My Boy Scout Troop has a couple of these that are used occasionally on backpacking or back country canoe trips. For those of you unfamiliar with this particular filter, it has three stages - a ceramic element, and a combined fiberglass/carbon element.

We are doing a backpacking trip next month, so I hauled them out to make sure everything was OK. Guess what - they were wet inside! Last time they were used, I think, was on a canoe trip a couple of years ago, so they were apparently left wet after the last trip and have been for a LONG time. I ran clean water through them and set everything out to dry, but not sure that we should use them as-is. A couple of things we may be able to do:

1) The instructions say that for long-term storage, a disinfectant solution should be run through them.
2) The activated carbon (inside the fibergalss element) can supposedly be replaced.

Anybody have specific experience with these filters?

No not directly. Pumping a mixture of a bit of Bleach and water thru should disinfect. Or soaking in. Just a matter of flushing with plenty of clear water. Carbon is readilly available for aquarium Filters.

If you filter some water through and find it tastes funky, I'd remove the filter from the housing and give it a scrub, wash it in diluted bleach water, and leave it disassembled to dry out before storage.

No permanent damage done.