I am considering changing my backup water purification system from Potable Aqua to a steripen of some sort. (A gravity filter remains our primary water cleaning system.) We would use the steripen within a nalgene bottle. Any advice on a preferred brand or model?

Also, for those of you who use steripens, do you filter the water through a cloth or similar before you use the device? The sales guy at Midwest Mountaineering suggested that we filter the water to get the larger particles out of the water, as the steripen will work better with fewer larger particulates. I'm wondering if there is an easy way to do this.

Thoughts?

Mike

We use Platypus gravity filters in camp, and Lifestraw filter bottles underway. I bring Steripens as backup, along with a mesh filter designed to fit on a Naglene bottle. Pour through the mesh screen, then hit it with the Steri pen.

PS: Don't forget extra batteries!

To be honest I've soured on Katadyn products. I can't remember with what or when but at some point i had a negative experience with one and wrote it off the list. I think the last Katadyn I bought was a gravity filter system and in the end all i used was the bag for my dirty water bag (after I sawed the filter out of it) in a DIY gravity setup with inline sawyer and charcoal filters.

For "on the go" water, I keep a small hand pump filter in my thwart bag. No sense in not being extra careful but you know as well as anybody how we "used" to filter our water, we didn't. We just gathered it from a safe spot in the middle of the lake.

When I say "steripen" I certainly can and will consider products other than Katahdin.

Mike

One note on steripens. They are not waterproof. So if you slip and drop it into the bottle of water while stirring it will die. Been there. Used iodine backup for the next 9 days. If there is a brand that is waterproof,
I would prefer that one.

We carry a Katadyn Steripen Ultra UV. We use it for treating water during the day when in the canoe. We use a narrow neck opaque water bottle (it can't fall in, so you can set the bottle between your feet and keep paddling while the water is being treated). Then we dump the water into our regular Nalgenes. This system has worked very well and reliably for us. It has rechargeable batteries and we carry a power bank for recharge if on a trip more than 4-5 days long. We have never used a pre-filter since we are using it out in the middle of the lake and sediment hasn't been an issue.

ockycamper: "We use Platypus gravity filters in camp, and Lifestraw filter bottles underway.

Ockycamper, try the Lifestraw Peak series water bladder if you get a chance. They carabiner to your gear better and absolutely do not leak like the Lifestraw bottle flip tops. Plus you can flip the filter and squeeze out filtered water into a pot for morning coffee. I’ve ditched the hard plastic Lifestraw for good.

My $.02

I switched to the steripen years ago. I think my older model is now referred to as the "classic" model. We don't pre-filter, but still use caution when selecting our water (away from shore, not on beaver infested mud puddles etc etc). I usually carry in a bottle of Gatorade the first day, then use the empty bottle to filter the water, works great with the size of the steripen vs the mouth of the Gatorade bottle. I always bring in extra lithium batteries but have never needed them.

I used to carry the lifestraw as a backup, but I had trouble with one that was probably stored incorrectly. It was impossible to get more than a drop or two out of the dang thing.