water filters

[Couloirman]

I know most of the ultra-ultra-lighters will just chime in here and tell me to bring iodine or something, but I am pretty picky about water and would much rather filter out the sediment as well. My MSR mini works has disappeared and I need a new filter. Anything better/lighter weight these days for week long trips? Im doing the C&O trail to the Great Allegheny Passage (Washington DC to Pittsburgh) with the girlfriend, then flying straight out to Colorado to do the CTR in a few weeks and am debating the Katadyn offerings, MSR, etc......

What do you guys bring on 1-2 week solo bikepacking trips?

[AZTtripper]

I feel the same way, a little extra time a little extra weight is worth it to me.

He's the newest one I have http://cascadedesigns.com/msr/water-treatment-and-hydration/fast-and-light-water-treatment-and-hydration/hyperflow-microfilter/product

Got a lot of use before I had to buy a new filter, used the back flush often to add life.

The flat prefilter works really well in shallow water sources.

Tim

[JRA]

I know most of the ultra-ultra-lighters will just chime in here and tell me to bring iodine or something, but I am pretty picky about water and would much rather filter out the sediment as well. My MSR mini works has disappeared and I need a new filter. Anything better/lighter weight these days for week long trips? Im doing the C&O trail to the Great Allegheny Passage (Washington DC to Pittsburgh) with the girlfriend, then flying straight out to Colorado to do the CTR in a few weeks and am debating the Katadyn offerings, MSR, etc......



What do you guys bring on 1-2 week solo bikepacking trips?

The Sawyer Squeeze has gained popularity with many backpackers -
http://www.sawyer.com/sawyersaves/products-squeeze.html

Sawyer also makes a gravity drip system thats easy to use.

I hate the taste of chemical treatments.

[Jason Elsworth]

+1 to the squeeze. This seems to be the number 1 choice amongst ul backpackers who use a filter. other option is the steripen.

[KIK ROX]

Another vote for the Sawyer squeeze. I have heard that the bladders that come with the filter are prone to failure, so I got a 2L Platypus to use instead.
Also, the water pumps at the hiker/biker campsites on the C&O towpath are clean and tested periodically. They have some sediment from the pipes, but I've filtered that out with coffee filters.

[mtnbound]

I am curious about the Sawyer squeeze and the hyper microfilter.  On the Squeeze, is it a problem squeezing it?  Is there a wrong way and right way to do it, such as it must be rolled down/not twisted?  I have read on a few forums that the bag is flimsy and can tear.  Any problems with that?  Also, how much effort does it take to squeeze compared to other pump type filters.

The hyper microfilter looks easy to use too, like other pump filters but in the video on their website, it looks like they have to pump very hard to push the water thru.  Is that the case?  After long days riding, adding another workout to get water is not something to look forward to.  Has anyone tried both of these filters?  If so, how would compare the effort in pumping/squeezing each one?  Thanks!!

[AZTtripper]

The Hyper-Flow is super easy at first, and moves a lot of water fast. After a while tho it starts to get harder and harder. Using the back flush helps, but it's a bit of a pain to reset and then reset for pumping, but that only helps for so long. Once it got to be too hard to pump I just bought a new cartridge.

[offroute]

Haven't used Hyper-Flow.

Sawyer worked great for ±20 days. Agree on backup Platypus bottle or ditch the stock Sawyer bottles altogether. (One Sawyer bottle sprang a pinhole leak, readily repaired with duct tape.) I carried my backflush syringe, didn't use it. Worst thing about this pump is cold hands–no way to practically avoid it. Not the most convenient in shallow or murky water sources; used a dedicated bike bottle for filling up in those cases. Liked everything else about it; it was my go-to on the CT.

I backed that up with a Steripen. Be aware that 3v batteries come in different sizes, and the longer ones (CR123) are what you need for the SP. Or you can fashion a spring from bailing wire to take up the space : ) Beware hat the button can be depressed while the pen is packed. Take the batteries out or mount the storage sleeve on your frame or otherwise where there's no way the button can be inadvertently pressed.

I brought and used the funnel-like SP pre-filter and used it for both the Sawyer and SP. The pre-filter fits a wide-mouth bike water bottle, and with the adapter, works (more or less) with Platypus/Sawyer bottle mouths. (The adapter needs a little mod so the tip fits inside a Platy bottle mouth.)

Prolly more water treatment than most riders would bring. Been shut down on water; don't want to again.

[bikewright]

This is what I am using for my filter set-up

http://bikewright.blogspot.com/2013/03/wingnut-enduro-bikepacking-and.html

[offroute]

Interesting.

How do you pre-filter unclear water? If you were filling backup vessels, would you simply dispense it through your bite valve (or remove the valve temporarily)?

Thanks for the info...

[bikewright]

Offroute-  Good question! When the in-line filter idea hit me, it was after I took a trip on the C&O Canal. The NPS treats the wells at the hiker/biker campsites. The water was just nasty to my taste. So I would go off-trail to get a water resupply. But after getting home I remembered from my Scouting days we would get water that would come off the mountain and would run in a drain pipe under a road. Most of the time there is sand trapped in the bottom of the pipe that cleans-up the water.

I remembered seeing the pipes along the C&O and figured a in-line system would work. After finding the I.W.P.S. that was made by MSR for the U.S.M.C. I figured that if the MSR system can work for the U.S.M.C. in some 3rd world hot spot to get clean water in the field for the War Fighter then it would work on the C&O and in the mountains of Virginia.

In my mind I was looking at filling the bladder up and had not thought about filling backup vessels. So to answer that question you would just disconnect the drinking tube to where you just have the filter connected to the bladder. You they have to put pressure on the bladder to get the water to come out the filter. I would think this would work much like the Sawyer filter.

**Note** A Camelbak bladder, once you unhook the drinking tube from the bladder the water will run out of the bladder. The Source Bladder will not do that. You have to have the drinking tube connected for water to feed out of the bladder. ** Note** the MSR made for the U.S.M.C. ONLY works with the Source bladder. There is a in-line filter made for the Camelbak

Hope this helps

[offroute]

Gotcha, bw. More of a ride-purposed set up, it sounds.

Seeing the limitations (read: propensity to failure) of the Sawyer and Platypus bottles would make me leery of having a singular filtering bottle. OTOH, that's what repair tape is for.

I still wonder about unclear water treatment, and also the possibility of clogging the filter. Is there a back-flush syringe or cleaning means? Having jettisoned a dead pump filter mid-ride (after repeated attempts to clean/clear), I'm all about a system that includes field maintenance.

Thanks again for the info and creative solutions