Best water filter systems for backpack

[AyeFish]

I'm revising my pack in order to prepare for some long hike-in hunting.


Any suggestions on an emergency water filtration system?

I'm not looking for the best tasting, but rather the most reliable and light weight.

[jmshave]

I have an old trusty Sweetwater pump style. If I were to replace it right now, while thinking "light" I would take a closer look at the newer SteriPEN types.

[Limbhanger]

There are all kinds of pumps. You could also try the purification pills. They come in a tiny bottle. I use them and the iodine taste is very slight.

[RoscoeP]

I carry purification pills and a coal activated filter straw in my pack. Both will do the job well.

[CrookedR]

Iodine tablets and Emergen-C powder mix. They weigh next to nothing and work great. I used them both for the first time this year while hiking out of a deep hole and will always make sure there in my pack.

CR

[fishinpox]

Iodine tablets and then the neutralizer tablets afterwards. It helps cut down on the iodine taste. Then add some sort of gatorade type mix to it.

[bigjake_888]

Most likely the water you are drinking is fine. But if you really want to be safe you should understand that the iodine pills do not help with viruses. They offer no protection. The chlorine dioxide pills to kill viruses but take four hours to work.

Sweetwater offers a treatment that combined with their filter can kill viruses. The first need water filter can filter the viruses out with one shot.

[ghost grizzly]

Check out the Steripen. I know several mountain climbers who swear by them.

http://www.hydro-photon.com/

[Hunt'nFish]

Lots of choices.
I use a Outback Filter Bottle from Bota of Boulder that I got from the RMEF catalog.
Fits in all water bottle pouches on most packs. And I can find the replacement filters & bottles at Joes or Garts.



Click for details.

Here's an interesting one. Screws in a std "Bottled" water bottle.

Click for details
Hunt'nFish

[ehunter]

If your going in and going to be camping near water and need to cook with water I would go with a pump I have a pure filter pump and it works well. I would take a small flexiable 2.5 gallon fold up bag and fill it and you won't have to fill it but maybe once a day. I would back up with tablets a filter will clean the mud and silt out tablets won't. The small portable hand held filters are ok if you never going to make any thing hot or cook otherwise I would go with a good pump filter. If the water is really silty or muddy you can use a bandana to put around the intake and it will keep the filter clean or I use little coffee filters and a rubber band.

[Chesapeake]

We use the Sweetwater filters and the Platapus water bags.
They work well, but test it well before you go. Seems the pumps sometimes break easily (manufacturing defect?).

[Steelseeker]

Another option would be the Katadyn water filters. Some models are smaller and cheaper than the MSR's.

I always carry a filter and the pills as a backup.

[Jeremy]

I have an old katadyn and have never gotten sick from using it, as long as you are pumping fresh flowing water you should be ok as far as viruses go, it does take a while to fill up a bottle but it is great to use for backpacking and filling up your bottle as you go, we even used it to suck water out of a mud puddle once when we had hiked on a ridge top for about 3 hours and that was the only water we saw.

Originally Posted by Steelseeker

Another option would be the Katadyn water filters. Some models are smaller and cheaper than the MSR's.

I always carry a filter and the pills as a backup.

[Norm]

Originally Posted by Hunt'nFish

Lots of choices.
I use a Outback Filter Bottle from Bota of Boulder that I got from the RMEF catalog.
Fits in all water bottle pouches on most packs. And I can find the replacement filters & bottles at Joes or Garts.



Click for details.

Here's an interesting one. Screws in a std "Bottled" water bottle.

Click for details
Hunt'nFish

I have the same one, works great. I carry an extra quart container and just squeeze and extra quart through it when I re-fill. I can consume 4-8 quarts a day with a pack on my back , so I like the quick filter systems.

[BrianMaguire]

Originally Posted by Hunt'nFish

Lots of choices.
I use a Outback Filter Bottle from Bota of Boulder that I got from the RMEF catalog.
Fits in all water bottle pouches on most packs. And I can find the replacement filters & bottles at Joes or Garts.



Click for details.

Here's an interesting one. Screws in a std "Bottled" water bottle.

Click for details
Hunt'nFish

Throw the tablets away, they taste so bad you I won't use them, unless I have to drink a mud puddle with cow dung in it.

Some will think I am crazy but I will drink from streams in many parts of Oregon. If you can find a spring right where it comes out of the ground I will drink from that too, even in Eastern Oregon. Not to say you can't get a bacteria but I've been doing this my entire life and never gotten sick, be smart. If you have beaver or any varmits around yes filter or find the source.(spring). The above bottle is what I carry but I rarely ever use it.

For camp water (quantity where you need a close source) I use a hand pump.

[4th_Point]

http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/WPD/...ortsBottle.pdf

I would not recommend the Bota bottle, although the flow is excellent. I think the easy flow is the problem in that it doesn't filter small particles. See link above for the evaluation by a division of the US Army.

I used a Bota and liked the water flow while my friends looked very skeptical. We all had a good deal of experience using filters and this one was very inexpensive and the flow was too easy compared to a "real" purifier. Well, I ended up in the emergency room for an intestinal infection shortly after. The abdominal pain was unreal. It felt like I had a Rubik's Cube turning in my gut with the corners grinding away my insides. The hospital people would did not say for sure that the contaminated water was the cause for sure, but they said it was highly likely.

I didn't take any more chances and tossed the Bota. I bought an Exstream (basically what I should have bought in the first place but was too frugal and thought I'd save some money with the Bota).

The Army link says that the Bota will not remove bacteria or viruses. I now use Exstreams or the First Need Deluxe, both are purifiers. A squeeze bottle is good solo, but a pump is better for more than one person. The First Need can also function as a gravity filter too, so while you stop to make lunch or set-up camp, you can have clean water ready and not have to pump.

I use chlorine dioxide (Aquamira) as backup and its superior to the old iodine tablets without the nasty taste. This would be your lightest weight option, but always bring at least a small metal cup for boiling water.

Also, look for water purification info from hikers and climbers. They are usually more "up-to-date". The gear companies advertise and cater to them more than us.

[Hunt'nFish]

Well that was an interesting read. Thank You for sharing!
I think most of the water I drink is probably safe to drink as is, but it's just habit to run it through the Bota.
Sounds like I may be just wasting my time though.

My former hunting partner was the one that talked me into a filter bottle in the 1st place. He was from the Midwest and they ALWAYS treated their water. He'd carry an eye dropper bottle of bleach and add a drop to the Bota bottle and the bottle filtered out the chlorine so it didn't tast so bad. He's also carry packets of lemonade to further cover up the chlorine taste.

In all my years living and hunting in NE Oregon, the only time I got the hersey squirts was after drinking some lower valley ditch water while changing irrigation pipes. No, it's not pleasent AT ALL!
Hunt'nFish

[4th_Point]

Originally Posted by Hunt'nFish

Well that was an interesting read. Thank You for sharing!
I think most of the water I drink is probably safe to drink as is, but it's just habit to run it through the Bota.
Sounds like I may be just wasting my time though.

My former hunting partner was the one that talked me into a filter bottle in the 1st place. He was from the Midwest and they ALWAYS treated their water. He'd carry an eye dropper bottle of bleach and add a drop to the Bota bottle and the bottle filtered out the clorine so it didn't tast so bad. He's also carry packets of lemonade to further cover up the chlorine taste.

In all my years living and hunting in NE Oregon, the only time I got the hersey squirts was after drinking some lower valley ditch water while changing irrigation pipes. No, it's not pleasent AT ALL!
Hunt'nFish

Seeing a Bota still makes me break out in a cold sweat! That incident was scary because I made it home before the bacteria built up in my guts and sent me to the hospital. I would have been in trouble if I was hiking for a week.

Your friend's idea of using chlorine would address the bacteria (and viruses I think). The Bota would handle the rest, so it seems like that would be a good solution. Aquamira sells a version of the Bota and they recommend a similar approach.

http://www.aquamira.com/consumer/aqu...r/choose-right

Some people use a similar trick with iodine then a filter. I think chlorine dioxide is still the best since its EPA certified to purify water (i.e. highest rating). You can get drops or tablets.

[fiddler]

http://usachppm.apgea.army.mil/WPD/CompareDevices.aspx
Here is the link that compares different models.

[AyeFish]

Great discussion.

I went with Aquamira Frontier Pro Filter and some droplets. Nice and compact.

[Old Coot]

With any cartridge-type filter be sure to protect it from freezing. If water trapped in the matrix freezes and expands, the matrix can crack, creating a channel for unfiltered water to pass trhu into your storage container.

As an aside, when a severe case of giardiasis hits, you had better be within 10 feet of a toilet because you aren't going to make it 11 feet.

For purification tablet users, powdered vitamin C tablets will remove the iodine taste.

OC

[RogueFishr]

Unless I can see where the water is coming out of the ground, I won't drink it without filtering it. I had a friend drink from a creek, high up near the headwaters. Apparently it wasn't high enough. He ended up in the hospital, and was sick for a long time. I use the Katadyn Exstream. Its a little larger than some, but it filters bacteria and viruses,

RF

[Quaka Wacka]

Originally Posted by bigjake_888

Most likely the water you are drinking is fine. But if you really want to be safe you should understand that the iodine pills do not help with viruses. They offer no protection. The chlorine dioxide pills to kill viruses but take four hours to work.

Sweetwater offers a treatment that combined with their filter can kill viruses. The first need water filter can filter the viruses out with one shot.

I use the sweetwater system when I'm planning on 'making' water. For emergency use I us the chlorine dioxide pills. They don't take up much room and they kill everythig in four hours. Not to mention they don't make the water taste nasty. If I'm on my way out(and don't want to wait the four hours) and run out of water, I usually just take my chances if I'm pretty high and the source isn't too suspect. A filter takes up a bit of room for an item you don't plan on using in a day pack. For the size and weight I can think of a lot better stuff to bring 'just in case'. Tablets are the way to go for the unforseen...

[FeatherDuster]

One bout with giardia or paratyphoid (six months to completely clear out) will cure someone from drinking untreated water no matter how clean it "looks". My preference is MSR's latest pump as it is the only field cleanable model and it screws directly onto a nalgene-type bottle. I've used it filter brown water out of a grassy swale and you'd swear you were drinking water from a store. There's two versions the more expensive one will filter viruses but this is probably only necessary if you leave the States. The Steripen looked interesting but it does nothing for taste or sediment and requires batteries. It would suck to be thirsty with dead batteries.

[4th_Point]

FYI- it seems that some of the "purifiers" from a few years ago are now reclassified as "filters". Must be the EPA changed their standards or testing.

[Rank Amateur]

I use a pump while back packing, but while hunting in an area with a lot of water around, I pack a survival straw I purchased through Cabela's. Most of the time I'm sucking out of the Camelback though.

[ehunter]

This is a good point my Katadyn Hiker Filter will do the same thing if you have never pumped water and tried to hold it in a nalgene bottle or platapus or camel back. Get a pump that you can fit into which ever you use. Life is a lot easier. It can seem like a hassel but I don't have to wait for hours or even deal with the taste of idodine. I still add some flavoring to water any way.

While I have never had a giardia or paratyphoid it is not some thing to be taken lightly.


My preference is MSR's latest pump as it is the only field cleanable model and it screws directly onto a nalgene-type bottle.

Originally Posted by FeatherDuster

One bout with giardia or paratyphoid (six months to completely clear out) will cure someone from drinking untreated water no matter how clean it "looks". My preference is MSR's latest pump as it is the only field cleanable model and it screws directly onto a nalgene-type bottle. I've used it filter brown water out of a grassy swale and you'd swear you were drinking water from a store. There's two versions the more expensive one will filter viruses but this is probably only necessary if you leave the States. The Steripen looked interesting but it does nothing for taste or sediment and requires batteries. It would suck to be thirsty with dead batteries.