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MSR Aquatabs
WoolX Lightweight Men’s T-Shirt
Thrunite Ti-3 Flashlight

MSR Aquatabs

Domestic sheep grazing at high altitudes in some Rocky Mountain areas, such as the Wind River Range (Wyoming) or High Uintas (Utah, pictured) may warrant water treatment methods that aggressively target the inactive of protozoan cysts, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidia (Photo: Ottoman Basin, High Uinta Wilderness, Utah; by Ryan Jordan).

MSR Aquatabs

The Skinny

Water treatment tablets that make two liters of water safe to drink in thirty minutes.

The Specs

US EPA approved; effective against viruses, bacteria, and Giardia cysts. (*Aquatabs® are not effective against Cryptosporidium.)
Thirty individually wrapped tablets will treat sixty liters of water total.
Thirty minute treatment time.
Ideal for ultralight backpacking, emergency kits, or international travel.

My Take

The lightest and simplest water treatment options have always been chemical tablets. However, iodine tablets usually impart a terrible taste and chlorine dioxide tablets require several hours of treatment time. MSR Aquatabs seem to solve both issues. My (Ryan's) first experience with them was on a trek last year in the High Uinta Wilderness, where high altitude tundra headwaters are heavily contaminated by feces from open sheep grazing. We used MSR Aquatabs for these locations, and more traditional chemical methods (e.g., Aqua Mira) in areas where sheep weren't grazing. As I become more comfortable with MSR Aquatabs, I find myself using them more often - there is a benefit to the simplicity of dropping a tablet in a water bottle without having to worry about mixing chemicals, fiddling with electrochemistry or ultraviolet lamps, or maintaining a filter.

More Info

Buy Now: MSR Aquatabs
Manufacturer Website: Cascade Products

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Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

Author

Posts
Jun 16, 2015 at 9:30 pm #1329954

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

Companion forum thread to:

Flash Reviews No. 9

Jun 16, 2015 at 9:59 pm #2207858

Adam Kilpatrick
BPL Member

@oysters
Locale: South Australia

What is the weight of the Aquatabs? (Not the individual tablets, but a blister pack of them).

Price per liter seems about the same (or slightly higher) than Aqua Mira.

Jun 16, 2015 at 11:06 pm #2207872

Nick Gatel
BPL Member

@ngatel
Locale: Southern California

Doesn't kill Cryptosporidium.

Jun 17, 2015 at 3:55 am #2207885

Michael Gunderloy
BPL Member

@ffmike

1 strip of 10 tablets in their packaging comes in at 1g on my scale.

Jun 17, 2015 at 9:17 am #2207937

Greg Mihalik
Spectator

@greg23
Locale: Colorado

From the review –

"My (Ryan's) first experience with them was on a trek last year in the High Uinta Wilderness, where high altitude tundra headwaters are heavily contaminated by feces from open sheep grazing. We used MSR Aquatabs for these locations, and more traditional chemical methods (e.g., Aqua Mira) in areas where sheep weren't grazing."

From the CDC's A Guide to Drinking Water Treatment and Sanitation for Backcountry & Travel Use

"Sources of Giardia [and Cryptosporidia] in drinking water are: Human and animal fecal waste."
"Disinfection with iodine or chlorine is not effective in killing Cryptosporidium"
"Disinfection with iodine or chlorine has a low to moderate effectiveness in killing Giardia"

IMHO, using Aquatabs in areas of fecal contamination doesn't seem like a good idea. Especially since chlorine is Very ineffective against Crypto. AquaMira (chlorine dioxide) is a far better choice.

Photo Caption: "Domestic sheep grazing at high altitudes in some Rocky Mountain areas, such as the Wind River Range (Wyoming) or High Uintas (Utah, pictured) may warrant water treatment methods that aggressively target the inactive of protozoan cysts, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidia."

I agree with this. But for a review featuring Aquatabs, this could be interpreted to suggest that they are the treatment of choice. Is that the intent of this caption?

In addition, regarding free chlorine versus chlorine dioxide –

1) When compared to chlorine dioxide, free chlorine has much narrower range of effectiveness when temperature, pH, turbidity, and biofilm are considered.

Looking at temperature and pH levels, at 5C (41F) 2 ppm will kill all cysts at pH 6 and 7 but not at pH8. At 25C (60F) 2.5 ppm left cysts viable in pH 7 and pH8 water when treated for only 30 minutes. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC243720/)

2) Looking at turbidity it is important to know that chlorine readily binds with minerals and organics, reducing its concentration, and thus effectiveness. It does not do well with biofilms. (The slime you may feel on floaters.)

From the review –
"Thirty individually wrapped tablets will treat sixty liters of water total."

From the Aquatabs site:

With pre-treated water from industrial system at 25C one-half tablet per liter is sufficient. Mix for ten minutes and let stand for 30 minutes.

But for "raw" (backcountry) clarified (settled and filtered) water the recommendation is 1 tablet per 0.75 liters to obtain 6.5 ppm, mixing for ten minutes, and standing for 30 minutes. (So for backcountry use, 30 tablets would treat only 22.5 liters, in 3/4 liter batches.)

Last, from Cascade Designs FAQ on treatment (MSR Aquatabs)-
"We recommend a combo treatment strategy using the best-selling MSR® MiniWorks® EX Microfilter to filter out any pathogen-shielding particulates (it’ll also remove bacteria and protozoa), followed by Aquatabs, which kills the viruses."

Not exactly a vote of confidence for Aquatabs alone.

Jun 17, 2015 at 3:56 pm #2208050

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

While it's tempting to think that the chlorine donation from Aquatabs is similar to the chlorine donation from bleach (or a hypochlorite formulation), sodium dichloroisocyanurate creates a more complex mixture where the disinfectants have some advantages (I have first hand experience with this in my old lab when I worked as a disinfection researcher) –

* biofilm penetration is better (so it's more effective in turbid environments where bacteria are attached to undissolved solids);
* cyst penetration is both faster and more efficacious;

I'm not your EPA regulator, so use these at your own risk. However, based on what I've seen in terms of sodium dichloroisocyanurate efficacy in a lab environment with extreme pathogen contamination, I'd be as confident using this type of chemical treatment for cyst-infected waters (including Crypto) as a chlorine dioxide solution or solid tablet. And, I'll have to say that my lab observed that for clean/non-turbid water, these chemicals act quite a bit faster than what is suggested by the usage guidelines (that should probably be obvious to everyone).

That said, for highly contaminated "alpine" water (like what we found in the Uintas last year), consider doubling up the dosage and/or treatment time as per the usual C-T (concentration-time) curve guidelines for chemical water treatment efficacy.

Jun 17, 2015 at 4:53 pm #2208067

Dan @ Durston Gear
BPL Member

@dandydan
Locale: Canadian Rockies

"What is the weight of the Aquatabs?"

1.2g per 10 pack on my scale.

They're way lighter, smaller and cheaper than Aqua Mira / Katadyn Pills. They're all I've used for years. You can grab them in bulk on eBay.

I've never understood the criticism about crypto. Yeah it doesn't kill it except maybe if you leave it for a long time, but crypto is pretty rare in general and if you're choosing water sources wisely it's super rare. In the event you get crypto then you get some diarrhea for a while. Sucks, but it's not going to kill you. It doesn't seem like a bad risk to take.

Jun 17, 2015 at 5:59 pm #2208094

Greg Mihalik
Spectator

@greg23
Locale: Colorado

From a Aquatabs FAQ –

"Are Aquatabs water purification tablets effective against the cysts Giardia and Cryptosporidium?

"Aquatabs are effective against Giardia when used as directed but have not been proven effective against Cryptosporidium when this cyst is in the oocyst stage of its life cycle."

Like Ryan J. said "I'm not your EPA regulator, so use these at your own risk."

Jun 17, 2015 at 9:47 pm #2208165

Pierre Andipatin
BPL Member

@ozmamba

I have somewhat of a torch fettish, I confess; but while the idea of 120lumens coming from a 12gram torch is appealing, I'd much rather see a more practical performance spec like 40 lumens for 2-3 hours. Before you can blink you will be swapping AAs. Just dont think it adds much more than what the market offers right now. Anyway, the strobe function would offer some neat benefit if you're injured-though your rescuers would have to find you before the battery ran out.

Jun 19, 2015 at 10:32 am #2208491

Mitchell Ebbott
Spectator

@mebbott-2
Locale: SoCal

I have the Thrunite Ti3 and I haven't had any problems with battery life. I actually really like its options. The super-bright option is great to have when I need it, and the "low" brightness (12 lumens I think?) is plenty bright for most uses. And the "firefly" 0.4 lumen setting is perfect for reading when I don't want to ruin my night vision.

Jun 23, 2015 at 7:47 am #2209312

SPAM
Member

@glennb

You should try …

Deleted as spam and poster banned.

Cheers
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor
Backpacking Light

Jun 23, 2015 at 3:56 pm #2209449

Eric Blumensaadt
BPL Member

@danepacker
Locale: Mojave Desert

I prefer Katadyn Micropur. It is chlorine DIXIDE and does kill cryptosporidium.

I'm wondering why MSR would put this on the market.

Jun 26, 2015 at 1:00 am #2210172

M B
BPL Member

@livingontheroad

I have to agree, light specs are not that great.

I see 12 as too low on med, and 120 too high.

6 hrs at 12L is pretty poor too on even alkaline AAA.

I carry similar Olite i3S EOS as my only light. Weighs O.41 oz without battery,0.68 with it with keychain removed . 20L on med, 80 on high.Its fine for nighthiking for me. 20 is enough, hitting 80 momentarily when need to see better. With AAA energizer ultimate li, get 15 hrs on on med, and about 1hr 43 min on high.
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Flash Reviews No. 9

By Jonathan Davis

In This Issue