Sawyer mini or travel tap ?
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If you mean this travel tap:
http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/bushcraft/PA101.html
I think there usage is different. One is more a bottle filter only. The sawyer can be used with the bags to pour it into the bottles.
I personally like the versatilely of the saywer.
http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/bushcraft/PA101.html
I think there usage is different. One is more a bottle filter only. The sawyer can be used with the bags to pour it into the bottles.
I personally like the versatilely of the saywer.
Looking a little deeper in the Travel Tap and its bottle can be more handy then the saywer bladders. Only dirty water in the bottle and you can fill up the bottle a lot easier then fill up the squeeze bladders.
Can you squeeze the travel tap bottle?
Can you squeeze the travel tap bottle?
Sawyer for me.
It will screw onto standard drinks bottle threads if needed. As well as platypus and evernew bladders. Usefull for quick fills on the trail and larger water processing tasks in camp.
It will screw onto standard drinks bottle threads if needed. As well as platypus and evernew bladders. Usefull for quick fills on the trail and larger water processing tasks in camp.
I have a Sawyer and its one downfall is filling the bag from still water. You can do it by inflating the bag, then putting the open end into the water first, fully submerging it and then inverting it, but it's a lot easier filling a PET bottle. On the plus side a 500ml PET bottle (Tango in my case) weighs not a lot and can be squashed and rolled up around the filter and bag without adding a huge amount to the weight.
I've an adapter for an MSR Dromedary, so I can fill that with "dirty" water and gravity feed it into the Sawyer filter and Sawyer or other bottles. Just have to be careful that the Dromedary is dry and doesn't dribble dirty water into an open bottle if you aren't using a closed system.
The TT does have some merits with claims of being able to remove viral and chemical contaminants. However there's a couple of niggles for me about it one is the auto-shut-off feature, the other is cleaning the ceramic element. Sawyer filters use the same ceramic filter system and require occasional backwashing to clear them of fine sediment, the TT does not appear to have this option save for replacing the filter unit at £18 a pop.
I can vouch for these systems.
http://drinksafe-systems.co.uk/products.php
Good enough for the Red Cross, the British military , it's good enough for me.
Made in Britain by a British company .
No affiliation , just a happy customer.
👍
Brilliant bit of kit.
I got this one
Aquaguard micro '3 in 1' PLUS
Very versatile.
Does the safe tap, does the bladder on the move and it's replacement cartridge does 1600 litres for less than £20 ...
Also got the travel tap bottles, both still good as new a year later.
Win win
👍
http://drinksafe-systems.co.uk/products.php
Good enough for the Red Cross, the British military , it's good enough for me.
Made in Britain by a British company .
No affiliation , just a happy customer.
👍
Brilliant bit of kit.
I got this one
Aquaguard micro '3 in 1' PLUS
Very versatile.
Does the safe tap, does the bladder on the move and it's replacement cartridge does 1600 litres for less than £20 ...
Also got the travel tap bottles, both still good as new a year later.
Win win
👍
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Yes, you can squeeze the bottles and it's great to wash wounds , brush your teeth etc. , I chose the pull up top version instead of the flip ones ..as I have another normal sports bottle flip top that leaks so I thought I'd try the pull up system instead.
Very reliable and still going strong after a years use. No leaks !
👍
I've got the sawyer filter and it's great. I got a back fill kit for camelbacks. I bought a cheap 2 litre bladder with a top that opens completely and found this easy to fill. It's like this one, but I think mine was 3 quid. Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291853466496
Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk
Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk
I recently bought a Travel Tap flip-top. Tested it out at home with a few litres of clean water then in the field with a few litres of water from a couple of lochs after which the flow rate shrunk dramatically from quite good to annoyingly slow. The water had a definite colour so some sediment was present. I suspect the filter does not handle that very well.
After only a few days use the whole top began to pop right off the thread when the bottle was squeezed so back it went. Maybe I just had bad luck. I want to like it because (apparently) it filters chemicals as well as bugs. That could be a big plus over the Sawyer.
Haven't decided yet what to replace it with. Might even get another. I mostly do cycle-touring and The Travel Tap fits nicely in a standard bottle cage. Squeezing water for one wasn't hard (while it was working..) but, if you have a lot of water to process, something which can gravity feed might work better for you.
After only a few days use the whole top began to pop right off the thread when the bottle was squeezed so back it went. Maybe I just had bad luck. I want to like it because (apparently) it filters chemicals as well as bugs. That could be a big plus over the Sawyer.
Haven't decided yet what to replace it with. Might even get another. I mostly do cycle-touring and The Travel Tap fits nicely in a standard bottle cage. Squeezing water for one wasn't hard (while it was working..) but, if you have a lot of water to process, something which can gravity feed might work better for you.
I'd stick with travel tap from drinksafe systems for the same reasons you described, the chemical decontamination.
I've looked into most of the competition and drinksafe does it for me .
The quality Vs price Vs efficiency is hard to beat.
The pull top works fine here after a year of use , still no problems.
Maybe it's the fliptop that has an issue?
The guys there were very helpful , so do contact them , they will put it right!
The flow on mine is still as good now as it was new, and if it was to get clogged its less than £20 for the replacement filter.
Just my 2p
No affiliation, just a happy customer
Yeah the kind of place I need it is "domesticated" countryside: farms, crops, cattle & sheep (sometimes in the water..), maybe a town upstream. I don't actually know how common chemicals or viruses might be in these kinds of areas but it seemed prudent not to take any chances. Out in the hills and wild places I wouldn't think twice about drinking from rivers & burns.
I'm tempted to give the drinksafe 3-in-1 a try next. This works as a straw, a gravity feed, or inline in a hydration system.
I'm tempted to give the drinksafe 3-in-1 a try next. This works as a straw, a gravity feed, or inline in a hydration system.
I would much rather have the sawyer out of the two I use mine with empty 2L coke bottles, just fill them up and screw the filter on then pour into a clean bottle. Draw a bit of the clean water with the syringe and back-flush now and then keep it working fine.
Bit of cheap bleach in a clear eyedropper bottle and a filter bag to get any grass or grit out and i'm sorted for water purification.
Tonyuk
Bit of cheap bleach in a clear eyedropper bottle and a filter bag to get any grass or grit out and i'm sorted for water purification.
Tonyuk
I use my sawyer with a millbank bag.
Its easy to fill the Millbank and it prefilters the water removing any heavier particles prior to me using the sawyer system as the main filter.
Its easy to fill the Millbank and it prefilters the water removing any heavier particles prior to me using the sawyer system as the main filter.
Given this information, i'd suggest against a purely ceramic filter. Reason that you really want to take out the chemicals. An option is the Renovo Trio, but it's a bit expensive. I recently just got the Katadyn Hiker Pro just for this reason, and it seems to work pretty well. The virusses aren't that big of a deal in most places, the bacteria are (and get filtered out by most filters i know), but the chemicals are my main concern and for that you basically need activated carbon to filter those out. In farmland areas anyway (which in Belgium where i live, is almost everywhere
).
