Aquamira tablets? Thoughts?

[aaron eshelman]

I've seen lots of people who are still using or continue to use the Aquamira drops. Still mixing and preparing before actually dropping into the water.

What is everyone thoughts on the purifier tablets? I've been using them for quite a while and love them more than the drops. I always had mixture and taste issues, let alone knowing if my mixtures were effective with the different size droppers I used. With the tabs, it's perfectly measured for a particular amount of water. Seems a no brainer to me, which is what I like. I would imagine for longer hikes the drops would prove more efficient and wouldn't provide lots of trash from the wrappers, but for shorter trips of a few days, the tabs win out.

[Stephan Doyle]

Drops are much cheaper. You can put less chemicals into your water. But more fiddle factor.

I used Micropur tabs a lot, then tried the drops thing. Now I go mostly without anything at all.

[Brian Lewis]

It's not just that the drops are cheaper (and they are). I also like the fact that with the drops I have more fine control to adjust the dose to the particular volume of water I'm treating and to the amount of treatment I guesstimate that I might want. So for example, if I have water that's not particularly nasty looking and one of my water vessles is a 20-oz gatorade container, at the same time I'm mixing up treatment for one or more other containers I might put 4 or 5 drops each together for the gatorade bottle.

Not that big a deal I guess but — combined with being cheaper in the first place it just seems like a better idea.

The one occasional annoyance with the liquid is when I run out of part A while I still have some part B left, or vice versa. In at least one case it was due to a slow leak in a bottle, and this might be what happens all of the time in such cases, I'm not sure. You do want to take a little care with the bottles that they don't get too abused along the way.

I tried repackaging into lighter bottles once, but way too much of a PITA for me, ran out of A.M. too soon on my trip and it resulted in just more logistics concerns on a long journey. Maybe fine for trips of a week or so.

[Chad “Stick” Poindexter]

I have used and like both drops & tabs (although I use the MP1 tabs rather then the AM tabs for no other reason than that is just what I happen to order). With the drops, I have no problem with mixing the solutions and then adding them to my water. I simply mix first, then collect water and by then the wait time is almost done.

I have found that the MP1 tabs result in a much stronger chemical taste than the AM drops.

I like using the tablets most of the time since at this point, my trips have never been more than about a week at a time, and more often about 2 – 4 days at a time. However, for a thru hike I will probably go with the drops simply due to lower cost.

I also agree with what has been mentioned about being able to gauge the drops to how much you actually need based on the cleanliness of the given water supply.

[Dondo .]

I have and use both but have a preference for tabs because there is less fiddling. Another advantage of tabs is that you know exactly how many you have left. They are more expensive than the drops but not cost prohibitive. The best price I've found locally is at REI at $12.95 for 30 tabs. That comes to 43 cents a liter.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I think the Katadyn Chlorine dioxide purification tabs are stronger than the Aquamirea tabs from what I've read. I use them in my bladder and a Steripen for my water/electrolyte drink bottle

The U.S. military uses Katadyn tabs so they must be pretty good, considering how easy it is to get the Shanghai $hits in Afghanistan and other 3rd world nations.

[Rusty Beaver]

Speaking of the Katadyn tabs, a buddy of mine gave me the card that came with them…just for head shaking purposes. Straight from the card:

"DANGER. Corrosive. Causes irreversible eye damage & skin burns. Harmful if absorbed through the skin. Harmful if swallowed. Do not get in eyes, on skin or on clothing. Wear protective eyewear (goggles, face shield or safety glasses, protective clothing & rubber gloves). Wash thouroughly with soap & water after handling. Remove contaminated clothing & wash before reuse.
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
This product is toxic to fish & other aquatic organisms".

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