Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System Review
The Sawyer Products Mini Water Filter is a second-generation filter that is the lightest and most versatile personal filtration system from Sawyer. With a total field weight of 2 ounces, it fits in the palm of your hand. This tiny filter does the same job that the Sawyer PointOne filter does, but now in a more compact, personal size. The Sawyer Mini filter is perfect for camping and bushcrafting. The filter removes 7 log (99.99999%) of all bacteria (like salmonella) as well as other harmful bacteria which causes cholera and E. coli and 6 log (99.9999%) of all protozoa such as giardia and cryptosporidium.
Specifications:
High-performance filter fits in the palm of your hand
Removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera, and E.coli
Removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium
Limited lifetime warranty
Item Weight: 6.4 ounces
Long Life
The Sawyer Products Mini Water Filter is light small and performs perfectly. This filter has great versatility when using with the straw or screwed on any soda bottle. It is has a long life and can filter up to 100,000 gallons of water before needing to be replaced. The Sawyer Mini is amazingly light and fast.
Flow and Taste
Roll the bottom of the squeeze bag gently like a toothpaste tube and clean water flows quickly into a bottle or a drinking bag. It even improved the taste of “safe” water which was clear but had an aftertaste when consumed unfiltered. Be careful because freezing can destroy the membrane of the filter, so it is not recommended for sub-freezing temperatures.
Where to Buy:
The Sawyer Products Mini Water Filter is available from these retailers:
The MSR Miniworks EX Microfilter is a clean, lightweight, and compact water filter. The MiniWorks ceramic element ensures long-lasting protection against bacteria, protozoa, crypto, and giardia. The carbon core removes offensive tastes and particulates. MSR’s Miniworks can filter up to 1 liter per minute. This filter screws onto a standard Nalgene bottle or any MSR dromedary bag.
Specifications:
Durable carbon/ceramic element ensures safe, taste-free water-even with heavy use.
Can be cleaned repeatedly for full filter recovery with no tools required.
AirSpring Accumulator increases filtration speed; up to 1-liter per minute.
Carbon core removes unpleasant tastes.
Effective against protozoa, bacteria, chemicals/toxins, and particulates.
Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 3 inches.
1.5 pounds.
Stuff sack included.
Hose float included.
Scrub pad included.
Instructions included.
Lightweight
The MSR Miniworks EX Microfilter is lightweight, so it’s not going to add too much to your pack. It’s heavier than chemicals or some of the UV systems. It comes in a nice little mesh bag, so you can stuff it into a corner of your pack. This is a great little device.
Nalgene Bottle
It can take brown, sandy water and make it drinkable. An excellent feature of this is the robustness of the assembled unit. The unit takes up about as much space as a 1 liter Nalgene water bottle.
Cleaning
If the clay filter cartridge starts clogging after several uses in the field, you can disassemble the unit and squeegee off the slime with your hand or fingers to restore much of the original flow. You can also use the abrasive pad supplied for more serious clogging.
Where to Buy:
The MSR Miniworks EX Microfilter is available from these retailers:
The LifeStraw Personal Water Filter cleans water to 0.2 microns through the use of hollow-fiber membranes, which are small tubes with even smaller pores. These pores allow water to pass but prevent contaminants larger than 0.2 microns from flowing through. With LifeStraw you can drink directly from puddles or streams, or you may find it easier to scoop water with your wide-mouthed water bottle and drink from it using the LifeStraw. When new, the filter membrane is very dry and must be primed before use. Uncap the top and bottom caps and insert the base of the straw into the contaminated water, being careful to keep the mouthpiece dry. Let it sit for 30 seconds to allow water to creep up the membrane, then take 5 quick sucks to get the water flowing. It takes roughly 3-5 seconds of sucking to start the flow of water through the filter when the membrane is dry.
Specifications:
Removes minimum 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria (>LOG 6 reduction)
Surpasses EPA standards for water filters
Removes minimum 99.9% of waterborne protozoan parasites (>LOG 3 reduction)
Filters to an amazing 0.2 microns
Filters up to 1000 liters of contaminated water without iodine, chlorine, or other chemicals
Comes in a sealed bag
Item Dimensions: 9 x 1 x 1 inches
Item Weight: 0.11 pounds
Filtering
The LifeStraw imparts no strange flavors like its chemical brethren, its flow rate is perfectly acceptable for active pursuits, it has no moving parts to break or filters that need replacing every couple of days. Besides, what other water treatment system has been tested successfully by people on a daily basis in the most contaminated parts of our planet?
Cleaning
When you’re finished drinking, blow a breath of air back down into the LifeStraw to purge the remaining water out, shake, and recap. If you drink the murky water and the water flow stops, blow back into it to purge the water and mud from the filter. When you return home from a hiking trip, drink some tap water with the LifeStraw, purge the filter by blowing back into it, and leave it to dry with the caps off.
For the weight, there is no better backcountry water treatment available. The LifeStraw Personal Water Filter does all of this at a fraction of the cost and weight of other filters and UV water treatment options.
