One of the things I read about charcoal filters is that the longer the water is exposed to the charcoal the more contaminates will be removed. I suspect any carbon based filter would perform the same.

With that in mind, we might want to filter our water slowly with charcoal. I tended to use my Hiker filter like a bilge pump, pumping as fast and hard as I could. That may not work as good as a more gentle approach.