Water purification options
Contributors to this thread:Wild Sheep
From: JohnMC
05-Jul-19
What do you prefer. A filter type or Steripen.
I am considering a steripen. Have and used a filter but the steripen is slick, light and easy to use. Will be using mostly out of mountain stream that is snow run off.
From: OFFHNTN
05-Jul-19
Grayl bottle for me.
From: Rut Nut
05-Jul-19
Sawyer squeeze filter! Simple, cheap, easy to use and long lasting.....................................
From: Nick Muche
05-Jul-19
Aquamira drops for me on mountain hunts.
From: Z Barebow
05-Jul-19
Trying out Steripen for my primary. Auquamira as backup. Sawyer plugged up on me and backwashing didn’t help it.
From: Overland
05-Jul-19
Verbiage matters here. There is a difference in filtration and purification. In some areas, water should be filtered and purified. An example of where this is a good idea is if your water source is old stock tanks.
In general, filtering or purifying is adequate. I would not trust a steripen. I've seen them fail. I use a sawyer squeeze when backpacking. For camp use, or when not packing in far, I use a Katadyn Hiker Pro.
From: Bou'bound
05-Jul-19
If I am drinking out of old stock tanks I think I’ll boil
From: Overland
05-Jul-19
For one reason or another I've drank out of old stock tanks probably 50+ times. Really nasty ones with "floaters." A good filter and then purification drops and all is well. Never a single bad experience.
Boiling would still leave significant "stuff" in the water. You could filter and then boil, but purification drops work just as well.
From: Franklin
05-Jul-19
I always use a gravity filter sack for cooking water....which gets boiled....and a pump purifier for drinking. Drops or pills in the survival kit.
From: Ermine
05-Jul-19
Chlorine dioxide tablets Hard to beat the weight of them and they kill everything
From: axle2axle
06-Jul-19
I'm with Ermine...especially when drawing water from tiny flowing seeps in known cattle areas. Pump it first with a backpacking water filter pump using a coffee filter over the inlet pre-filter pickup tube...then chlorine dioxide tablets in the storage containers in camp. Funky chlorine taste at times, but never any digestive issues doing it this way. Not a lot of good water sources where I hunt deer locally in San Diego...pretty dry most of the time. Good luck, Kevin
From: Nick Muche
06-Jul-19
No aftertaste with the aquamira drops. Pretty handy if you have good flowing water where a filter is not needed, as most mountain country will have.
From: oldgoat
06-Jul-19
Steripen and nalgene bottle when just it's me, I also bought their setup to do larger batch of water for camp when wife is along. But I like the aquamira drops too for camp water. If you do the nalgene bottle with steripen, make sure you get the Human Gear lid to go on it, otherwise you might get contamination from there water on the threads of the bottle. But the classic steripen and use the prefilter that comes with it.
From: IdyllwildArcher
07-Jul-19
Love my Sawyer Squeeze. It's fast, light-weight, and the water tastes good. And the bags work good as storage.
From: DonVathome
07-Jul-19
pur tablets cheap cant break kill everything and weigh nothing.
From: TEmbry
08-Jul-19
I use the sawyer mini squeeze on sheep hunts. Weighs like 3 ounces or something and I use the bags as my water storage system. I also have used drops and other various pumps in the past but for above freezing hunts, the small squeeze filters are best for me.
From: Predeter
08-Jul-19
Been using the Sawyer mini spliced into my bladder hose the last 3 years. So far no issues and it doesn't get any simpler or faster.
From: elkmtngear
08-Jul-19
Steripen, with a Sawyer Squeeze for backup.
