Backpack water filtration

[goinhuntn]

Curious as to what you guys are using to filter water?

I have been researching gravity fed & pump type filters. What is the best brand,

system & why. Thanks in advance for any input.

[Curtis Reed]

Sawyer Squeeze. Cheap, reliable, will filter 1,000,000 gallons and filters to 0.10 microns. I have the regular and the mini. The mini is smaller but has less flow. Both are great. Only weakness are the bags. I fixed that by using a Nalgene 1L bag with a 63mm to 28mm adapter demonstrated here:

 

 

If you are in near freezing weather make sure to bring the filter in your sleeping bag with you to keep it from freezing which will break it.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

Sawyer mini and 2 platypus 3 liter bladders is the hot ticket.

The idea is you fill one bladder with good water and hike in, on the way in fill dirty bladder and filter into clean bladder then refill dirty bladder and finish hiking to camp then you have some clean and a full dirty to refill off of until you run out. You can also run larger dirty bladder or plug the mini right to either and drink through the filter. Lots of options.

 

With that said I use the MSR Sweetwater pump for now and still run the two bladders, I already have the pump so why switch. If it ever breaks I'll buy the mini.

 

One situation we ran into that makes the sawyer questionable is one trip was super dry and the only thing that kept us on the mountain was a small puddle that we were barely able to pump from, if we had the sawyer style we would have needed to dip water into the bladder and no way we could have in this puddle. So know your water source and choose accordingly.

Always bring iodine as back up no matter what.

 

My buddy I helped on his hunt also bought me the larger sawyer base camp type deal but it's much larger than the mini and has a 5 liter dirty bag and 3 liter clean. I'll try this one at horse camp this year. To heavy for backpacking solo.

[Lucafu1]

good info!

[Guest akaspecials]

I use a PUR Hiker I bought in the early 2000s. Katadyn makes an identical filter now. I change out my filters with their cartridges. Lightweight and has never failed me; except one dirty a** water hole I definitely shouldnt have filtered out of to start with. Just because its good enough for a deer doesnt mean its good for a person, even filtered.

 

If you can stand the taste and you dont really use them that often, the purification tabs are decent and light weight.

[Codywhi1]

i have ran a couple different pump filters in the past and they where a pain in the but just took to much time, I have the steri pen now and I love that little thing, Im on the 2ed battery now and have drank some nasty looking water and have never got sick, I run 2 Algine water bottles a 2l and 1L I use a screen to lower the bugs and other water crawlers that I catch in the water bottles, I keep the 2l dirty and have a lid with a drinking spout on the 1L to avoid putting your mouth on the bottle to avoid getting sick if that make sense, it take about 30-40 seconds to purify the 1L water bottle, if you dont mind drinking a little dirt or bugs you will be fine.

[goinhuntn]

Good info guys keep them coming please.

[cactusjack]

I put a coffee filter on the end of the intake, held in place by a rubber band as a pre-filter. It keeps the sediment from plugging up the main filter. I use a miniworks, a guardian or a hyperflow.

[oz31p]

I had terrible luck with the mini works and the sweet water and katayn hiker regardless of the pre filter I used. On fishing trips when Im filter from a lake or river its fine. But hunting Im alway filter from dirt cow tanks.

 

The only thing that seems to work from dirt tanks is my Frankenstein sawyer gravity filter set up.

[Jazz]

Katydyn Hiker Pro.

 

Also- there's a virus filter for the geiggerig but I haven't tested it out yet.

[AZDirtyTaco]

Used all of the below to pretty good extent -

• PUR Hiker Pro (now Katadyn)
• MSR Sweetwater
• Sawyer Mini
• Steripen

The Katadyn is the only one that I don't use anymore after running it for a good 12 years. It's as good as the day I bought it 20 years ago, but it has the paper cartridges that run $30+ or so to replace. I tend to have to pump from some nasty super sedimenty crap and I've only gotten a couple trips out of a cartridge on multiple occasions. Solid option regardless.

 

MSR Sweetwater has been every bit of what the Katadyn has been since I picked it up 8 years ago. The ceramic filter just adds the ability to clean in the field and not require replacement. My favorite option for longer trips with more than a couple bladders worth of filtering.

 

The Sawyer's are a staple in all of our packs for emergency use only. They are cheap, take up very little space, and are light weight. Bulk H20 filtration stays at camp and those stay in the packs for an emergency. They take more work to use and are a lot slower than a pump especially when filtering for others. Regardless of time, effort, energy... they are as good as any for getting the job done, take up almost no space in the process, and weigh next to nothin. Solid option if solo or space is a premium.

 

Steripen's are cool, but I prefer pumping when it's all said and done. I get a lot more H20 filtered with a pump in the same time and it's less tedious to me. That and I NEVER have to worry about something wonky happening with the batteries. I have filtered from some sketchy sketchy water sources with the Steripen and have just as much faith in them as I do all of the others. They are legit.

[Edge]

Haven't seen a Lifestraw mentioned yet. We keep one in our saddle bags and daypack

Haven't had to use it yet. If I do, things went way south fast.

 

I keep a Sawyer mini in the camping gear but so far have either boiled my water or mooched filtered water off others so they won't hear me beach.

 

Take it from someone who had a bout with Giardia from a trip to the Superstitions Nine years ago, you don't want that! Losing 40#s was great but not like that!

[AZDirtyTaco]

Haven't seen a Lifestraw mentioned yet. We keep one in our saddle bags and daypack

Haven't had to use it yet. If I do, things went way south fast.

 

I keep a Sawyer mini in the camping gear but so far have either boiled my water or mooched filtered water off others so they won't hear me beach.

 

Take it from someone who had a bout with Giardia from a trip to the Superstitions Nine years ago, you don't want that! Losing 40#s was great but not like that!

I have a Life Straw as well and forgot to mention it since it's the same thing basically. The Sawyer Mini is just under half the size.

[oz31p]

Haven't seen a Lifestraw mentioned yet. We keep one in our saddle bags and daypack

Haven't had to use it yet. If I do, things went way south fast.

I keep a Sawyer mini in the camping gear but so far have either boiled my water or mooched filtered water off others so they won't hear me beach.

Take it from someone who had a bout with Giardia from a trip to the Superstitions Nine years ago, you don't want that! Losing 40#s was great but not like that!

40lbs.... I’m in!!!!

[CouesWhitetail]

PUR hiker (with Katadyn filter for replacements) is what I use. Works great! Had it for maybe 20 years. However, we did have one backpack trip a couple years ago where my filter and the other guys filters all clogged up and we couldn't pump water and had to leave earlier than planned. That could have been avoided had a I replaced the filter prior to that trip. I think it was near full of crap from past trips and the thick water source we had put it over the edge. I recently did another backpack trip and it worked flawlessly with the new filter.