panatomicx
Trail Wise!
Less noise and more green
Posts: 496
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Post by panatomicx on Aug 22, 2016 17:19:17 GMT -8
I've been a dedicated MSR Minworks pumper, but one of the guys brought a Sawyer Squeeze on our last trip, and I have to admit I'm a convert. The MSR is heavy, expensive, and had to be regularly maintained. I had thought the Squeeze would involve too much fiddling around, but it turned out not to be the case. I was filtering from clear lakes and streams as shallow as 6". Most of the effort, I found, was in trying to fully fill the pouch, which was a hassle. But it was relatively easy to fill the pouch half way, and even then it was so much faster than pumping. At 3oz, $40, and with no moving parts, I'm going to switch.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2016 17:51:03 GMT -8
I got one Sawyer Squeeze I been using for 6 years. I use a prefilter on ours. I also use our cooking pot as a water scoop to fill the bags.
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Westy
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Diagnosed w/Post-Trail Transition Syndrome
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Post by Westy on Aug 22, 2016 18:08:48 GMT -8
cooking pot as a water scoop Good tip! Wish I had thought of that a week ago.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2016 18:27:46 GMT -8
cooking pot as a water scoop Good tip! Wish I had thought of that a week ago. Our cooking pot has a pour spout to make things a bit easier for filling the bags; carry a spare bag.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2016 18:48:26 GMT -8
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almostthere
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putting on my hiking shoes....
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Post by almostthere on Aug 22, 2016 19:26:38 GMT -8
I have a Squeeze, a Mini, a hiker pro, and a Platypus Cleanstream. I take the Hiker Pro when there's questionable water sources (shallow/muddy) or a group to share with, and the Cleanstream most everywhere else. The Sawyer Mini is in the small day pack.
The ladies of my backpacking class borrowed all their gear from a friend, including a Sawyer Squeeze - they were so frustrated, way beyond frustrated, with it that they resolved never to buy one. One use of the Hiker Pro and they were sold - so fast! so much easier!
Different strokes, as they say....
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BigLoad
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Pancakes!
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Post by BigLoad on Aug 22, 2016 20:29:04 GMT -8
I prefer a gravity filter over the Squeeze for most applications, but I carry a Squeeze or Mini as a backup.
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talus
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Post by talus on Aug 23, 2016 8:45:50 GMT -8
You can use a plastic soda bottle instead of the bag, same threads. I just look for a little cascade, just a few inches, to put the bag under. Evernew bags work well too, but they are pricey.
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Post by dayhiker on Aug 23, 2016 9:58:15 GMT -8
I switched to the. Kadyn(sp?) water bottle filter after my MSR clogged so much in the Canadian Rockies. I switched to the Sawyer water bottle filter which can be setup as a gravity filter in camp with the right bags tubes etc. I tried the squeeze, forget my experience, I do like that the water bottle can stow in a wet rib and I can drink from it, and II can open it as I approach a stream, close, and head out before bugs gather, and no worry about pitching water since it is no problem to refill and the next stream etc.
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 23, 2016 10:45:03 GMT -8
Different strokes, as they say.... This is definitely true in this it looks like. After years of using the hiker pro and being tired of wrestling with tubing, hold the bottle, and pumping at the same time I gave up and converted to a Steripen which I've used now for about 5 or 6 years. I'm never out longer than 10/11 days so battery life isn't an issue. My last trip I took a squeeze also just to try it out but I never touched it. It was just too easy to scoop up the water and stick the steripen in for 90 seconds and be done with it. Now... if I knew that I was going someplace where I'd be getting my water from mud puddles, swamps, etc.. i'd probably take something else like the squeeze that I haven't used yet or my old hiker pro.
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almostthere
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putting on my hiking shoes....
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Post by almostthere on Aug 23, 2016 10:51:42 GMT -8
Give me a consecutive period of more than a month where I am not bailing out someone with a UV device, and I might bother with one. As it is, my unhusband routinely tells people the only reason he uses one is because he knows I have a filter to back him up when it fails. (Not if.) Forever and ever now, I've met people at water sources struggling vainly with some Steri-whatever and loaned them a filter.
I very much prefer a gravity filter -- I started with a ULA filter that is no longer in production. The filter cartridge was a Katadyn Hiker, which I switched out for the Cleanstream because it's back-flushable. Now the nylon bag, nearly ten years old, has lost its waterproofness. So I am ordering a Platypus dirty reservoir ala carte to replace it. And then I too will have a Cleanstream system. Like all filters, it will work until it doesn't. But it will work more reliably than anything with batteries, and a back flush will fix whatever's ailing it.
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 23, 2016 11:11:12 GMT -8
I'll be honest and say that if I were out for a month or more I'd probably rethink my Steripen but I don't ever see myself being fortunate enough to do such a thing.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Aug 23, 2016 14:10:56 GMT -8
We used a Steripen for 4 of us for 5 weeks in Peru, with no problems. We did go through more batteries than we had planned for--that seems to be the biggest concern, and the weight of that is why we don't use it backpacking.
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reuben
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Gonna need more Camels at the next refugio...
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Post by reuben on Aug 23, 2016 14:21:42 GMT -8
I prefer a gravity filter over the Squeeze for most applications, but I carry a Squeeze or Mini as a backup. I'm a little confused. The Mini is a gravity filter. Then again, I ain't too bright, so a lot of stuff slips past me.
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BigLoad
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Pancakes!
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Post by BigLoad on Aug 23, 2016 18:17:09 GMT -8
I prefer a gravity filter over the Squeeze for most applications, but I carry a Squeeze or Mini as a backup. I'm a little confused. The Mini is a gravity filter. Then again, I ain't too bright, so a lot of stuff slips past me. It can easily be used in a gravity system, but it doesn't come with everything you need to use it efficiently that way. It's cross-sectional area is also about half that of the MSR and Platypus gravity filters, or maybe a bit less, so it's less forgiving.
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