsty you can just stop by a stream, hang it up and in a few minutes you have enough water to drink for the next couple hours Or a meal. The only place where water weight does any good for you it’s in your belly.

The kit weighs almost nothing and effort to get water filtered is also close to zero. One thing to be careful of is keeping the kit together. One downside is losing bit of it can make it non-functional.

If you lose the collection bag, cabs, tubing, filter etc. the whole thing becomes non-functional. I quickly attached all items that were small and loose to the containers with a bit of parachute cord.

This helps keep everything together. I learned this lesson by losing one of the proprietary caps on a previous filter. Hope this helps.

Bought this a few weeks ago. Agonized a bit as to whether the 4L size was silly for someone who mostly backpacks (vs. car camps) and usually only with one or two other people. and I already own a pump that works fine.

Tested it out this weekend on a 4 day, 3 night hike along the Bartram Trail in Georgia. Kind of a game changer both in camp and on trail so I’m really psyched about this purchase. First, it can’t weigh more than my pump, so that’s a non-issue.

Second, I was in the habit of carrying more water on-trail when I had to pump, I think. It was kind of a pain to pump, and slow, so I’d just load up in the morning hoping I wouldn’t have to pump again until I got to my next night’s campsite.

This system is so fast and easy I carried less figuring if I had to filter mid-hike, no biggie. But mostly it was so great at the campsite. You basically have a huge reservoir of fresh water with no effort- for drinking, cooking, washing up.

If you run out, you just grab another bagful. No trying to parsimoniously dole out little splashes for washing up because you don’t want to have to go pump more.

The survivor manual backup is one of the best ideas from Survivor filter yet. Although I haven’t had to use it because the electric filter is built like a tank!! I have used Survivor filters for a couple of years now and NEVER had a filter failure.

I trust Survivor filter so much that last year I gave them out as part of my Christmas gift to friends. Keep doing what you are doing Survivor filter you have a Great product.

I ordered this directly from the company because it looked like I’d get it sooner than through Amazon. Here are some thoughts. 1. The device isn’t very heavy, but it’s really too heavy for backpacking.

It would be perfect for car camping. 2. For camping in the U. S. , you probably don’t need protection from viruses, but in the event of a natural disaster, it would be smart. So this is a good device to keep at home for emergencies or in the car for car camping.

3. The company has prompt and helpful customer service. They try hard to please customers. That’s always nice. 4. I really like this electronic version. To me, it’s worth the extra money. The manual version is lighter, but probably still too heavy for backpacking.

5. It runs fairly quiet and the flow rate is faster than a gravity filtering setup. 6. It is not flimsy. It appears to be well constructed with strong ABS plastic. It doesn’t appear prone to breakage.

7. Does it really filter down to. 01 microns? There is some evidence of this, but I’ll be looking for further independent testing results in the future. The claim might be somewhat exaggerated. But keep in mind that except for viruses,.

01 is overkill. 0. 2 is probably all you need. 9. Even though it is supposed to filter at. 01 microns, that’s awfully close to what is required for some viruses. In the event I have reason to fear a virus in the water, I’m still going to add chlorine dioxide to makes sure.

10. I was afraid this device would be flimsy, heavy, noisy and have a slow flow rate. It isn’t any of those things. It doesn’t have any of those faults. 11. It’s kind of nice that it has the charcoal filter.

It’s not necessary for water purification, but it improves the taste and appearance of the water and does reduce the amount of heavy metals that might pass through. 12. Overall, I’m happy with my purchase.

If I ever lose water service at my house due to a natural disaster, this will come in quite handy and that gives me some peace of mind.

So far, I have only tested it to familiarize myself with its operation. I purchased it for emergency use as the water system in Jackson, MS is unstable/unreliable at best and has a fifty+ year history of being “patched” when a break occurs but no money has been put into making it a solid system.

Ease of use is exceptional and the water it produces is far superior to what we have coming out of our faucets. Yes, it makes a major difference in comparison with our supposedly safe tapwater! I will be purchasing additional filters in the near future as I may start using this for all my drinking/cooking water needs.

I own an older version of the MSR MiniWorks, with a ball and spring backflow preventer, which I have used for almost 15 years, and it has NEVER failed me. A friend of mine also has an older version and has used it extensively without issue.

I pumped water straight out of the Colorado river, after a recent rain, with the water mud colored. This filter was the only one able to continuously filter and get crystal clear water for a group of 4 for multiple days.

Yes, I had to clean the cartridge quite often because of the sediment, but it kept on working. I have had a couple friends purchase the newer version of this filter, which does not have the ball and spring mechanism but a different design, and it appears to me the newer valve is not as good at preventing backflow, which prevents it from forcing water through the filter, especially when the filter starts to get sediment built up in it.

Not sure why they changed the design, but I think they should bring back the old design because it works much better. Possibly the new design is why people are having issues with the newer version of this filter.

For everyone, new or old filter, when cleaning the cartridge, really scrub it hard. I use one of those green scrubbing pads we use in the kitchen to wash pots and pans. Make sure you change the filter when the plastic gauge, located on the bottom of the filter, indicates it needs to be changed.

If you don’t know what I am talking about, go back and read your directions.

Prior to trip tested in kitchen sink. Flow seemed acceptable, not what I would call quick based on experience with other brands. On 5 day backpack trip in Sierras, crystal clear alpine water, the pumped worked ok through 2-3 liters and then problems started.

Extremely slow flow rates, water back-pressured out through inlet tube, and no suction. I ended up cleaning/scrubbing ceramic filter multiple times per liter. Flow would temporarily increase then drop off again and same problems would occur.

I spent nearly 45 minutes on last day to fill 4 liters. Brutal. So bummed because I find so many other MSR products invaluable.

I’ve used this for over 15 years. Even pulled water out of a very shallow stream ( 2 inch deep pool). It goes on about 10-15 backpack trips per year and countless day hikes. When the flow slows just pop out the filter, give it quick scrub and your good to go.

I believe MSR rate the filter for a1000 liters. The little crescent shaped tool tells you when you need a new one. I’ve tried other lighter filters and keep going back to this one. Won’t backpack w/o it.

It can be more time consuming than the gravity filters but I don’t mind the few extra minutes by a steam.

TraduciMostra in lingua originaleI got this as a gift for Christmas to take on backpacking trips to avoid having to pump water. On my first day trip I ran out of water 10 miles in. So I scooped up some water from the crystal clear high mountain lake with the expectation I would have at least a water bottle full of water after 15 minutes or so.

Nope. After 30 minutes I bare got a couple swallows of water. Removed the filter from the hose attachment and water flows in a steady stream without any restrictions. Thank goodness my buddy had a water bottle filter I could borrow.

When I got home I filled the gravity bag full of tap water, hung the bag from the shower head, attached the hose and filter and let ‘er rip. Sadly, same result. A drip of water every 2-3 seconds at best.

I checked it 15 minutes later and it did improve to about 1 drop every second. Waiting hours for any measurable amount of water to be filtered is not worth the money spent on this product. This filter should not have made it passed the quality checks before it left the warehouse.

TraduciMostra in lingua originaleMy husband and I just got back from an 8 day canoe trip where we brought this gravity filter instead of the pump that we normally take – the idea of less work on the trip was attractive! On the positive side, it is light weight and easily fits in the pack and when it flows smoothly, it saves work of pumping water.

Unfortunately the fastest flow we could get for a 1L Nalgene bottle was 15 minutes, but this was rare, more often it took an hour or more. I was quite surprised to hear some people got 2 minutes/bottle.

At the beginning we did didn’t do the 2x daily of cleaning but implemented it every time we refilled the bag once we figured it out. To get it cleared, we actually took some of our filtered water and pushed it back through the filter first as we weren’t able to pull water through.

We did get it back to the 15m/1L bottle, but by the end of each bag it was slow again. In spite of finding the “fix” for the problem we unfortunately had to boil water several times to catch up as we use 10L a day.

Another concern to watch out for is the rubber “O” ring that is on the end piece of the hose that attaches the hose to the gravity filter bag. When detaching the hose from the bag, watch out as this ring came off 3 times.

Luckily we figured out why the bag was leaking and looked for a ring. It is reddish brown and a bit hard to see on the reddish brown debris on our backwoods campsite. I suggest if you are taking this on your trip, take extra rings along in case you don’t find it back! Instead of it being a time saver, this caused a lot of stress and times when we didn’t have enough water on our treks.

I like the idea of not having to work for my water, but I will not trust it as the sole system for water filtration.

TraduciMostra in lingua originaleThe specs claim this filters 0. 5L of water per minute. not sure how they got those numbers. I used it on a trip this week, and was appalled at how slow it was. I tried it at home before I left, and it was very slow with tap water, but I thought maybe it was just getting warmed up.

Not the case. Fortunately it was a mellow trip where water was plentiful and we were in no hurry, but if you need water fast, this is not your filter. The lake water I used was crystal clear, and I’ve only run about 4 bagfuls through, so I’m trying it again at home with tap water to double check the speed.

It’s been 28 minutes and I’m still waiting to hit the 1 litre mark. The water is dripping out of the bag drop by drop. It speeds up a bit when the bag is directly vertical, but that’s just not always possible.

My previous experience with a gravity filter was with a Platypus Gravityworks, and it performed much better under much less ideal circumstances (ie murkier water, with the full dirty water bag laid on a creek bank and the clean water bag down a very gentle slope.

) The other thing I couldn’t figure out is that there is no way to connect the clean water end to any sort of water vessel that I am aware of, so there’s a lot of potential for precious clean water to spill all over the place.

So, if you have lots of patience and always have access to a nice tall tree with a perfect filter hanging branch maybe give it a try. Otherwise, save yourself some frustration and look at a different product.

This works as it should, even after 14 years of use. This is what you want if you’re looking to quench a two-day thirst from a half-inch deep, feces-filled springhead that’s been stomped and denuded by starving, feral horses.

Or if you’re arriving thirsty at a muddy puddle full of dead flies that your map says is an alpine lake but isn’t anymore because we wrecked the climate. Thousands of miles of trails/hundreds of gallons of water through this thing, and I’m still on the same original filter unit.

Judicious and even scrubbing of the filter keeps it lasting a long time. don’t scrub it until the pumping gets difficult, then only scrub enough to make it easy again. Also, be sure to pump/shake excess water out of it if you are in below-freezing conditions, to prevent ice from breaking ceramic filter.

In extra cold conditions, I’ve opted to sleep with it in a bag and sock to prevent damage. Needs very little maintenance (just some silicone every year or so). Not the fastest pump, but the most solid.

Two complaints, but still five stars: -I agree, make the output hose at least two feet longer! Come on! – The bag is well made but not really the right shape to house all the components well. it could be a bit shorter and just a bit wider.

-Some kind of extra prefilter could be great to keep the small organic matter out of the main filter. The existing prefilter is good/solid, but lets through small organic matter that needs to be cleaned regularly from the main filter if you’re pumping out of really poor water sources (we all will be soon unless we GET.

IT. TOGETHER). I’ve resorted to wrapping fine woven cloth around the prefilter to aid in this. Not a big deal.

I’ve had one of these for 20 years, and its seen service all over Europe and North America. It functions extremely well and is extremely durable. Mine is 20 years old and still on its first ceramic core.

It is easy to disassemble for cleaning and maintenance and is extremely well made. It can be field stripped for cleaning in muddy water or glacial melt. The latter contains a lot of pulverized rock flour and would simply murder a cartridge filter.

With the Katadyn, you take the ceramic filter out, scrub it off, put it back together and continue filtering. I gave it 5 stars, despite the downsides, which I’ll list here. 1 – It is eye wateringly expensive.

Over its lifetime, it is no so expensive, but it has a substantial initial cost. 2 – It is heavy. The water filter that it replaced cost 1/4 as much and probably weighed 1/4 as much as well. Forget about this thing if you are an ultralight.

(or if you are, make this the one thing where you break your weight rule) 3 – One ergonomic failure of note. The inlet and outlet are unmarked, at least on my older unit (hopefully they fixed this in later years).

The bottom is the inlet and the top – at the hand pump – is the outlet A couple of notes: It pumps too slowly for groups larger than four and you may want to have a second filter.

This filter does an excellent job of filtering water. It is reasonably compact and not too heavy for what it is. When you hold this in your hand it feels like high quality product that will last a lifetime.

That being said for all the quality they put into the filter itself, the hoses leave a lot to be desired. Specifically the outlet hose needs to be two if not three times longer. It’s extremely difficult to refill a water bottle by yourself unless you are lucky enough to find the absolutely perfect location where everything you need is positioned in the exact optimal location.

Compounding the short outlet hose problem is the spring clip. Looking at it you would expect the spring part to actually grip the hose but it does not. There is absolutely no force holding the hose inside the clip so it will slip out with the slightest provocation, usually landing on the ground or in the water body you are trying to filter from.

I don’t plan on using this filter for another backpacking trip until I can source a longer hose for it and create a solution to the clip problem.

You never appreciate drinking water until you don’t have it readily available. We went through a typhoon warning where the whole city shut down and all stores were out of bottled drinking water. I bought a couple small bottles that I could find for our family, and I filled the bathtub with water as a just in case, and thankfully we didn’t need to drink from it, but I remember it was full of floaties and dog hair and I remember thinking, I guess if it’s an emergency we wouldn’t care about stuff in the water.

The straw size is of course bigger than your regular straw, but very portable and light and easy to pack in our emergency kit without taking up a lot of space. It comes with an extension tube which I love because the water may be in a location where you can’t get to it with just the length of the filter straw.

It says it can filter up to 1500 liters which comes out to 396 gallons of drinkable water. I love that I am able to use it multiple times, and it doesn’t seem to have an expiration date as far as good for so many days/months after opening.

I used it a few times to test it out, rinsed and dried it out and stuck it in our emergency kit. I think this is a must-have in a home emergency kit and is a great product to have on hand to drinkable water.

This personal water purifier is perfect for anyone who hikes, bikes or takes long automobile trips to places where there may not be a water source. We have one in our house for emergencies in case the water is not fit to drink.

We are going to keep this one in the car because you never know when you might break down in the middle of nowhere without a clean water source. This purifier removes 99. 99% waterborne bacteria and meets the EPA purifier standards and NSF/ANSI 42/53.

It is BPA free. It will prevent salmonella, giardia, cholera, and diarrhea with it’s hollow fiber UF membrane. It also has an activated carbon filter. I have many products from Etekcity and I believe this company wants their customers to be satisfied.

I received this Personal Water Purifier from Etekcity for an honest review.

This water filter straw is ideal for emergency and outdoor use. Safely drink up to 1,500 liters of water from nearly any lake, river, spring, well or even rainwater with up to 4 different uses including filter extension, portable water storage, and prefiltration.

The Personal Water Purifier by Etekcity filters 99. 9999% of colibacillus, legionella, heavy metal ions, remained chlorine, VOC, organic and insect contaminant.

I used to have a different model SteriPen years ago and it got lost. Picked this one up, like doing business with Moosejaw over the years. I had a little difficulty figuring out the correct battery placement.

(It wasn’t intuitive for me) Figured it out quickly as the correct placement is marked on the bat holder. the device works as described. Can’t verify whether all pathogens were killed because I have been using city tap water for testing.

One feature about this particular model is the pushable on switch is easily activated when shoving it into the back pack. I solved this by inserting the SteriPen into cardboard (paper towels) tube. Without this sleeve over the switch the device would get accidentally activated by pack contents shifting around.

I’ve used the Steripen prior to my backcountry trek a couple weeks ago, though it belonged to someone else. I bought it recently for said trip, with the included pre filter. I do like the prefilter option.

It does well to block out twigs and other particulate. The UV pen works great on it’s own or with the pre filter. Next trip, I will need to take extra batteries or install longer lasting ones, as they ran dry after 3 days (in the ADK High Peaks), and probably two dozen or so (1 litre) purification cycles.

I just had regular Energizer AAs. Was not the fault of the Steripen though. I’ve been back for almost two weeks and I’m not sick. so, it definitely works!!! Again, I would stress getting the prefilter combo, and falling water is not always an option, and occasional semi still pond/stream water has to be used.

The 1L Nalgene bottle filled through the filter, when submerged, in maybe a minute or less.

I bought my unit when they first came out, many years ago (I’m an early adopter) I have used it regularly (several times a year) when hiking and needed more water than I had brought or for camping. I have used it a lot in several different countries to treat tap water that I wanted to be sure of and once treated an 18L water jug’s worth with one change of batteries.

Even during a flood that totalled our regular water system. I have not had any problems with it using batteries excessively but let’s be honest, having a spare set with it is not the end of the world in terms of weight or cost.

I haven’t thought to use it with Lithium’s but they would likely perform better at low temps. I made sure that from the outset that the unit always had the protective guard in place over the UV tube when not in use.

I store the unit in the pouch with the directions inside a 32 oz Camelbak water bottle that is closed with the pre-filter lid. That arrangement securely protected the unit and it has banged around in my day pack on my back or in my truck for years with no ill effects.

I once ignored my better judgement and left the batteries inside the unit for a really extended period and they leaked. I cleaned up the battery contacts inside the unit and on the lid carefully with small amounts of a well known cleaner on cotton swabs and it has worked perfectly ever since.

The comment about very clean glacier water possibly needing some conductivity salt to make it work properly was interesting but I haven’t run in to it. I stumbled across the negative reviews when I came to buy another one for my son and just wanted to provide a different perspective.

We purchased one of these back in 2019 for a family member and it changed their life. They no longer need to boil their water for safe drinking- which cuts down on local air pollution and asthma symptoms.

Our young son looked at their water from the bore hole and then the filtered water and was astonished by the amount of dirt they had been drinking. I’ve also noticed, we aren’t hearing about family members being sick as frequently.

About 6 months later, we sent another filter back for another family member and it has also been life changing – no more boiling drinking water and no more purchasing bottled water. And now, in 2021, here I am in Kenya with a 3rd filter I purchased for our travel.

We have been in hotels, apartment, and home stay. We’ve brought the filter to each place and been filtering it into a large empty water 10liter jug. While purchasing bottled water here is not expensive, it does contribute to single-use plastics and a considerable amount of litter alongside side roads, throughout the villages, and even inside home compounds.

There is no recycling here, so anything we can do to cut-down on the environmental impacts is a positive. Empty water bottles end up as litter or are burned- either way its creating pollution. We will leave this filter for another family member when we leave.

First off. I don’t normally write reviews. But after reading Granpas review today I had to say something. After spending three months in the Philippines where clean water for cooking, cleaning and drinking is a truly scarce commodity I can safely say that the life straw family is superior in all ways that matters than a Brita.

The statement that a Brita filter is better is misleading and dangerous. From the Brita site ‚ÄúThe Brita¬ģ LONGLAST¬ģ filter is not intended to purify water. Do not use with water that is microbiologically unsafe or of unknown quality without adequate disinfection before or after the system.

Individuals requiring water of special microbiological purity should follow the advice of their doctor or local health officials regarding the use and consumption of their tap water and Brita filtered water.

‚ÄĚ. Lifestraw is a must for anyone going to a third world country, who has relatives there or for any flood victims this is far more practical than bottled waters on any kind of long term basis I don’t normally write reviews period todayAfter spending three months in the shopping we are clean drinking water is there into premium.

I harvest rainwater for cooking and drinking. Needless to say I need a gravity water filter. Lifestraw does the job but has some shortcomings. I have owned 3 of these and continuously used this product for about two years now.

The first added a gawd awful plastic odor to the water, returned it to Amazon and got another, in the interim got the idea to flush out the the system with a couple gallons of tap water. When I got the replacement I did just that, no odor.

I give the product 3 stars for the following observations. It will not, does not filter the microscopic particles in tap water! The stats for Brita and Lifestraw are the same but Brita will take out half the particles while Lifestraw virtually none! I have spent 20 years of my 69 years in the U.

S. Army. I’ve spent plenty of time in the sticks, jungle and desert. For the life of me I can’t figure out the rationale for the 4 foot tubing! Cutting the tube and reattaching is pretty much impossible without a way to heat the tube to get back on.

To me, a serious shortcoming!!! Replacement filters are not available! Why? The pre-filter mesh basket is a joke. Clogs easily!!! I substituted with a mesh coffee filter which I, thankfully, already had.

Replacement pre-filters are also not available!! Dumb!!! Replacement tubing can be gotton at a hardware store, I guess. With all the parts that can’t be replaced and no real guidance on how or when to clean it seems this item is ripe for mold collection in time.

TraduciMostra in lingua originaleI’ve used this product on two trips now covering 225 miles of Appalachian Trail and 7 parks out West. It was perfect on both. It fits easily in one of my side water pouches along with my tent poles and ground stakes.

On the car camping trip out West I filtered water for the entire party in minutes. You can pump gallons through this filter in the time you squeeze one Sawyer bag. It also works perfectly in a long AT section.

I just hiked Delaware Water Gap to Great Barrington and used this filter exclusively. It worked perfectly with an Osprey hydraulic bladder and a good old plastic water bottle. If you’re concerned about ultralight then this probably isn’t for you, nor was it made for you.

It’s not terribly heavy per se, but there are good filters that weigh almost nothing made by Katadyn. However, you can still have a very respectable pack weight and carry this as your filter.

TraduciMostra in lingua originaleHis a solid piece of equipment. It’s not as easy to use the first time, but I attribute that to just learning how to use it. It is well worth your health and safety to keep hydrated when you are on hikes in the wilderness where there is only natural sources of water.

I saw people drinking straight from lakes and streams but animals use that water and I’m not going to risk getting sick out in the wilderness. It’s a process to clean but it’s guaranteed for 20 years! Added plus is to never buy a filter ever.

Some mention the added weight makes this has a pretty small footprint in my pack so it’s worth preventing getting sick from water and not having to carry excess water storage or a water bottle, making up the weight of the pack.