Water filters vs purifiers

[ULWalkingPhil]

I read a report on a study, that 17% of users stopped using the life straw, because it was to hard to suck the water up the tube. Also the report mentions that when new 250mL per minute flow and as it gets used will drop down to 200mL per minute.

[sailfish]

I read a report on a study, that 17% of users stopped using the life straw, because it was to hard to suck the water up the tube. Also the report mentions that when new 250mL per minute flow and as it gets used will drop down to 200mL per minute.

I am sure some do. It is harder than sucking water through a normal straw but not nearly as hard as a thick shake.
While it is designed to be used as a straw, I am more interested in replenishing my carried water to see me through to the next water source.
To this end I cut the corner off a plastic bag and slipped the straw upside down through this and bound the bag on water tight.
Then hung the bag up with some water in it. The water dribbled through the filter under it's own weight, somewhat slower then sucking but still fast enough to fill a canteen or bottle in a few minutes. This would certainly be more than adequate to replenish water supply on a multi day walk. Obviously this is not the intended use for the Lifestraw personal so I would be careful not to pressurise it beyond the normal design flow rate.

Note: it is recommended to blow the water out at the end of use to reverse flush the filter.

Obviously I have not had the thing long enough to comment about it's durability or performance over time but it is intended to be used in some of the worlds harshest environments. I'll be giving it a good try because I hate those nasty tasting pills and don't like trusting water supply to electronic or mechanical gadgets. I suppose boiling water is always a fallback but then you burn a lot of fuel. Lifestraw just seems so simple and if it works for Africans, why not for me?


Regards,
Ken

[ULWalkingPhil]

The life straws are sold locally here, which is a miracle on it's own, usually can't buy anything in this town.

I had a look at one, but was not what I was looking for. I do own a very good filter, the lifesaver bottle, purchased it about 8 months ago. Excellent filter, the only thing I don't like about it, is it's weight. It's heavy.

I've looked but can't find anything that will match the lifesaver bottle, so for the sake of 900grams, i'm going to stick to my lifesaver bottle. I've managed to save weight in other area's on my pack. I don't want to take chances on water. The lifesaver bottle is the best I could find so far.

[photohiker]

I've looked but can't find anything that will match the lifesaver bottle, so for the sake of 900grams, i'm going to stick to my lifesaver bottle.

Here's a few options, all well under 900g. What's that lifesaver made of to make it 900g?

[ULWalkingPhil]

I've looked but can't find anything that will match the lifesaver bottle, so for the sake of 900grams, i'm going to stick to my lifesaver bottle.

Here's a few options, all well under 900g. What's that lifesaver made of to make it 900g?

Hi photo hiker,

Some interesting options there, price looks good.

The Lifesaver bottle filters practically everything including muddy water, why it's so heavy? I have no idea, I suspect it's probably the filter cartridge, the bottle is made of plastic. Listed weight for the bottle on there web site is apx 700 grams. I don't know where they get this weight from, because it's heavier than the advertised weight, maybe there not including the weight of the optional charcoal filter. The lifesaver bottle filters 3 ways. First there's a sponge in the bottle which can be used to pick up water from small puddles and acts as a sort of a filter. Fill the bottle than pump a few times and water is than forced through a filter capable of removing viruses, they claim it's filters better than any other product on the market, than there's the charcoal filter as the last process.

The filter is quick and easy to use, you can store 750mL of water in the bottle, but only 500mL is accessible, the final 200mL is left in the bottle. You can empty the water out fully, but some water needs to be left in bottle so the filter don't dry out.
I've weighed my filter with water removed and it was 900 grams, which surprised me.

[troiks]

I've looked but can't find anything that will match the lifesaver bottle, so for the sake of 900grams, i'm going to stick to my lifesaver bottle.

Here's a few options, all well under 900g. What's that lifesaver made of to make it 900g?

The waterbag filter at the bottom of the page looks interesting, you may be able to replace their bag with a lighter one. I wonder how accurate their claim of removing chemicals is. I recently emailed Sawyer Filters http://www.sawyer.com/ to ask if any of their filters removed chemicals. They advised that this was not possible despite some manufacturers claiming that their filters are able to do so.

[John Sheridan]

I was thinking of getting a life straw and using it in a gravity filter system, I take it the life straw has a carbon filter built in ????

Cheers.

?PS I thought a carbon filter removed chemicals ???