Firing Sawyer

I have the Sawyer Mini. It takes me approximately 15-20 seconds to squeeze 16oz through. I have only used it with clean, rocky mountain water. I back flow it after each trip.

Walmart now sells them – $20.

A simple fast hack to improve the Sawyer Mini back flushing speed and efficiency:

1: Cut 1" off the gray straw that come with the filter.
2: Briefly (20sec) boil that 1" piece to get it slightly soft so the internal diameter can be stretched.
3: Slip that 1" straw it onto the pump end and allow to cool.

Now it will fit tightly on the pump dirty nipple and allows a higher flush pressure.

Sean, I just tried my mini that I had soaked in vinegar, and it takes right at one minute to filter a liter of tap water. That's with pausing to roll the bag down a couple of times. This is still not as good as new, but much better than it was during my last trip. How long this improvement will last in the field, I can't yet say.

Sean,
I just tried both my mini and regular sawyer at the kitchen sink. With filling a hydration bag and squeezing water into a liter bottle they both took about a minute to fill,give or take.I've not used the mini too much but have squeezed a lot of water through the regular and never had aproblem

I use a small funnel with N. 1 coffee filters that I've cut down a bit.

It's slow but at least I won't be ingesting any liver flukes. ;o)

Honestly if you have done 1000 liters with your Sawyer squeeze I would say you easily got your moneys worth!

Once it slows down and backflushing doesnt help then throw it away. They are so cheap they probably cost less to buy a whole new Squeeze kit than replace other filters stones or filter elements.

A new mini is $17.99 on sale and is an awesome filter. You should backflush after every trip to extend the life. And again, 1000 liters is great!

I don't think it really wears out or anything. No reason to think it will "only" do 1000 liters. But you're right, cheap enough that if you had to replace it then, it's not a bad deal.

I think it's more likely to end it's life when it freezes or you lose it or something.

Backflushing with warm water/vinegar should resurrect it.