We have had the Katadyn Pocket Filter for over 14 years. It is by far the best and cheapest filter to own when you calculate the cost of replacement cartridges per gallons of water filtered (about $0.023 per gallon). We have used it in glacial waters and in the muck of the everglades and are still on the original cartridge. You can filter a gallon of water a day and with a cartridge life of 13,000 gallons, it will last 35 years.

We have tried others to save weight and have always come back to the pocket filter for reliability. We have used gravity filters and we like the advantage of a pump filter when we know we will be at a dry camp as we can quickly filter our water at a stream ahead of time. You can always use a pump filter inline as a gravity filter while in camp but you can never use a gravity filter to as a pump to speed it up.

Get the Pocket filter if you want an investment for a lifetime.

filter for water ? I have no idea about that, I usually got some fresh water from the start point and keep in my backpack's bottles ,that's all~

Bought the Katadyn Pocket last year on ebay for $215 brand new. I would not even think of owning any other filter. Simple to use, easy to clean and very robust. When I am the backcountry I know I can depend on the Pocket filter.

It doesn't seem that anyone has mentioned the Katadyn Mini. It looks like a lighter, slower, less expensive Katadyn Pocket, but still an option worth considering. I haven't used either one though.

The Mini's a nicely made little filter, pleasingly small and fairly light. I'd hate to use one for anything other than soloing, as the flow rate is low and it takes a lot of pumping to gather a decent amount of water.

It's also very simple to field-maintain. FWIW I don't see a lot of retailers who carry it.

Cheers,

I sell Katadyn water filters and the Pocket is extremely popular with people who need durability and we have never had a complaint about the Pocket. Lately they have been a little hard to find and it seems like the Hiker or Hiker Pro is the next choice for a lot of people.