Sawyer Water Filters

[Steve]

A friend of mine has hiked extensively and has used a Sawyer Water Filter quite a bit. He swears by it for bacteria removal and has drank water from numerous creeks, rivers, and ponds with no ill effects. Just adds a couple of drops of bleach (straight, not scented) to kill anything that might slip thru.

I am thinking about buying a couple of them for my truck bag and my BOB bag as well. I would welcome any input the collected masses might have to offer.

 

[mlockhart]

I have several of these. I’ve used the filter bottle for 3-4 years or so when traveling and flying occasionally it needs back flushed then good as new. There’s no charcoal filter to these so if you filter pond water it will still taste like pond water. They work as advertised.

 

[woowoo2]

Be aware they are a popular item to counterfeit.

https://sawyer.com/counterfeit/

 

[mlockhart]

Good info, thank you.
I’ll have to dig through my get home bag and check it. I think it came in a box. The bottle filter is a inline filter. The ones for the family get home bags were a 3 or 4 pack.

 

[KittySlayer]

I am thinking about buying a couple of them for my truck bag and my BOB bag as well. I would welcome any input the collected masses might have to offer.

Be cautious about temperatures in your truck bag if you have used/tested the filter.

Do not freeze your filter. The filter is safe from freezing temperatures if it has never been used. However after the fibers are wet there is no definitive way to tell if a filter has been damaged due to freezing. Sawyer recommends replacing your filter if you suspect that it has been frozen. If you are in freezing temperatures, we recommend that you store your filter in your pocket or close to your person so that your body heat can prevent freezing.

 

[jwamplerusa]

I have one in my car bag, and have one to my son before he did a trip to Peru.

Nothing worse than Montezuma's revenge!

Beats boiling, and highly effective.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Sawyer makes two filters, the Mini and the Squeeze. They both do the same thing, but the Squeeze has more filter media, and you don't have to squeeze as hard and the water flows faster through it than the Mini.

I have both, but I've only used the Mini on long distance hikes. If you carry Smart Water bottles, the Sawyer filters will thread right onto the bottles, and you can back flush using the bottles pop top, so you don't have to carry the back flushing syringe with you.

Like KittySlayer said, don't let one freeze, after it's been used.

I've drank gallons and gallons of water from all kinds of creeks and other sources with a Sawyer Mini and I've never had a problem.

 

[masterdekoy]

I’ve used them for backpacking. Good advice about the smart water bottles, makes it really easy to filter water. Not the quickest filtering, but definitely doable.