Sawyer Squeeze review

Here is a review I did on the Sawyer Squeeze. I have no financial connections with Sawyer, I have only bought and used this item.

Sawyer Squeeze review

One thing I failed to notice, until someone else pointed it out, is that the way I use the washer to backflush, I would probably contaminate the clean water, unless I cleaned the washer first, like with boiling etc. Just something I overlooked in the video.

^ Well done Nice Video^

It looks like you have the 32oz version as one of the bags - can you drink directly from the filter end? I'm thinking of buying the 32oz version and was wondering if I could do away with a water bottle completely?

Thanks!

You can drink directly from the filter. But, I would not use any of Sawyers bags. The Sawyer bags are poorly made, and leak. I use a generic bag like a platypus.

Also, if I were buying the filter now, I would spend a little more and get the All in one . It has more options that I want. Same filter though.

Before you use the Platypus bags, check them at home. I didn't have any problems with a couple of Platys that I bought last year, but I did have a problem with a 2-liter that I bought this year: I couldn't get the threads to seal, and ended up with dirty water leaking down the side of the filter and contaminating my drinking bottle and clean water. Mine may have been a fluke (or operator error), but you don't want to take the bag into the field untested.

My own solution was to simply switch to the 2-liter Platy Gravityworks, and eliminate the issue entirely. Probably an over-reaction on my part, though. The Sawyer is an awfully good filter, and based on about a year of weekend use, I'd recommend it highly.

I have a really good (read heavy) filter, which is great when there are two of us. I just need a really light weight solution for solo. I think I'll give it a try (unless someone has a different cheap, super light weight solution )

John Abela (Hikelighter.com),posted a review on the updated Sawyer bladders Updated Sawyer Review .I purchased one from REI a few weeks back after reading this review. They have a Sawyer Plus that includes 3 graduated size bladders, and mine and several others came with the inline adapter as well, although it's not listed as part of the package. I have yet to test the bladders in the field;just around the house, but will be taking in on a trip to the Pecos in a few weeks.....we'll see :-) I do like that he makes a point to say to roll rather than squeeze them.

Not user error,the old platys had standard water bottle tread, the new ones are a bit off.

Glenn, that's why there has been such a run on Evernew water bags for the past year or so! (Of course Evernew production was severely disrupted by the Japanese tsunami, too.) At some point in the past few years, Platypus decided to go to non-standard threads. The older Platys with straight sides are fine; the newer ones with curved sides are not. I did see one recent report that Cascade Designs came to its senses and went back to the regular threads, but that's strictly one report.

The standard soda or drinking water bottle works fine with the Sawyer Squeeze, too (I've not only read this but tested it). So do the caps for these bottles. Smart Water bottles, for one, are flexible enough to take lots of squeezing.

I changed from Platypus to Evernew water bottles in 2010 because I got sick and tired of losing Platypus caps. Evernew caps are attached with a toggle, so no need to carry extra caps! Plus, soda/water bottle caps won't fit the newer Platys, which means purchasing Platypus caps.

There was a report on BPL that using a different size washer (a hose washer) made the newer Platys work with the Squeeze. I didn't note the details because I'd already switched to Evernew bottles.

Now that I've written this, I find that Evernew bottles are still "not currently available"! I know that a number of outfits (Gossamer Gear, Mountain Laurel Designs) received some a month or two ago. Evidently they are still selling as fast as they come in! Amazon.com carries them and they're out, too. Sorry to get everyone's hopes up!

You don't suppose Platypus changed the thread so they couldn't be used with the Sawyers (which may have been cutting into the GravityWorks sales), do you?

My thought exactly! Plus making sure that those of us fumble-fingered folk who keep losing the caps have to buy replacements! Most likely, to be sure that folks don't mix Platypus and non-Platypus components. Anyway you look at it, it's a money issue, which IMHO may be backfiring.

That was a good review. I didn't know Sawyer was actually trying to fix the problem. It did answer one of my questions, as to how they were attaching the bag to the boat (part that has the cap on it). One thing that irks me is people saying I shouldn't squeeze. If I can buy an old platy, or an evernew, or even a cheap $1.50 bag from china and squeeze the daylights out of it without leaking, then Sawyer should be able to manufacture a bag that can take the abuse. The problem has been fixed by other manufacturers, and it isn't proprietary info.

I just ordered some of the new-style (blue) Sawyer bags, and there's one problem with them: they don't stand up. There's no "gusseted" bottom, that expands to let you stand them up straight. (CORRECTION: As I discovered, just about the same time Heather posted below, these bags ARE gusseted - it's just well-disguised!)

Since there's no adapter provided to connect them directly to filter, it's kind of difficult to fill the bladder when it's laying on its side.

I solved it - I had a "Platy Link" (the bottle top that has an L-shaped tube fitting inserted through it) that I connected to the filter outlet for now. I emailed Sawyer, and got a rather curt reply: "To connect directly to another pouch use a "tornado coupling" avaliable at most educational outlets." I searched for about an hour on the internet, and couldn't find any. (Well, I found some, but they were industrial and cost at least $200 each.) I'm going to check at the local hardware store - I think I might have seen something like that on a neighbor's garden hose.

(I had also commented on how hard the bags were to fill in a stream, and got this: "A small turkey baster or an additional syringe will solve your low water problems.")

No name signed, no additional information - just two sentences that were borderline helpful. Sawyer's not exactly putting the "service" in customer service.

If I can't find a coupling that works better than the Platy link, I'll probably just pass the filter on to someone with more patience, and stick with my Platypus GravityWorks.

I checked about 12 online sources; several that had hits on Google must no longer stock them: either some other product came up, or "page could not be found." The ones that had them listed were all out.

I'll keep looking, though. The Evernew bags looked like they would work well.

The one I just bought was gusseted - but it was not obvious! I had to pry it open a bit (but double check before you rip it!) I didn't notice that it was gusseted until day 2 or 3 of a trip.

I read elsewhere today/last night, if the filter is allowed to dry out from the previous season, folks were having issues the first time out this year.
Duane

I wonder if you back flush it after it has been sitting for a long time if that will help. I know it does when you use it the very first time

I'll repeat from another ongoing thread the Sawyer filters seem to auto-clog over winter, despite backflushing and drying before storage.

I suspect they never completely dry (the openings are tiny and even after weeks in a sunny spot, water can still be shaken out) so bacteria and whatnot are growing in the interim. Could be the bleach rinse needs more bleach but whatever the cause, I now backflush at home before first use of the season. Saves a lot of campsite fuss.

Cheers,

Like I mentioned in another post, I had trouble a couple weeks ago and my first use of the season of my sawyer squeeze. I took it, and didn't think I needed the syringe because I hadn't used it since backflushing it last fall. Turned out to be a big mistake. Now I plan to backflush before every trip, and carry the syringe.

Yeah, that was my mistake. After work, before I read your post, I got one out, thinking "That just really doesn't make sense, that they'd not make it stand up. I'm gonna triple check it" - and that's when I found the gusset. Like you said, well-hidden.

Just a follow-up: there is a better way to attach the clean bottle to the Sawyer. Just as they said, there is such a thing as a tornado coupling - I found a teacher's supply store that carried something called a Tornado Tube; it's used to attach two water bottles together to demonstrate the vortex effect. It screws securely onto the filter, weighs about half an hounce, and attaches the bottle firmly in place (unlike the Platy Link, which used a short tube that allowed the bottle to flop around.)

I'm gonna give the Sawyer filter another try; it's just too good an idea not to work.

An awesome, if unlikely find. Hope it works.

I remember a gizmo for cheapskates that would connect two ketchup bottles to coax the last bit from the old bottle into the new. Guesing it's the same idea--a simple female-female threaded coupling.

Cheers,

Yep, that's it.

To become a bit, well, obsessive: Why didn't the designer catch that, and simply put a female thread on both ends of the filter? It just seems so obvious - like putting a zip-loc closure on the bottom of the dirty water bag (which they also missed.)

Had a chance to try the "tornado tube" coupling, and it does work great. I actually found that, once the flow was started, I could just start walking back toward my pack, carrying the whole thing in one hand, and gravity kept the flow going without any further squeezing or rolling.

The "scoop" I made by cutting the top off a Sawyer bottle also worked well. I used it on a couple of trips now, and have had no problems (I've been using the "new" Sawyer bottles, and they work fine; I may replace them with some Evernew bottles, though I'm not in any big hurry to do so.)