I only use the charcoal filter I mentioned, but we have very good water where I hike. Many times I don't filter it at all. If I were hiking somewhere that the water was less than crystal clear I think I'd use the charcoal filter to pre-filter the water before filtering with a Sawyer Squeeze or Katadyn Hiker filter. This would surely extend the life of the Hiker filter, potentially by a lot, and should reduce how often you'd need to clean the Sawyer.

I've not used a Sawyer filter, but I did buy a Hiker filter a few years back and wasn't very happy with it. I busted the nipple off the outflow side by pulling on the hose after filtering very cold water with it, which didn't impress me at all. Hiker sent me a new body for free though without any questions, which was impressive.

But, after using a filter one time, the next time I'd use it I could detect what tasted to me like algae in it. Since replacement filters are expensive for those I was not impressed at all by that, and after buying the 3rd filter I stopped using it. If the Sawyer did the same thing I wouldn't use it. I've not heard of that being the case, but I never heard of it happening with the Hiker either.

The Sawyer has some attractive features though, and the price is a big one. So are the specs for performance, and the fact that you can clean the filter. The only real downside I'm aware of is that they can lock up. From what I've read here that happens when the filter has set for awhile, and maybe only when it hasn't been cleaned after use. But that's something that can be a deal breaker if it happens when you're out there.

The 1 or 2 ounces that a Britta filter weighs can be all or mostly offset by the bottle I use, so this is almost zero added weight for a piece of gear that offers a lot of function and a critical backup if your primary gear fails. And this set-up doesn't cost much. The bottle is $3 at WalMart (in the camping section) and the filter is about $3.50 (in the section that sells kitchen water filters).

That's a lot of bang for the buck.