Katadyn water filters

[Soloman]

Has anyone used one of these filters.
They appear to be very good and built very well but has anyone used one in the field.
Price 200 quid but what price health.
Cheers Soloman.

 

[Humpback]

I have the much cheaper Katadyn Mini from Cotswold (full members get discount) about £65. Used it last year on a five day canoe trip up the Great Glen.
Works fine but is somewhat slow.
I now have a Millbank bag so I can get on with other stuff whilst gravity does the work.
Alan

 

[sandbender]

I used one while walking in turkey where most of my water was coming from Ottoman era cisterns, which supplied very dodgy looking water, It worked fine, very heavy to carry though. I ended up leaving it with a goat herding family up in the mountains.

I use a millbank for most of my purification and have suffered no ill effects to date

 

[robadams]

Anyone had experience of this:
http://www.steripen.com/steripen_products.html#adventurer
I have read great things and the princible sounds ideal for use with a millbank bag.
The only drawback I am aware of is the fact that the glass part is fragile.

curious to hear if anyone reading this has used one.

 

[Purity]

Please remember that both these methods are only going to filter your water and you will need to use a chemical biocide as well to kill any viruses which will sail through the finest filter.

 

[Big Bad Stu]

I use a Katadyn mini filter and it has been excellent. If you are worried about viruses and bacteria you can boil the water, I haven't had a problem so far, touch wood. The filter is reportedly fine enough to remove single celled organisms such as the dreaded giardia (probably spelt wrong!).

I know one thing for sure, the mini filter weighs a lot less that 1l. of water.

I would highly recommend one, I bought mine after a friend drank some water from high in the mountains in Snowdonia and spent the next three weeks turning himself inside out with diarrhoea.

Stewey.

 

[mick miller]

Two questions, the blurb says that its good for 2000 litres. How do you know when its no longer effective? Do you have to keep a tally of litres pumped?

I should explain by saying that I've always wondered that about every filtration system. Even the humble Brita filter.

 

[Soloman]

Thanks guys i think ill put my hand in me pocket and buy the thing as where its going to be used i dont want to drink the water.

 

[Big Bad Stu]

I think the total litres it is effective for is a function of how long the ceramic element will last, it needs to be cleaned to remove the particulates it blocks out. Katadyn supply a bit of ScotchBrite (like the stuff on a kitchen green sponge), when you clean the ceramic element some of it is eroded as it is quite soft. They also supply a guaging tool to let you know when the element needs to be renewed.

By this token if you pre-filter the water through a piece of cloth such as muslin or a tee shirt etc. the filter element should last a bit longer as you are removing quite a lot of the particles pre-filtration.

Stewey.

 

[mick miller]

Thanks for that Stewey, I guess other makes are quite similar in as much a pre-filtering extends life and the ability to clean the ceramic element?

 

[Big Bad Stu]

It appears so.