Water filters.

Over time and patience I have finally obtained just about everything I need for multi day backpacking trips except one. A good, quality, dependable, easy to use and clean water filter.

I plan on only hiking in the US so I don't think I need viral protection, so the purpose of this post is to see what the majority of you agree on what the best water filter is out there.

So far I have my eye on MSR products, specifically the Hyperflow.


Tom

Best tasting water, First Need. You can cobble up a gravity feed filter for camp pretty cheap. I have a Pur Hiker also, one of the originals, can be flushed out in the field, although I wait to get home, hasn't been used for four to five years as I have used my First Need for the flavor or none. Some other great models that are lightweight out there. Do a search on the forum here too.

The very first water filter I bought was the First Need. I used it for a lot of years until it clogged. It's not field cleanable and I never considered it to be very user friendly. The next one I bought was the MSR Sweet Water. I have owned and used that one for about 15 years. I thought it was a much more user friendly pump and the fact that it is field cleanable is a big plus. A couple of years back I was on day 5 of a 7 day hike and the pump broke. I had to cut my hike short. Since I had just bought a replacement filter for it, I contacted MSR to see if I could get the part I needed and they just sent me a whole new pump free of charge. Great customer service. Earlier this year I bought the ULA Amigo Pro gravity filter. I really like it. I don't pump any more. It's so easy and works so well. It fills my 4 liter Dromelite bag within a few minutes. Then I just refill the the filter bag and hang it in camp and have about another 4 liters on tap. I would urge you to give the ULA or one of the other gravity filters serious consideration.

+1

I like that I can filter and do other things - with the bladder connector the filter stops when the Platypus is full, and you can squeeze the valve, switch over to another bladder, open the valve, and go back to setting up the tent or starting dinner. I refill bottles for some of my hiking group on longer day hikes - a couple of them are now ordering one of their own. Personally, simple and less breakable works better for me; I tend to be a klutz. That it's less expensive than other methods and lighter than the plastic pump filters is a plus-plus.

Nice that it doubles as a shower, too.

“I plan on only hiking in the US”

Well that about sums up my water experience. I do go into places with pesticide runoff. Most of the lakes I run into at low altitude are brown/green/murky. I’ve tried several filters and only my First Need has turned the water pure clear. Most filters just let the brown color pass through and psychologically it’s hard for me to drink (even though nasties are filtered out).

I also like how the First Need has NO parts to assemble while backpacking except attaching your bottle. I’ve never had a filter clog. I don’t even bring a spare cartridge on my trips. However, if I’m gone for 2 weeks, I’ll start with a fresh cartridge to be safe. First Need has a smaller lighter version but it looks slower and that will hurt because we usually use 1 filter for 2-6 people.

-Barry

lori, there was mention from a fellow bper on another small group I belong to and he mentioned also about a connector for hooking up a filter to a bladders outlet hose. That would be handy when perched on a log or group of unfriendly rocks trying to filter water into a bladder. I just use a bottle then. I need to search that out for when I bring a filter on shorter trips or where I suspect the water to be less pure.

Couldn't do that with the platypus bladders - or rather, there's no reason to, disconnect the hose from the connector already on the bladder, connect the filter hose. The camelbak, maybe, you have to put the filter hose in the wide mouth as there is no adapter.