Water filtration?

[pasteve]

Does a steripen really make the water safe to drink? I have a swayer mini and thinking of going to a steripen. Do you have any pro or cons to either? Is there a better option? Thanks guy happy hunting!

 

[WVmike]

I have a lifestraw in my medical kit or I'll disperse around my other gear and it has worked fine so far. For a larger scale like camp I have a Ketadyn 10L camp filter that is as advertised. Haven't used it much but it seems to work great too.

 

[YukonGold]

I've used a steripen in the field and didn't much care for it. Doesn't do anything for the little floaties you invariably get in your water bottle when you scoop from a creek or lake--I mean, maybe it sterilizes them, but I still don't want to drink them. It also was fidgety to use. You had to move and hold the thing in the bottle just right or it wouldn't work or would turn off partway and not fully sterilize your bottle.

I personally prefer a small backpacking-sized hand pump like a Katadyn, which is what I currently use. I've also used the Sawyer Squeeze system and while it does pack down a little smaller, it's much slower to use. I've had the same Katadyn pump for about 10 years now and it still works great; I've replaced the filter cartridge once. As long as you take care of it and fully dry out the hoses after every trip before packing it away, it should last a while.

I also carry a small vial of iodine tablets as backup in case my filter fails.

 

[MThuntr]

I agree with Yukon. They're kind of picky and the floaties are probably not actually sterilized. Gadgets break and batteries go bad. I think I'd stick to a physical filter like the Sawyer system you have or a BeFree filter.