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Post by tipiwalter on Apr 16, 2016 6:10:37 GMT -8
I use an old PUR Hiker filter (now Katadyn) and while nice it isn't perfect. It does have one advantage over Sawyer and gravity filters---you can get clean water out of a trickle seep. A tiny water source in the mountains of NC. This is where a pump filter excels as many of my sources are tiny seeps like this. Careful placement and pumping reduces silt greatly, difficult to do for a gravity filter when you need to use a cup to pull water out of this seep. One giant disadvantage to the Hiker filter is the pump handle design, seemingly engineered to fail due to the very minimal plastic weld connecting the hand piece to the pump shaft. I have broken 3 of these over the years. It's attached as shown with an inadequate connection. Here's the permanent solution so it'll never happen again in the field on a trip---put a screw thru the palm handle and down into the shaft.
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toejam
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Post by toejam on Apr 16, 2016 6:20:25 GMT -8
I had an old Pur Hiker and replaced it with a MSR Hyperflow, which was lighter and faster but unreliable because the cartridge would plug up really fast and replacements were hard to find.
Bought the hype and bought a Sawyer Mini, but it's been sitting in my garage since the first trip. Filling the tiny squeeze bottle is too much trouble. A lot of my friends use the Mini but every one has jury-rigged it with hoses, connectors, and alternate bottles.
Bought a Steripen and always use that in the Sierra Nevada where the water is always crystal clear.
I've used the MSR Miniworks and it's a good filter, but heavy & slow.
I recently bought a new Katadyn Hiker because it was the easyest and most fool-proof filter I've used.
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Post by tipiwalter on Apr 16, 2016 7:15:31 GMT -8
I'm sticking with the Hiker filter although sadly the replacement cartridges have gone from $19 all the way up to $50 at highest to $35 per cartridge if you're lucky. And I go thru 2 cartridges a year, easy.
It's easy to clog the Hiker filter and so care is needed when filtering. An in-field solution for a clogged filter is this: Remove cartridge, tear off netting from around cartridge. Place in fast flowing creek and use your toothbrush to thoroughly wash out each fold in the fabric---there are about 50 folds. This prolongs cartridge life.
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Post by Crockett on Apr 16, 2016 8:06:37 GMT -8
I presently have the Katadyn Hiker and the Sawyer Mini. Both are great filters and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
The Hiker is fast (about 60 pumps/litre) compared to the other pump-type filters and was the main reason I first chose it back in 2002. It's certainly heavier than the Sawyer Mini but it's my go to filter if I am hiking or canoeing with a group. I had to replace my original PUR version as the case cracked when I forgot to drain it before storing it away one winter (cracked the case) but other than that is has been problem free. I have heard of the pump handle snapping before and think this may be caused from using it with a dirty filter (which makes it harder to pump) or by not lubricating the shaft occasionally as suggested by the manufacturer. The filters are expensive but if cleaned and flushed between trips they can last for several seasons - depending on the quality of water sources, of course. I would not hesitate recommending this filter.
The Sawyer Mini is what I take along when I solo. What I like about it is its very light and versatile. It can be used with the squeeze bag, as a gravity drip, in line with a bladder, attached to a standard pop-type bottle (or Nalgene with a 3rd party adapter) or used to drink directly from the water source with the drinking straw. It is inexpensive and the filter never needs to be replaced. The squeeze bags can be difficult to fill if you don't have a water source where it can be submerged or that is flowing so as to simulate a tap. I have never had any issues with the bags breaking but can see where this can happen if you are not patient and try to squeeze the bag too hard. In a nut shell: Pretty hard to beat for solo use.
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Post by Crockett on Apr 16, 2016 8:18:33 GMT -8
My concern for the mini is that I'd either have to get the squeeze kit or buy multiples of the individual filters as I'm almost always hiking with at least one of the boys. The Mini comes with the squeeze bag, the cleaning plunger and the drinking straw. It also comes in a 4-pack with different colours. At the price, everyone can have their own!
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Apr 16, 2016 9:50:04 GMT -8
I use an old PUR Hiker filter (now Katadyn) and while nice it isn't perfect. It does have one advantage over Sawyer and gravity filters---you can get clean water out of a trickle seep. There's more than one way to skin a cat. I've filled gravity feed bags from weaker sources than this, either directly, by scooping with a smaller vessel, or even siphoning. Sometimes it's just as easy to pump, but a well-prepared hiker should be able to collect water.
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Post by tipiwalter on Apr 16, 2016 10:34:35 GMT -8
There's more than one way to skin a cat. I've filled gravity feed bags from weaker sources than this, either directly, by scooping with a smaller vessel, or even siphoning. Sometimes it's just as easy to pump, but a well-prepared hiker should be able to collect water. Any attempt to scoop water out of my example source would result in a significant amount of dirt and silt. The whole purpose of a pump filter is to bring clean silt-free water up into your storage bottle w/o adding debris. Scooping this water still means it must be treated or filtered, and as everyone knows, the less silt and debris the easier it is to filter. Then again, with chemical treatment who cares how much silt we drink? Oh and one more negatory on the Sawyer---It can't tolerate freezing and is ruined. My Hiker pump filter has gotten frozen a hundred times on trips but 15 minutes inside my down parka pocket it's good to go. Now there's some question whether my Hiker cartridge is also ruined by freezing but after a thousand gallons of ingested water using my thawed filter, well, I guess it works okay. OTOH, Sawyer on their website warns against freezing the unit. A real world test needs to be done on frozen/then thawed filters and see what kind of water they produce. Even ceramic filters can crack in the cold.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Apr 16, 2016 10:59:45 GMT -8
There's more than one way to skin a cat. I've filled gravity feed bags from weaker sources than this, either directly, by scooping with a smaller vessel, or even siphoning. Sometimes it's just as easy to pump, but a well-prepared hiker should be able to collect water. Any attempt to scoop water out of my example source would result in a significant amount of dirt and silt. The whole purpose of a pump filter is to bring clean silt-free water up into your storage bottle w/o adding debris. Scooping this water still means it must be treated or filtered, and as everyone knows, the less silt and debris the easier it is to filter. Most of the time it's really not that much of a problem for me. Overall, I tend to get less impact from water scooped from shallow, silty sources than pumped, since pumping tends to draw silt to the prefilter.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2016 11:20:22 GMT -8
Sawyer Squeeze. Problem: Detritus. Solution: Sawyer Squeeze, with a pre-filter. Problem: Freezing. Solution: Sawyer Squeeze in our tent with us at night. Oh and the Sawyer, kept wrapped up in a exp sock did not freeze on this trip:
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Post by tipiwalter on Apr 16, 2016 13:30:31 GMT -8
It's very hard to keep a water filter (or any single item) from freezing solid on a long winter trip. Let's say you sleep with your filter. Okay. Then you get up and immediately stash it in your down jacket. Okay. Then you pack and hike all day at around 10F. Where is the filter? Inside your baselayer against your chest? And then once camp is set up you must put filter back into jacket and later sleeping bag. Repeat this for the next 18 days of your winter trip. No single item is worth this hassle.
Nothing on my winter trips is thusly so protected, not my cellphone, not my camera or batteries, oh except for my night time water bladder/bottle which is wrapped tightly inside my down parka or if very cold (-10F) put into my pot as liquid and left in the vestibule to freeze for later easy boiling in the morning.
Other than chemicals or UV filters, the best scenario is to have a frozen filter which can be momentarily thawed for usage and then left to freeze again.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2016 19:04:47 GMT -8
my setup is either MSR Sweetwater, or the Sawyer Mini. Sweetwater is heavier of course. I've never minded the pumping, kinda nice sometimes just to stop and enjoy the view of wherever I happen to be getting water. The sawyer works well, but I carry with it, a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off to use as a scoop, two bags (in case one breaks), the cleaning syringe, and a couple of fittings connected to a bit of hose to connect it to my bladder so I can fill it without taking the bladder out of my pack. It's a lot of parts to keep track of, so I'm a bit ambivalent about its advantage over the Sweetwater other than the weight. Both take up about the same amount of space in the pack.
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dayhiker
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Post by dayhiker on Apr 17, 2016 2:36:02 GMT -8
I like the sawyer water bottle, and I convert it in camp to a gravity filter to make Tang. Most hikes I don't even carry water. I don't like the squeeze as much since you have to stop and attach it for a drink, out squeeze out enough to put in another bottle.
The MiniWorks was horrible in the Canadian Rockies, but a lady there told me about the sawyer or i might have gone back to the hiker
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almostthere
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Post by almostthere on Apr 17, 2016 18:06:11 GMT -8
Why would anyone on a winter expedition style trip bother taking a filter at all? Why aren't you melting snow?
Getting to a stream is an exercise in falling in said stream when the snow collapses under you.
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Post by tipiwalter on Apr 17, 2016 18:55:25 GMT -8
Why would anyone on a winter expedition style trip bother taking a filter at all? Why aren't you melting snow? Getting to a stream is an exercise in falling in said stream when the snow collapses under you. Obviously people don't realize that Southeast winters often get frigid (think polar vortex at -10F) with no snow. Ergo water filters freeze. Plus, how much white gas would I need to carry to melt snow for all my water for a 20 day trip? Around 60 ozs? My standard fuel load for a 3 week winter trip is 44 ozs, and this number relies on using my water filter for liquid and not my stove, otherwise I'd be carrying a tremendous fuel load. Here's an example of very little snow on a very cold 8F morning in February 2016 on the Rocky Flats trail with Patman wrapped in his WM sleeping bag. Whatever snow we could've gotten would've been full of dead leaves and debris. In January I pulled a cold trip and my coldest night was at 0F atop Flats Mt in TN. It doesn't look cold but it was, and where's the snow to melt? Severe cold does in no way equate to snow.
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dayhiker
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Post by dayhiker on Apr 17, 2016 19:55:31 GMT -8
Here is a test for the Platypus filter, looks almost identical to the sawyer from the outside except the padding: media.cascadedesigns.com/pdf/cleanstream_filter_test.pdfBut use at your own risk as I also asked sawyer and they just said to replace it. I could see using one, but not worth the trouble in winter around here, but I do have snow to melt.
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