best water purification system for camping?

ZippyDan · Oct 30, 2006

id assume it would be something combining mechanical (filters) and chemical (tablets). so whats the best of each?

Duncan · Oct 30, 2006

This is an excellent thread (you'll require a membership though):

http://lightfighter.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2756008371/m/5011020461/p/1

Summary: combat engineer recommends MSR Miniworks, and if you want close to 100% guarantee, afterwords use the Miox pen. If you can boil your water that is the best option as far as I understand it. For tablets, the Micropur tablets are readily available for sale at REI or MEC, although rather expensive.

Sub_Umbra · Oct 30, 2006

The Katadyn line of filters has a very long track record (75 years) of field proven performance in some of the most inhospitable places on earth. Unlike chemical approaches:

Water temp is not an issue
You may drink your filtered water right away, without waiting 30-60 minuites for the chemicals to do their work (or up to twice as long as that if the water is very cold.)
Filters are more effective on Crypto Sporidium and Giardia Lambia than most chemical approaches.
In many situations filters may lighten your load as you won't have to carry so much water around because it won't have to be treated ahead of time so that the chemicals can do their work.
Filters impart no taste to water or the foods you may use the water in.

I like a chemical approach (Polar Pure) for backup to a filter solution.

picard · Nov 2, 2006

katadyn system is very good for N. America camping trips. However, if you travel to poor countries, you need to use both chemical tablets and Katdyn. the chemical will kill lethal virus while the filter will filter out toxic chemials and all remaining particulate.

benchmade_boy · Nov 2, 2006

MSR Miox in my opinion is the best

turbodog · Nov 2, 2006

So how do you filter out the floatie things? Strain it through your teeth?

MSR's whiz-bang device requires a full 4 hour dwell (wait) time to kill crypto.

I recently went on a week long mtn bike trip through the backcountry. We filtered with an msr waterworks and then zapped the water with a UV light source. The UV kills everything (that made it past the filter) in 60 seconds.

benchmade_boy said:
Mriox in my opinion is the best

Sub_Umbra · Nov 2, 2006

picard said:
katadyn system is very good for N. America camping trips. However, if you travel to poor countries, you need to use both chemical tablets and Katdyn. the chemical will kill lethal virus while the filter will filter out toxic chemials and all remaining particulate.

I don't know where you are getting your information.

First of all, viri are not alive.

I selected Katadyn for my own personal use because of their performance in Third World countries.

I believe that more successful Mt Everest expeditions over the last fifty years have been equipped with Katadyn filters than any other brand. Katadyn 'made their bones' on countless Third world climbing expeditions over the last five decades.

I have read personal accounts of attempts to climb Everest where the participants stated that the only members of their party who didn't get sick from the water were the ones using Katadyn filters.

We've been using the Katadyn Drip filter at home every day for the last six years and that model is also very popular for use as the main base camp water filter in many, many Everest expeditions.

If you are correct about having to use an additional chemical treatment to make water from the Katadyn safe to drink -- it would also be necessary to treat the output of all of the other brands of filters as well.

greenlight · Nov 3, 2006

I have an MSR carbon filter. It is an older model, but I don't use it much. The water comes out super clean. I take it as backup, but when I go rafting I prefer to take the water with me because I can.

ledlurker · Nov 5, 2006

Sub_Umbra said:
I don't know where you are getting your information.

First of all, viri are not alive.

I selected Katadyn for my own personal use because of their performance in Third World countries.

I believe that more successful Mt Everest expeditions over the last fifty years have been equipped with Katadyn filters than any other brand. Katadyn 'made their bones' on countless Third world climbing expeditions over the last five decades.

I have read personal accounts of attempts to climb Everest where the participants stated that the only members of their party who didn't get sick from the water were the ones using Katadyn filters.

We've been using the Katadyn Drip filter at home every day for the last six years and that model is also very popular for use as the main base camp water filter in many, many Everest expeditions.

If you are correct about having to use an additional chemical treatment to make water from the Katadyn safe to drink -- it would also be necessary to treat the output of all of the other brands of filters as well.

I keep a Backpacker Katadyn in each of my vehicles that is rated for 200 gallons.

yellow1 · Nov 6, 2006

i'm not sure which katadyn models that everyone is talking about. i hope this link help.

http://moontrail.com/hydration/filters.html

from my experience with the old PUR (now Katadyn) models, i was not impressed with the construction and ease of use... these days, i stick with a MSR Waterworks, and plan to bring it with me to asia.

Illum · Nov 6, 2006

https://store.mpgear.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=592

this has been showing up in both outdoorsman and popular science magazines....supposely effective....never used it. :ohgeez:

cant tell you much

best water purification system for camping?

ZippyDan

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Duncan

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Sub_Umbra

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picard

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benchmade_boy

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turbodog

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Sub_Umbra

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greenlight

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ledlurker

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yellow1

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Illum

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