Water Purifiers

[dcentral]

I know nothing about them, but I need to look into getting one.

Anyone have any reccomendations?

[martha]

I've done a lot of reading about them.

try

http://www.epinions.com for reviews.


I think that the MSR Miox is awesome. it is simple and fast.

[dcentral]

cool. I;ll check that out today.

[Fred]

I'm not up to speed on today's purifiers but I can fill you in on this...

About 7 years ago I had a PUR voyager (iodine core and carbon filter) which is a purifier not a filter. Three years or so ago, the company went under because they found a problem with the carbon filter. It apparently held bacteria when not used for extensive periods of time. The company couldn't afford to re-call every carbon filter they ever produced so they went under. They are now called Katadyne (I think). I don't kow if they have corrected their little glitch (probably) but it's just to say I got jipped by PUR so this 'new' company may not care for their customers if they were able to do that to all the others. So for all you people who have a PUR pump, make sure you have a carbon filter that is safe.

I think MSR is a trusty name and they seem excell in mountain equipment. Do It!

[Chris]

If you are looking for something inexpensive you can always but the Water Treatment chemicals. We got them in the camping section of Canadian Tire. 10 drops of 1 chem and 10 of the other and voila...half decent drinking water!

That's all i got. Yup!

[Fred]

and add kool-aid to help swallow. Actually... I've never tried tablet treated water but I was told it tastes horrible. Is this true?

[dcentral]

Thanks for the heads up Fred I'll keep that in mind.

I've never tried tablets either. I have thought about them though. I mostly need it for a search and rescue 24 hr pack. So they maybe an option cause I don't know it I want to carry a lot of gear.

[dcentral]

MEC seems to carry a lot of Katadyn filters.

[Chris]

tablets due suck..unless you like the taste of chlorinated powder chunks. Howeve, the chemical stuff wasn't bad at all.....I mixed it all with gatorade powder and I was a happy camper!

[Scott]

My brother has the Katadyn Hiker, which we used during our week long trip up near schefferville, and it seemed to work great. It took about 30 seconds to filter a nalgene full, it has a spout that fits into the mouth of the nalgene. I wasn't and I don't think he was aware of the problem that fred mentioned, but they may have fixed that for the new startup.

[Fred]

beware that the hiker is probably only a filter and not a purifier. It does not have an iodine core

If they have kept the same names that is.
PUR voyager = Katadyne voyager
PUR hiker = Ktadyne hiker

[shawn]

Pristine is the way to go (unless you are drinking out of a swamp or mud puddle that you require a filter to remove all the floaties). It is a two part chlorine dioxide chemical. Mix part A and B, wait 5 mins, add to your water, wait 15 mins and you are good to go. We use this all the time in adventure races (as filters are way too slow) and have had no problems. I don't find it has any taste (good or bad) at all. It certainly smells strong when mixing but no taste. Add gatorade for taste if you want but you don't need it. I noticed you can get it at Walmart (in Saint John anyway) for $7 instead of $15 at MEC and $20 at other stores. Stay away from iodine tablets. They are awful and you'll probably become dehydrated from not drinking as it tastes so bad. I also find some filters have a bad taste too as they use iodine as well. Also iodine does not kill all bacteria.

[Zamboni]

I can' tell you anything about any brands, cause I have no experiance with any. But the ones that I have seen use the same filter technology developed from the people in the link below.

http://www.rainfresh.ca/productinfo/cartridges.html

The 1S & 1M, Silver impregnated, cleanable, reusable Ceramic Cartridge
* Traps and kills coliforms, faecal coliforms, E. coli
and other harmful bacteria > 99.99999%.
* Traps Cryptosporidium and Giardia (Beaver Fever)
cysts > 99.9%.
* Activated carbon core reduces chlorine, taste & odour.
* Filters sediment, rust, algae and silt as small as 0.3 microns

You can get these at your local home hardware. The only problem, the filters are for residential use, they are twice the size as one of those hand pumps. I supose you can cut it in half and glue a new fitting on the bottom.

CB.