Water Filter

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ohioguy
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Water Filter

Post by ohioguy »

Anyone use this one

http://sawyer.com/

sure seems lighter than the rest
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Re: Water Filter

Post by TnTammy »

Mike and I have used the Sawyer Squeeze on several backpacking trips. Its worked well, is superlight, but we found a few issues worth mentioning.

- after some reports of their bags rupturing, we purchased replacement bladders (EVERNEW) which have been highly durable, lasting 4 trips so far. Recommended on the Backpacking Light forum.

- its abit "tricky" to manage by one person if you don't have a 'running water source', leaving you to dip it out of a puddle. The collapsed Sawyer bladders have a small opening are resistant to filling from a puddle-like source. Much better to fill a Ziploc and then pour it into the Sawyer bladder, again alittle tricky for one person but manageable.

- The filtering process is Supereasy with two however. One person is "dirty", filling the bladder, screwing it onto the filter and keeping its outside dry so that none drips into the clean filtered water. One person is "clean", manages the clear cap, clean spout and platypus or camel (we don't carry freestanding Nalgenes, easier if you do). It looks so simple on the video, but solo it does take some practice to keep the filtering spout pristine if you've just managed the "dirty" end. Obviously would have hand sanitizer convenient. (Sorry to sound so Type A about the clean & dirty part, I've been one to get giardia on a trip and its alot of trouble!)

- the filtering is very quick, especially when squeezing the bladder. We can filter 4 liters in roughly 10 minutes.

- if the watersource is loaded with silt (like we had at grand canyon after a rainstorm), to prevent the filter clogging, we scooped it up in a couple of gallon ziplocs and let it settle, then pouring the clearer water into the squeeze bladder. Actually we added flocculent (Chlor-floc) which made the silt clump & sink faster, making the clear stuff easier to pour off the top. This is not an anticipated problem in Glacier, but an FYI if you were going to use it in the Southwest, for example. Following that rainstorm, we did have to backflush the filter in the field two times, but consider that the water was reddish-brown.

We really like this filter.
Last edited by TnTammy on Sun Dec 22, 2013 10:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by Sue Z »

I haven't used the Sawyer, but I have used the similar Platypus GravityWorks with no problems. Filters a ton of water really fast. Just fill it and hang it. I save weight by leaving the "clean bag" at home and filtering directly into the hydration sack in my backpack (the fittings are easy to install) or into my cookpot when in camp. I fill it once when I arrive in camp, and have enough water for two people's dinner, breakfast and the next day's hike hanging right there.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by smahurin »

I'm bumping this very old post... as I'm curious what people use for their water treatment? I'm really curious about the sawyer mini.

It looks like an awesome idea. I'd probably use the mini inline on my hydration bladder. Just fill up the bladder in a stream/lake. And drink straight out of the tube. Anyone have any experience with this?

I currently use a katadyn hiker pro which while very popular I have very little confidence in... My second backpacking trip ever, my first hiker pro broke day 1 (a thru hike from two med to st. mary). We ended up bumming filters for the second day, and then boiling water the morning of day 3 which was OK, but less than ideal. We were at red eagle lake which is muddy and at least at the time fairly murky, we could have bushwhacked the stream not far away from the REH CG I suppose for some clearer water. Just wasn't my idea of great drinking water (which is one reason I'm not big on the idea of using tablets or drops). We happened to run into another person at red eagle lake, night 1 of a 4 day trip for them with a katadyn hiker/pro. It broke that first night too. Both times the filters lost positive pressure. We replaced the o-rings but that wasn't the issue and we dicked around with both our filters for several hours. And back in the store I bought it from they messed with it too to no avail as there was something not sealing with the pumping mechanism which prevent pressure from building up. My outdoor shop couldn't get it to work either so they replaced it free of charge with another hiker pro which was nice.

Third backpacking trip ever, we used my buddies katadyn vario instead. Again the pumping mechanism was having issues. He had used his for several years so it had seen some use. But under the pumping pressure (which was still pretty neglible, it wasn't in need of backflushing or cleaning, I'm not sure if you even need to backflush this filter?) it busted one of the plastic seams. So most of the pumping pressure ended up squirting water out the side as opposed to through the filter. We made it through the hike fine with it, but I doubt he'll take it on another trek.

Anyways, I've been on several more backpacking trips since then and my hiker has worked fine. But I'm honestly not super confident in it given what I've seen. So the idea of a water that filter that doesn't rely on moving pieces is appealing, plus for the size/weight of a sawyer mini it would seem like a slam dunk. It seems like its becoming pretty popular for thru hikers for its size/weight.

Anyone use this? How well does it work when used inline on a hydration bladder?
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Re: Water Filter

Post by Nodust »

I use a Sawyer Squeeze filter hooked up to a Sea to Summit 8L dry bag as a gravity filter. We used it for a two night trip with 35 scouts and parents and it was the only filter. Just fill it and let it fill my water bottle. If the water source is very small, just carry a small container and scoop out and fill bag.

http://www.arrowhead-equipment.com/stor ... _Set_.html I used something like this. Burn a hole in the dry bag with a heated socket. Then just use a 1/4" hose to hook it up.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by smahurin »

Nodust wrote:I use a Sawyer Squeeze filter hooked up to a Sea to Summit 8L dry bag as a gravity filter. We used it for a two night trip with 35 scouts and parents and it was the only filter. Just fill it and let it fill my water bottle. If the water source is very small, just carry a small container and scoop out and fill bag.

http://www.arrowhead-equipment.com/stor ... _Set_.html I used something like this. Burn a hole in the dry bag with a heated socket. Then just use a 1/4" hose to hook it up.
Thanks for the insight. I might have to give it a try. After seeing first hand so many pump filters have issues in my limited time backpacking I do like the idea of a filter that doesn't rely on a pumping mechanism. And I'm not too interested chemical options except as a backup.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by scott-atl »

This will be my 3rd year w steripen. No worries yet. I've been fortunate not to have had a lot of stuff in the water I've treated.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by scott-atl »

The lifestraw WF is $15.99 this week at the REI anniversary sale. Think I'll give it a try.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by PJ »

I have the steripen and lifestraw. Steripen is best for purifying a volume of water for cooking. The lifestraw is great for immediate drinking water during hiking, but it does mean you have to have another container to get the water out of the source or get down on your hands and knees to drink.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by scott-atl »

saw the lifestraw yesterday and decided I didn't need it. excellent emergency or third world device though.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by PeteE »

ohioguy wrote:Anyone use this one

http://sawyer.com/

sure seems lighter than the rest
I bought a Sawyers mini and a regular version.
I used the mini on the Snyder lake overnighter and again yesterday on the Siyeh hike.

The Sawyer filter works fine.
(when it is done loading)
It's just a bit awkward for me to use as a primary water treatment device though.
I can see that it is somewhat less awkward for two people working together, but that's not an option for me. 8)
The water collection process is the big negative for me. All these "flat" plastic bottles have the same problem:
Flat construction and a small opening making them hard to fill. The large mouth canteens don't have the right fitting to squeeze with.
So too many "moving parts" for me.

That said, I can see many people liking this device.
It's small. light, and pretty easy to carry, especially if you opt for using it like a straw and a wide mouth collection bottle.

I may use it as a back up filter for either my old PUR pump or my SteriPen.

The water from Baring Creek tasted WONDERFUL unfiltered using my Steripen to treat it

pete :wink:
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Re: Water Filter

Post by teapot57 »

Thanks for the video review, Pete. I did a little googling to see if there's an adapter out there for wide mouth bottles like you suggested. I didn't find a great alternative, but I did find this:

This Sawyer bottle is new to me. Watch the little video. It's a nice weight-- 5.5 oz for bottle and filter. Holds one liter. Solves the "scoop" issue. Looks like a good alternative for day hikes but you'd probably need something more for cooking in the backcountry.

I think I'll cut my Sawyer bag on an angle and use it as a scoop, then use the water I've scooped to fill my dirty water bottle/bag. Wish I had the link to share, but the website where I found this idea described it as the best use of the Sawyer bags, since they are pretty much worthless for collecting water.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by teapot57 »

After researching it a little further I realize this Sawyer bottle has been out for awhile now. Shows you what I know.

Here's a thread discussing how to get water into the collapsible bags: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin ... gination=1

Someone mentions having an adapter for the wide mouth bottles like you describe, Pete, but he doesn't give any details about where to find them.
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Re: Water Filter

Post by Nodust »

macchia wrote:
ohioguy wrote:Anyone use this one

http://sawyer.com/

sure seems lighter than the rest
I bought a Sawyers mini and a regular version.
I used the mini on the Snyder lake overnighter and again yesterday on the Siyeh hike.

The Sawyer filter works fine.
(when it is done loading)
It's just a bit awkward for me to use as a primary water treatment device though.
I can see that it is somewhat less awkward for two people working together, but that's not an option for me. 8)
The water collection process is the big negative for me. All these "flat" plastic bottles have the same problem:
Flat construction and a small opening making them hard to fill. The large mouth canteens don't have the right fitting to squeeze with.
So too many "moving parts" for me.

That said, I can see many people liking this device.
It's small. light, and pretty easy to carry, especially if you opt for using it like a straw and a wide mouth collection bottle.

I may use it as a back up filter for either my old PUR pump or my SteriPen.

The water from Baring Creek tasted WONDERFUL unfiltered using my Steripen to treat it

pete :wink:
The soft bags are next to impossible to fill without a funnel. Remember the threads will fit most soft drink bottles and water bottles. I have used 20oz soda bottles and filtered direct from that. Just experiment on what bottles you may like. There are tons of options to using Sawyer filters. Google image search Sawyer Squeeze DIY system and you will see 100's of different ideas.

There is an adapter called Tornado Tube that I got from Amazon.com. It is just a coupler with females threads on each end. I cut the bottom off of a vinegar bottle, screw the tornado tube to that, and other end to either Sawyers bottles or I like to use an Evernew bottle. The bottle becomes a scoop or funnel and everything can store inside. After scooping up water and filling bag just attach filter to bag and squeeze away.


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Re: Water Filter

Post by Fairbanks142 »

Anyone try a new filtering system recently? Any recommendations?

I've used a Katadyn Hiker Pro for years. Not the lightest or most convenient, but it's been reliable for me....until a trip last Fall in Yosemite when it was really hard to pump. Got home and I couldn't reproduce the problem -- it worked fine. I have a new replacement filter cartridge for it, but thinking it might be time to go with something better.
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