Water filters

Buzzard Breath

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
6,541
Location
Maury County
I'll be packing into the Park for a few days to do some fishing later this month. I currently have a Katadyn Hiker Pro to filter water. The problem with it is that the nipple for the water in hose broke off on an elk hunt this past September. It was functionable but a PITA and I had to hold the bottom of the filter under water to pump.

For day trips, I just use a simple water bottle filter and fill it whenever I want a drink.

I'm thinking about picking up a Sawyer Squeeze filter and getting the adapters to be a gravity camp filter also. I like idea of the 1 million gallon filter capacity with the Sawyer.

What are you using and why?
 

Deck78

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2010
Messages
1,081
Location
hipster hollow
We use a Berkey system. Not ideal for a backpack set up but if you're looking for a gravity fed camp set up then you might want to check them out.
 

Buzzard Breath

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
6,541
Location
Maury County
Problem taken care of. I've got a new housing coming from Katadyn. It turns out that more is not always better. When they recommend that you sterilize the filter with a couple drops of bleach in a liter of water, they do not mean that a quarter cup of bleach in a liter of water will sterilize it better. All the additional bleach does is erode the plastic.

I used to just use the tablets, but I see way too many piles of TP along the side to the streams for me to not want to remove the maximum amount of particulates as possible. I still think I'm going to keep looking into the Sawyer squeeze filter. The whole set-up appears to be cheaper than replacing just the filter on my Katadyn.
 

BlountArrow

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2012
Messages
3,161
Location
SouthEast Tenn
Buzzard Breath said:
Problem taken care of. I've got a new housing coming from Katadyn. It turns out that more is not always better. When they recommend that you sterilize the filter with a couple drops of bleach in a liter of water, they do not mean that a quarter cup of bleach in a liter of water will sterilize it better. All the additional bleach does is erode the plastic.

I used to just use the tablets, but I see way too many piles of TP along the side to the streams for me to not want to remove the maximum amount of particulates as possible. I still think I'm going to keep looking into the Sawyer squeeze filter. The whole set-up appears to be cheaper than replacing just the filter on my Katadyn.

When you settle on this let me know my brother is one of you crazy hikers and I'm going to get one for him in. I would like to add one to my hunting arsenal as well.
 

AT Hiker

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Messages
13,027
Location
Wyoming
I have the hiker pro as well, we used to work in a lab and the same micron in that filter was used in the lab.

Its a little heavy but I have had no probs yet. Some guys I have met while hiking do not filter, even those that have completed an AT thru hike. They have not been sick either, Im not taking that risk unless I have too.

Chlorine leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but the MSR sweet water isnt as bad.
 

jb3

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
6,205
Location
Burns, TN
Met a guy that did the AT last year without a filter. Said you just need to be careful where you get your water.

Sawyer is a great filter. To get my 8 year old into it, I got him the lifestraw that is in a bottle. Used it the past summer while in Canada. We drank out of every glacier feed lake we came up on.
 

Sucarnochee

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2014
Messages
503
Location
Hamilton
Been using a sawyer mini this year. Just make sure you have water bottles it will screw tight on. I found Dasani water bottles work good
 

Latest posts

Top