Sawyer has, or at least used to have, a filter that was supposedly fine enough to filter most viruses. Problem is, if a filter is fine enough to filter viruses, it is very slow and very prone to clogging.

If I were worried about viruses (such as a river that drains inhabited areas, or in "third world" countries), I'd take chlorine dioxide tablets and use those, either alone or in conjunction with a filter. Used in conjunction with a filter, you don't have such a long waiting period, because the filter gets the protozoa (like giardia), while the chlorine dioxide zaps the viruses and smaller bacteria in about 20 minutes. (It's the protozoan cysts that take several hours to kill.)

Before relying on this gadget, I'd want to see independent technical third party reviews, not from manufacturers or retailers, that show both lab test results with polluted water (does it really get all the viruses?) and real world use (does the filter keep working or does it clog all the time?)


Edited by OregonMouse (03/27/16 11:29 AM)
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey