Water system thoughts & the Sawyer Squeeze Initial Review

[Stick]

I agree...there is no way to tell if the filter is actually working or not, which is another reason I have been so content with my chemicals. Some filters can be damaged beyond repair from simply dropping them and there are no tell-tell signs, so who knows if the filter has been dropped at the factory at which it was made, or during shipping the product to the retail store (or your home) or from a customer handling the filter at the store. You just can't tell and have to put all of your faith in the fact that it does work. Then, even if you get sick, how do you know it was because the filter is broken rather than from the fact that you just didn't practice good hygiene after going to the bathroom on the trail... Not to mention that freezing some filters can also destroy them...which means more thought has to go into using a filter on the trail in the winter time. So, yeah, I agree, there are lots of potential problems with filters...

As far as the Steripens, for myself I cannot bring myself to rely on an electrical unit for something as important as purifying my water. I have heard too many stories of the batteries draining very quickly and the lights going out on them. Also, while UV is a great method of treating water, it does not actually kill anything (as far as I understand). UV light only stops the bacteria from reproducing. However, I have read that after some time, the bacteria can in fact begin reproducing again...so the light is somewhat temporary? I don't know all the details, and I may have some of this info wrong...but the bottom line for me...even if I were to carry a Steripen, I would still carry chemicals as a back up. So, in my mind, I have simply thought, why waste the weight of carrying the Steripen and extra batteries when there is a good chance of it failing and I am carrying the chemicals anyway...it made more sense for me to just carry the chemicals.

As far as the batteries are concerned, I like the idea of having everything using the same cell battery if possible. This way if say my Steripen or my headlamp battery dies I could grab my camera battery. Just kind of extra back up I guess...

Edited March 24, 2012 by Stick

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

tmountainnut -

What type of prefilter are you using with your Steripen? While the Steripen is very effective against smaller organisms like viruses & bacteria, my concern has always been the larger stuff that it's apparently not effective against...But a prefilter might take care of that.

Stick,

Totally agree with you regarding a battery standard. I also have a Steripen Adventurer Opti that I use at times and it's nice to have the battery swap ability between the Steripen and my headlamp, both using CR123A batteries. And if I'm in the mood to carry a spare battery...I only have to carry one type.

[tmountainnut]

The one filter that i've seen that is field testable is the MSR hyperflow, however it is also their most fragile pump setup, so i think thats why they figured out how to test it easily.

one of the reasons why i really like the new steripen freedom is that with some sort of charging system like the smaller ones goal0 makes, you could have an "unlimited" supply of power and just charge up the steripen at night from the battery pack. you can also use the battery pack to charge your flashlight and any other smaller electronics that use AA, AAA, or USB chargeable like the petzl core. i will carry an older Geko GPS that takes AAA and it only lasts ~2 days on a charge, so having a way to recharge them is nice, and i don't have to throw away batteries after every trip.

you make a prefilter by using a small .5L platty with the bottom cutoff and a push-pull top, and the little filter that comes in those yellow coghlan's filter funnel. all you do is cut up the filter funnel to get the small brass filter, which fits perfectly inside the cap, and its enough to keep out larger stuff. however it does not work well if the water is very silty, which also doesn't let the steripen work well. As i said, i always bring some clorine dioxide with me as a backup, and if the water is REALLY cloudy and/or gross tasting, i use that instead of the steripen.

Edited March 24, 2012 by tmountainnut

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

You can also field test the First Need XL purifier, they supply a bottle of blue dye - If you run dyed water through the system the output should be clear if everything is working properly. I like the idea of recharging while on a trip via solar, but so far I just carry extra batteries. I do hate throwing them away however, so I may have to switch to a headlamp that uses rechargeables. I've also seen that filter funnel prefilter before, I guess I just wonder how many microns the mesh filters down to.

Stick,

What's your strategy for filling the narrow mouth bags from shallow water sources? Is the filter still working well for you?

Edited April 9, 2012 by Aaron

[Stick]

Aaron,

I have been so busy with work and family lately I have not had a chance to get out and use it. I am hoping to get out weekend after next though. However, I have no reason to see why it wouldn't...

As far as filling the small mouth bottles, I have been lucky enough to fill it from a pipe or a good stream coming off a rock or something 90% of the time. The other times I either use my cook pot to dip water with and then pour it, or I use a Ziploc bag to scoop and pour. It works is all I can say...but I have been using the Platy bag for over the last year and it works fine for me.