I was looking at my steripen that I have had for a couple of years now, and after exploring their website I think I found a good solution to why it wasn't working for very long--you got to get rechargeable batteries. This should increase the number of 1L doses I can do by a factor of 10 from 10 to 100. I'll still carry the tablets as back up though because who knows with electronics and water something will probably go wrong.

As to cooking, yeah I could KISS haha, but I enjoy cooking food like pizza and garlic bread in the back country. Anybody know of a good pan/lid combo?

Thanks again for everyone's contributions, and I welcome more!