Water Filters and Containers

I got a new water purifier a few weeks ago from Seychelle.com that works with a screw top bottle. The filter element qualifies as a purifier because it is EPA approved to remove viruses and bacteria to 99.9999%, and other biologicals like Giardia and Cryptosporidium to 99.99%. That’s excellent. It …

Ultralight Water Purification Up until this year, I have always carried Micropur chlorine dioxide tablets for water purification in my emergency repair kit, in case my 16 oz First Need water purifier crapped out on a backpacking trip. I even got to use them for a few days during my …

  I am not a fan of Camelbak hydration reservoirs, but I love their locking valves. So much, that I tear off the wimpy mouthpiece that comes with the Platypus hydration reservoir drinking system and add a Camelbak hydrolock valve to it. Camelbak hyrolocks rock because the valve stops the …

I had almost given up hope of ever finding an ultralight inline purifier for my hydration system. I knew they existed in military circles because I have a friend who works at the US Military Testing Center in Natick, Massachusetts, but I could never get my hands on one. That is, …

  I really enjoy having so many backpacking and blogging friends in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world. Especially, when it comes to staying abreast of the latest innovations in lightweight backpacking and hill walking gear and techniques. Take water filters and purifiers, for example. It seems …

This past year, General Ecology, makers of the First Need Water Purifier system, changed their water purifier cartridges. The old cartridge model was called a First Need Deluxe (left) and the new one is called the First Need XL (right, in photo.) As far as I can tell, the Deluxe …

There are 3 things wrong with most winter water bottle insulation systems today. You need to take off your mittens or gloves to unzip the water bottle insulation sleeve. You need to stop and take your insulated water bottle out of your pack because you can’t reach it while you’re …

I am a big fan of Platypus hydration bladders and I normally carry a 3L reservoir with me when I’m backpacking. Platypus bladders are different from Camelback reservoir, which I have used in the past, because they have a much smaller opening screw top openings. This is important when you are …

The First Need Water Purifier is one of the few filters on the market today that filters down to 2 microns. This means the it filters out all viruses, crypto, and protozoa without the need for additional purification tablets like Chlorine Dioxide. The only downside to this filter is that it …