I loved my Befree until I actually had to use it!. I bought it a few months ago, tested it, and was amazed at the flow rate. Last month I took it on a short backpacking trip as a backup in case I needed to augment the tap water I carried on that short trail. I didn't need to filter from the creek but ran some more tap water through it before I left and was again amazed at the flow. Last week I took it to Phantom Creek in the Grand Canyon. The water there was crystal clear. From the very beginning it barely dripped no matter how much I squeezed or waited. It would consistently drip even with minimal pressure and we had a base camp so we ended up hanging the Befree with a 2-liter source and changing out the bottles every few hours. For immediate needs I used the same Sawyer that I'd cursed on the last trip because it's meager but dependable output suddenly seemed pretty good. The Mini never clogged or required back-flushing this trip whereas in the past I've had to back-flush every few liters sometimes, so I don't think that there was a huge amount of invisible silt in this water.

I've heard in another forum about mysterious clogging failures with the Befree, and it looks as though I experienced that. Something locked it up tight: maybe mineral content in the last tap water? Whatever it is I definitely don't trust it anymore. I might try vinegar although others have said that Katadyn has warned that that could damage the seals. If it's that susceptible to clogging and hard water but not tough to withstand back-flushing or vinegar it may not work out. I guess it's on to the Squeeze next.