Best water purifier?

[WittyUsername]

I want to buy a purifier to save me boiling water from rivers/streams but I’m not sure which one to go for.

I watch quite a few bushcrafters/hikers on Youtube/Insta and some use Lifestraw stuff, others use the Sawyer systems, and some use the Katadyn range and say it’s much faster flowing than a Sawyer.

Can anyone tell me a few pros and cons for each brand? Have I missed any good options? Any obvious things to avoid?

Cheers.

 

[TeeDee]

I've just purchased a Grayl Geopress and so far I'm thinking its a good bit of kit.

Used in conjunction with an empty Nalgene bottle you have the instant quick ability to purify a good amount of water and be on your way.

IIRC one filter on it can last for 65 Gallons.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I am a big fan of the Aquapure Traveller at £40ish

Aquapure Traveller™

High performance water purification bottle for travel The Aquapure Traveller™ (APT) is a high performance personal water purification bottle designed to produce safe drinking water from unsafe sources of supply worldwide. This water purifier will provide against waterborne disease and...

purehydration.com

estimate of 350litres, which is more than the Grayl, and it is certainly lighter. They do some other products too, like an inline unit for gravity feed. I have had my Traveller in Sweden, the US, Hong Kong, Namibia, and New Zealand. Several of those had pretty clean water, so didn't tax it. I didn't use it in the jungle because the silt load in even clean jungle streams will clog the filter element of any system, even back flushing doesn't help for long. I used the Traveller in the English Lake District and tried it on water from one of the unappetizing looking pools found up on the high tops, worked well and didn't even taste bad.

Not to detract from the Grayl, which would be one of the three products I would recommend. The third being the MSR Guardian.

I had an MSR Miniworks, which was a little smaller and lighter than the Guardian, and I couldn't generally justify carrying it unless I was with a group, so I look at the Guardian as a good choice for two or three people. I actually used the Miniworks as part of a canoe trip of eight. Lots of pumping.

While Lifestraw does have a purifier, most of their smaller bottle size products in the £40 range are filters only and do not remove viruses. Same goes for Sawyer as far as I know. Good filters, but that is not the same as a purifier. I bought a Sawyer Mini back in 2016 and have yet to use it! My Traveller bottle has been so convenient, and light, and takes out everything.

Chris

 

[MartinK9]

I switch between a Sawyer Mini and a Katadyn Befree.

 

[MrEd]

I really like the sawyer mini, and it’s well, mini, so doesn’t take up much space. I do still boil afterwards though.

don’t use it often to be fair

 

[Jared]

Went looking for one last month or so. Disappointed the Katadyn BeFree (Tactical) is doesn't filter viruses either.

Anyone know why the LifeStraw straw seem to be more popular than the Survivor Filter straw *, even though the latter claims to filter viruses too?

* https://www.amazon.co.uk/Survivor-Filter-Filtration-Replaceable-Pre-Filters/dp/B00LA97I8M/ref=sr_1_5

 

[C_Claycomb]

Went looking for one last month or so. Disappointed the Katadyn BeFree (Tactical) is doesn't filter viruses either.

Anyone know why the LifeStraw straw seem to be more popular than the Survivor Filter straw *, even though the latter claims to filter viruses too?

* https://www.amazon.co.uk/Survivor-Filter-Filtration-Replaceable-Pre-Filters/dp/B00LA97I8M/ref=sr_1_5

Just a hypothesis: The LifeStraw company has been around, according to their website since 2005, with ancestors from 1994. Survivor Filter looks a more recent company.

LifeStraw makes a point of highlighting humanitarian work, its were the company started. They say, "At LifeStraw, we believe everyone deserves safe drinking water. Our intent to meet this basic human need is what drives us to build our products."
Survivor Filter say, "We offer you the best emergency water filter systems for your Bug-Out-Bag and the outdoors on the market today." There is quite an overlap in some of what they say, but I think those quotes are illustrative.

The former sell five different bottle filters aimed at people on the street, or on holiday, they even have a kids version. The latter have one bottle and most of their other stuff comes in olive green.

I would say it is pretty simple. LifeStraw look to have been around longer, market to a wider civilian work and leisure audience and have an name and image that won't get you looked at funny.
Survivor Filter comes from a military background and leans towards a market of people interested in "survival" and prepping. That is a smaller market.


Did I mention that Pure Hydration, maker of the Aquapure Traveller are a UK based company, who I believe manufacture here in the UK, whereas both LifeStraw and Survivor Filter are US based companies?

 

[Silverclaws2]

I use MSR Miniworks and Nalgene bottle of which the MSR screws onto, it's a bit of a brick but dependable.

 

[Jared]

Just a hypothesis: The LifeStraw company has been around, according to their website since 2005, with ancestors from 1994. Survivor Filter looks a more recent company.

LifeStraw makes a point of highlighting humanitarian work, its were the company started. They say, "At LifeStraw, we believe everyone deserves safe drinking water. Our intent to meet this basic human need is what drives us to build our products."
Survivor Filter say, "We offer you the best emergency water filter systems for your Bug-Out-Bag and the outdoors on the market today." There is quite an overlap in some of what they say, but I think those quotes are illustrative.

The former sell five different bottle filters aimed at people on the street, or on holiday, they even have a kids version. The latter have one bottle and most of their other stuff comes in olive green.

I would say it is pretty simple. LifeStraw look to have been around longer, market to a wider civilian work and leisure audience and have an name and image that won't get you looked at funny.
Survivor Filter comes from a military background and leans towards a market of people interested in "survival" and prepping. That is a smaller market.


Did I mention that Pure Hydration, maker of the Aquapure Traveller are a UK based company, who I believe manufacture here in the UK, whereas both LifeStraw and Survivor Filter are US based companies?

Yeah. Just found it odd a lot of YouTube videos on the LifeStraw, and that is biased towards Americans, survival and prepping. So wondered if there was something wrong with Survivor Filter products. Not considering a straw anyways.

Saw you mention Pure Hydration earlier, apart from the odd bottle shape does look best contender atm.

 

[Jared]

Just came across these Aquamira Shift filter bottles, but they've completely missed the point and used insulated bottles. With a single wall would have something to boil in if the filter failed.

SHIFT™ Insulated Filter Bottle | Aquamira

It’s time to SHIFT™ from drinking unhealthy water. Heading to work, the gym or on the trail, the SHIFT™ Insulated Filter Bottle will take you there.

www.aquamira.com

 

[Woody girl]

I have a water to go bottle. It can filter quite nasty water and make it drinkable.
Its quite small though, holding about a litre, but handy for being out and about. It will only filter what the bottle holds.
Its recommended for international travel and I've seen it filter pretty gunky pond water to clear sparkling drinkable water.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Another vote for the Grayl Geopress, I've been using the slightly smaller 'Ultralight' version and it's been great. It filters really fast and I've not had any clogging up issues. I also like that it filters out a lot of chemicals as well as the other nasty stuff.

 

[leanrascal]

Aaaaand another vote for the Grayl Geopress. Get it and never look back.

 

[MikeLA]

I like the Sawyer systems but sometimes just use a millbank bag and puritabs.