I was in Wally world the day before my latest trip and saw a water filter. Called the Sawyer mini filter.

I have a MSR pump filter and have used several other pump type filters and were never happy with them.

I well I thought what the heck for 20 bucks I well try this one.

Well let me tell you I had the easiest time filtering water this last trip that I ever had.

I used it as inline filter between a 2 liter bladder and a plastic water jug. I hung the bladder in a tree and filter into the jug let her run.

I would get two bladders filtered and then have to clean it. This is the easiest cleaning filter I found. They come with a large plastic syringe that one fills with clean water that one back flushes the filter. Works great. Back flush filter with two syringe full and 4 more liters filtered repeat.

One can also screw it onto a bottle and filter into mouth from the bottle.

They say the filter is good for a hundred thousand gallons could be I'll never live that long to see that.

I recommend it for sure

Use a Katydyn base camp what a joke never worked well after the first few fills.

quote riverrunner: "I was in Wally world the day before my latest trip and saw a water filter. Called the Sawyer mini filter.

I have a MSR pump filter and have used several other pump type filters and were never happy with them.

I well I thought what the heck for 20 bucks I well try this one.

Well let me tell you I had the easiest time filtering water this last trip that I ever had.

I used it as inline filter between a 2 liter bladder and a plastic water jug. I hung the bladder in a tree and filter into the jug let her run.

I would get two bladders filtered and then have to clean it. This is the easiest cleaning filter I found. They come with a large plastic syringe that one fills with clean water that one back flushes the filter. Works great. Back flush filter with two syringe full and 4 more liters filtered repeat.

One can also screw it onto a bottle and filter into mouth from the bottle.

They say the filter is good for a hundred thousand gallons could be I'll never live that long to see that.

I recommend it for sure

Use a Katydyn base camp what a joke never worked well after the first few fills."

+1. I too just got back from trip and LOVED my new Sawyer Mini. I think I'll retire my old PUR pump filter for good.

Yup, just got back from a trip and used it on my Basecamp conversion.....it worked well but had to backflush it more often.

I also purchased one at WalMart and just got back from a trip to Quetico where I used it. Worked great never had to flush it out during the whole trip, but took the syringe just in case I needed to do it. Very Lt wt. and easy to use.

quote riverrunner: "I was in Wally world the day before my latest trip and saw a water filter. Called the Sawyer mini filter.

I have a MSR pump filter and have used several other pump type filters and were never happy with them.

I well I thought what the heck for 20 bucks I well try this one.

Well let me tell you I had the easiest time filtering water this last trip that I ever had.

I used it as inline filter between a 2 liter bladder and a plastic water jug. I hung the bladder in a tree and filter into the jug let her run.

I would get two bladders filtered and then have to clean it. This is the easiest cleaning filter I found. They come with a large plastic syringe that one fills with clean water that one back flushes the filter. Works great. Back flush filter with two syringe full and 4 more liters filtered repeat.

One can also screw it onto a bottle and filter into mouth from the bottle.

They say the filter is good for a hundred thousand gallons could be I'll never live that long to see that.

I recommend it for sure

Use a Katydyn base camp what a joke never worked well after the first few fills."

Welcome to the world of gravity filters. Adding some sort of pre-filter to the jug may help extend time between backflushes.

quote zooshooter: "

quote riverrunner: "I was in Wally world the day before my latest trip and saw a water filter. Called the Sawyer mini filter.


I have a MSR pump filter and have used several other pump type filters and were never happy with them.


I well I thought what the heck for 20 bucks I well try this one.


Well let me tell you I had the easiest time filtering water this last trip that I ever had.


I used it as inline filter between a 2 liter bladder and a plastic water jug. I hung the bladder in a tree and filter into the jug let her run.


I would get two bladders filtered and then have to clean it. This is the easiest cleaning filter I found. They come with a large plastic syringe that one fills with clean water that one back flushes the filter. Works great. Back flush filter with two syringe full and 4 more liters filtered repeat.


One can also screw it onto a bottle and filter into mouth from the bottle.


They say the filter is good for a hundred thousand gallons could be I'll never live that long to see that.


I recommend it for sure


Use a Katydyn base camp what a joke never worked well after the first few fills."

Welcome to the world of gravity filters. Adding some sort of pre-filter to the jug may help extend time between backflushes. "

Yes that what we decided but for using what I would call fairly dirty lake water it worked very well. Heck the back flushing took a whole minute to do man what a long time :)

Agreed. Picked one up cheap on Amazon and it worked like a charm on the last trip. I mostly used it as a bottle topper. Fill bottle in middle of lake, put on filter, and good to go.

quote bfurlow: "Agreed. Picked one up cheap on Amazon and it worked like a charm on the last trip. I mostly used it as a bottle topper. Fill bottle in middle of lake, put on filter, and good to go."

That's how I used mine. It will definitely be on all of my backpacking and day hiking trips from now on besides most canoe trips.

For those who have platypus gravity filter systems, the sawyer mini filter works with the platypus bags/tubing right out of the box. You don't need the sawyer tube adapters. You can still back flush in line as described in the platypus manual or use the sawyer syringe.

I had a plugged platypus filter. I was unable to really clean it and didn't have time to order a replacement. The "World's Foremost Outfitter" didn't have the platypus filter in stock so I grabbed the sawyer mini.

Welcome to the Sawyer Fan Club!
Many of us have joined and are loving our Sawyers!

When I bought the platypus system 5 years ago, the filter was about the same as the sawyer. The main differences were in the bags. Now the sawyer filter is half the price and you can find them everywhere.

I would personally like a combination of the two systems. I think the platypus "dirty" bag and tubing are better than the sawyer. Everything is transparent so you can see if you have an air bubble vapor locking the system. The whole top of the dirty bag is open and you can fill it with one scoop. But the platypus "clean" bag doesn't have a spigot like the sawyer bag. I think keeping the tubing connected most of the time is better.

Neither have a pre-filter, so I built by own and use a piece of coffee filter to strain out anything big (or alive) before the main filter.

On a side note, I did get the platypus filter working again...by using the sawyer syringe that came with the mini. I think there may have been some mineral build up during storage. I may do a final flush with DI water before I store everything this year.

Thanks to this board I became aware of the Sawyer Mini, and just bought one. Haven't unpacked it yet.

It is part of my glacially slow transition to going lightweight.

It will save a bunch of weight over my Katadyn Pocket, but here's the thing: I will be tempted to take both, in case the Sawyer breaks!

I think I will especially like the Sawyer for 1-3 day trips. I think I will attach it to a large Smart Water bottle and just go with that.

If I do that, can I squeeze the bottle and force water through the filter into a pot?

BTW that is a 510g saving on the filter, and if I leave the Nalgene and just take a 1 liter Smart Water bottle, that's another 142g for a total of 652g, or almost 1.5 lbs!

That doesn't sound like much to me, but I guess that it all adds up. It sure seems trivial, though, compared to just my Little Dipper tent.

Hmmm...maybe I'll just save the Mini for day trips.

I think it's only the second concession I've really made to lightweight, the first being having swapped out PVC drybags for coated nylon ones, ultimately to the Ultra-Sil Nano's.

Gram-weenie-ness, here I come!

quote cowdoc: "Yup, just got back from a trip and used it on my Basecamp conversion.....it worked well but had to backflush it more often.
"

Reviving this old thread to ask a question. Maybe cowdoc will answer. I have a filter set up like cowdoc. Bag from base camp filter but not with sawyer mini, but rather the maxi? Bigger one should mean faster flow right? Question is if I keep the end above bag will that stop the flow or do i need to cap it?

I thought the flow rate was determined by the pressure on the supply (dirty) water side. Higher pressure = greater flow. A full bag that was 6' higher than the lower bag would have more pressure than one that was 2'above the filtered water.

You'd probably be able to filter slightly more water with the bigger filter before needing to backwash and clean it out.

You would need to clamp off the hose connecting the bags or cap the filter. Lifting one bag with everything connected would let water flow into the lower bag. The filter flows both directions; one filters water the other flushes the filter.

The Sawyers are great for letting you do something else while you filter water; so flow rate isn't that big of a deal.

quote pswith5: "

quote cowdoc: "Yup, just got back from a trip and used it on my Basecamp conversion.....it worked well but had to backflush it more often.
"

Reviving this old thread to ask a question. Maybe cowdoc will answer. I have a filter set up like cowdoc. Bag from base camp filter but not with sawyer mini, but rather the maxi? Bigger one should mean faster flow right? Question is if I keep the end above bag will that stop the flow or do i need to cap it?"

If the outlet (end of the hose) is above the head (highest point of water in the bag) then no water will flow out of the hose. Head pressure is totally reliant on the height of the water column. The pressure inside a 24" pipe is the same as the pressure in a 1/2" tube if the height of the column is the same. The force is different but not the pressure.

My wife and I are fans as well.

Was at voyager north yesterday. I had a sawyer mini in my hand and asked about it. I want to say it was their daughter. .. anyway she said sawyer says it's not meant to work with a gravity but a pump or squeeze system. But what does Sawyer know about their own product. Haha! I'm going to pick one up now and try it. A little size savings... I use their regular size and have to buy this whole kit with it every time. Well, I've bought two. I'm still on the first one. It may last me forever. But I always want a backup... I wonder how the mini compares in what it filters?

Build your own....Fun Project.

I did the same thing this year. Bought the filter on Amazon and spent less than $5 on tubing. Fit on a collapsible water container and used a coffee filter as a prefilter. Worked like a charm for a week. Only back flushed it once or twice. Looks the same as a $100 gravity system to me.