MSR MIOX Purifier REVIEW

[Benjamin Smith]

Companion forum thread to:

MSR MIOX Purifier REVIEW

[Andrew :-)]

Do you take the 'pen' only or the 'kit' when hiking and using in the field?
(I only ask because if i'm looking at the kit weight then it's only an once lighter than my MSR pump filter).

Thanks for the review.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Andrew

> Do you take the 'pen' only or the 'kit' when hiking and using in the field?
Well, to be very blunt, I won't take it into the field as the taste is too bad.
If you want to use one, I think you would need the MIOX, the batteries and the bottle of test strips. The salt lasts a fair while.

Cheers

[EndoftheTrail]

The $139.99 Miox doesn't do anything more, better, or faster than Micropur tablets. If anything, Micropur tablets are much easier and quicker to use!

I haven't done the math, but maybe the thing pays for itself after years of usage (even though the Miox too has continuing operating costs for batteries, salt and test strips). But that's also years of carrying extra weight and risking dead batteries, or heaven forbid, a circuitry malfunction…

As a comparison, UV purifiers are also expensive, but at least those have the advantage of speed over Micropur tablets. Frankly, the MIOX is just underwhelming.

[George Matthews]

Roger,

Enjoyed reading your review. Was glad you got the others to collaborate your findings about the bad taste. The four hour time requirement is reason enough for me to leave it on the shelf. I wonder how MIOX sales have done.

Thanks for the great work!

gm

[Andrew :-)]

No I don't think I want one. Just wondering about actual field weight.

[Mark Hurd]

Roger,

I will apparently be a dissenting voice here, but I have found the MIOX to be very useful for group hikes. Every summer we go on a week long backpacking trip with my wife's family. That used to mean pumping 8 to 12 liters of water through a filter for each meal. This consumed a lot of time and energy from a tired and hungry mob.

When I got the MIOX (as a gift), suddenly the quality of life improved on these trips. In about 5 minutes I would treat a couple of our Platy 4 liter tanks and be done. We would wait the 30 min. and be ready. (I know you're supposed to wait 4 hours, but generally the vast majority of pathogens are killed in the 1st 30 min. and our water sources pretty good.)

Chlorine taste did not seem to be as significant in large batches. When making only a liter it was definitely like a swimming pool smell. But the 4 liter quantity wasn't too bad.

So, not a ringing endorsement, but I think a reasonable alternative for large groups. It also does pay for itself with a large group and treating 100 to 130 liters during the week. Thats a lot of 50 cent Micropur tablets so the MIOX is paid for in a little over 2 trips.

That said, I don't use it for solo trips. I take Micropur usually, but I think Santa may bring me a Steripen.

-Mark

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Wasn't the technology behind the MIOX originally developed for the US Army? It would make sense that the MIOX might work better for large quantities of water. Though I expect that most of the potential users will only want to purify small quantities at a time.

On another note, (bearing in mind I rarely purify water, and if I do, and the couple of times I have, its been with an old PUR Scout…), if you want to kill "everything" and therefore wait 4 hours, wouldn't you be better off just forking out for the extra weight of a proper decent filter? I am guessing that most people will need to get another 1L (or more) of water after that 4 hours is up, which means for most of your walking you are lugging an extra 2+lbs of weight around with you. Probably worth it just to carry the extra couple of ounces or so in filter weight, and avoid lugging excess water around, and any potential taste problems. IMHO.

Adam

[EndoftheTrail]

Thanks, Mark, for your dissenting — and insightful — feedback! While I doubt that very many of us UL hikers here ever involve ourselves with treating 130 liters of water in a week(!) — it does point to one advantage of the MIOX over Micropur tablets — namely lower cost overall. In my post above — thinking of hikers in "onesies and twosies" — I mentioned that it would take "years" for MIOX to pay for itself.

I hope Santa brings you a Steripen. :)

[Victor Karpenko]

Just as a comparison, here are the chlorine dioxide treatment times:

Microorganisms Contact Time
EPA Water #1 EPA Water #2
Bacteria 15 Minutes 15 Minutes
Viruses 15 Minutes 15 Minutes
Cysts 30 Minutes 4 Hours

Miox treatment times are the same except for Cryptosporidium which is listed at 4 hours.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Mark

> Chlorine taste did not seem to be as significant in large batches. When making only a liter it was definitely like a swimming pool smell. But the 4 liter quantity wasn't too bad.
Curious! I have no idea what is happening here.

But yes, the military may also treat larger volumes at a time. Hum …

[Frank Ramos]

I've brought this issue up numerous times, but apparently no one is able to understand what I am saying. The major biological risk to healthy adults in north america and europe is helminths. Echinococcosis is known to be present in the arctic of North America and also the Lake Superior area. It is also present all over Europe. This is a SERIOUS problem. By contrast, there is little real danger from bacteria, viruses or smaller parasites in the backcountry for a healthy adult. Risk of diarrhea? Yes. Risk of death to a weak adult or a child from a bad case of diarrhea? Yes. Risk of death or permanent injury to a healthy adult? No.

By contrast, echinococcosis poses a serious long-term risk to even a healthy adult. Some MD on here says he has seen a few cases over the years, but the worms usually get trapped in the liver. However, it is known that they can get past the liver and into the brain or heart, at which point you have a real problem. There is no cure, no way to operate. If the cyst bursts, you will probably die. Time to develop problems is 10 to 30 years from time of ingesting the worm egg. The eggs are designed to last for years in the outdoors. They thus have a very hard shell and are probably at least as resistant to chlorine-dioxide as cryptosporidium eggs, and probably resistant to UV light as well. All helminths and their eggs are at least 5 microns in diameter, so any filter, even the 3 micron seychelle and mcnett frontier filters will stop them. Municipal water supplies always run water through a coarse sand filter, and that is also adequate to stop these helminths and their eggs. I doubt either this MIOX device nor Micropur is going to stop them, though I don't have proof of this, nor does anyone else seem to know.

The problem has become serious in Germany:
foxes in Munich exposing people to dangerous echinococcosis parasite

Because these helminths are carried by canines (wolves, foxes, coyotes, dogs), there is the potential for the problem to spread across all of North America.

Echinococcosis is already present in much of Europe and used to be a major problem in Iceland and New Zealand (dogs-sheep cycle) until those islands launched a major program to eradicate the problem by vacinating all their dogs or sheep, I forget which. I'm not sure of the situation in Australia, but given the large number of sheep, I'd imagine it is a problem there too.

Medical references:

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1046.htm,
http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic629.htm

Echinococcis is merely the most problematic of the helminthese in North America and Europe, but there are plenty of other helminthes out there. Roundworms, in particular, are a problem in much of the third world.

[Mark Hurd]

Adam – You're right the MIOX company, which makes water treatment plants for cities, was asked to miniaturize the process for the Army as I understand it.

Ben – "While I doubt that very many of us UL hikers here ever involve ourselves with treating 130 liters of water in a week(!)" Actually the cool thing is that I have been able to "convert" all these folks that I was treating water for to UL. They love it.

Victor – thanks for the info

Roger – I don't know why either, but even my "all natural, all organic" sister-in-law is willing to drink the larger volume treatment.

Frank – Your point is well taken, however from your 1st referenced emedicine article:

"In the US: Despite the rise in occurrence, echinococcosis remains a very rare disease (<1 case per 1 million inhabitants) in the continental United States. Northern Alaska has endemic areas of E granulosus, but the frequency of infection remains low (<1 case per 100,000 inhabitants)."

For reference: Giardia = approx 1 in 6,138 in the US, so there is a reason that helminth infection is not really on the radar screen here, yet. Most US docs have never seen a case, including this one. However, I fully understand the implications and basis of your concern.

-Mark

[Joe Kuster]

Actually, I asked the people who developed the AquaStar UV system and they provided research that showed the UV treatments successfully scrambled the helminths DNA so they were unable to pose a health risk to humans. The bodies were of course still in the water but inert. I believe they have their data public at http://www.uvaquastar.com

While I'm on the chlorine Dioxide bandwagon for my winter use (AquaMira or Klearwater) I use UV throughout most of the warmer part of the year. I've used the UV treatments year round but keeping batteries warm enough was problematic as even if they were warm when I put them in the device the water rapidly chilled them during treatment.

[Roger Caffin]

> Actually, I asked the people who developed the AquaStar UV system and they provided research that showed the UV treatments successfully scrambled the helminths DNA so they were unable to pose a health risk to humans. The bodies were of course still in the water but inert. I believe they have their data public at http://www.uvaquastar.com

Not found by searching on 'helminth'

[Arapiles .]

"I'm not sure of the situation in Australia, but given the large number of sheep, I'd imagine it is a problem there too."

I grew up on a farm in Australia. I had never heard of echinococcosis being in Australia but that's because we call it hydatids. We always gave the farm dogs tape-worm medicine and they weren't allowed to eat raw offal. It's a long time since I heard of anyone having cysts from hydatids. I found this info on a Victorian government website:

"Notification of hydatid infection ceased in Victoria early Victoria early in 2001. In the decade prior to 2001 there was an average of 16 notifications per year. Most of these represented infections acquired overseas. Occasional cases of recently acquired hydatid infection have been identified in visitors to rural areas in Victoria where there are infected sheep or dingoes. Urban dogs which accompany travellers are often suspected of being an intermediary of the cycle of transmission to humans. People who trap wild dogs are similarly at risk."

Arapiles

[Frank Ramos]

Actually, I asked the people who developed the AquaStar UV system and they provided research that showed the UV treatments successfully scrambled the helminths DNA so they were unable to pose a health risk to humans. The bodies were of course still in the water but inert. I believe they have their data public at http://www.uvaquastar.com

I couldn't find the information at their web site. Anyway, there is a distinction between the adult helminthes and their eggs. Killing the adult helminthes is easy. Chlorine, chlorine dioxide, UV, iodine, heat–anything should kill the adults, because they are soft-skinned. But killing the eggs of echinococcosis and similar helminthes is another matter. These eggs are designed to lie on the ground (where the canine predator defecated) for months or years until the herbivore prey (sheep, mice) accidentally ingests the egg while eating grass. The eggs will thus be exposed to natural UV light for long periods of time. I would imagine the eggs are also resistant to chemicals, simply because cryptosporidium and giardia cysts are, which suggests that putting a chemically resistant shell around an egg is not that difficult in biological terms, and is probably easier for the helminths given that their eggs are much larger than the cryptosporidium and giardia cysts and hence probably sturdier. But this is speculation on my part.

Eating the adult form of helminthes is known to be an issue when you eat uncooked vegetables that grow in moist environments. Liver flukes, in particular, are known to be a problem with watercress.

Another thing. Just because hydatid cysts from echinococcosis worms is not common in the US or Australia or other areas where these worms exist, does not mean there isn't a problem for backcountry hikers. Remember, most people in the United states and Australia never visit the backcountry and hence are never exposed to the problem. But the problem does exist. As my link above indicates, when the backcountry visits the people in cities (foxes in Munich), echinococcosis does indeed become a problem for the population as a whole. The real question is what is the incidence of hydatid cysts for hikers who travel in areas like the Arctic or Lake Superior region of North America, or the Alps in Europe AND drink water from streams without filtering (by filtering I mean just that, not chemical or UV treatment). Given that it takes from 10 to 30 years for problems to occur, it can be quite difficult to get reliable information about this.

Finally, just because the dogs are treated in Australia does mean the echinococcosis problem is eliminated. There could also be wild predators of sheep (dingos? coyotes?) which carry the worms and so the worm circulate that way. And it doesn't just have to be dogs/coyotes and sheep. In the European Alps, for example, the worms are carried by foxes and mice rather than dogs and sheep. In the North American Arctic and Lake Superior region, it is wolves and caribou/moose/deer.

[Donald S Bosch]

Another dissenting opinion. I have used the MIOX for about 8 months now and have found it convenient and lightweight, even when compared to iodine tablets. I also prefer the taste to that of iodine. Of course the clarifier helps with the iodine, but that also takes more time. I did find the MIOX a bit perplexing at first to use, but now have the hang of it and have no problems. One of the issues seems to be how you shake it. If you hold it upright and carefully shake it in that position, it seems to work best. Otherwise, I seemed to use up the salt way too quickly. As for the strips, well, after a while I just depended on tasting some of the chlorine as an indication that it was working. Not too scientific. I just got back from a trip to Turkey where I used it and a 4 liter platy, just to make sure the hotel water was okay.
On a recent trip my friend had the Steripen. Very cool, but he also had trouble at times getting it to work. It seemed it would not quite light up all the way.

[Jon Rhoderick]

Does anyone know of a good prefilter that could get rid of some of the taste and or these alien eggs or whatever the sort that could explode our brains? the micron size required is very small but along with the MIOX it could provide both cyst and viral and echinococcosis eggs

My opinion of the MIOX has now changed now that I realized that plain table salt works with the batteries, and that the test strips could be cut and then used with a pair of tweezers, the idea could be very low bulk and convenient by dropping all but a spare battery or two and micro test strips, which would be great on a long distance hike with little resupply chance or food shipment

[Joseph Reeves]

We've used the Miox for the past four years in Southeast Alaska. It works well, and when it doesn't it is our vault. We (2 adults) treat approximately 8 liters a day if the sun is shining and less if it isn’t. It usually isn’t, so lets say 6 – 7 liters.

I found an alternative approach to the directions that came from MSR. We use our thumb to cover the top when mixing the water and salt, then open the top to release the mix into the chamber. Practice has also taught us it is easier to treat a three-liter container through two 2-liter applications rather than one 4-liter application.

We spent 40 nights on the beach (kayak trips) this past summer, and, at 7 liters a day that comes out to a lot of water! We haven’t used a pump filter for three years and hope never to need to do so again.

Smell and taste dissipates with time and is generally not noticeable. Batteries have not been a problem.

Everyone who travels with us buys a Miox within a week of returning home.

[Dominic Reitman]

I received my MIOX purifier as a birthday gift about three years ago and have used it almost exclusively for all my backpacking trips. Here are my comments on the device

I'll agree that the taste is sometimes not the best but it does not bother me. I usually drink through a blatter which I noticed is better than dinking from a nalgene bottle.

After going through the original pack of test strips I no longer carry them. I also bought a lifetime supply of rock salt from the grocery store (Morton Ice Cream Salt $2). This leaves batteries as the only ongoing cost.

I have had to replace the batteries twice in three years. The batteries are not cheap, I usualy buy Energizer Lithium size 123. One set of batteries can easily last a weeklong outing for a small group of hikers (4 to 6 people). Note that you can usually get a few days of usage even after receiving the low battery signal.

As far as what to take when hiking:
Extra set of batteries and salt. Even though you can fill the salt chamber and purify what seems to be and endless amount of water… time does kill all… and after a day or so the residual moisture will desolve a lot of the salt.

My MIOX was very popular on a boyscout backpacking trip last summer. It purified water for 14 people for three days.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

I've had a Miox for over 2 years now and I've generally been happy with it.

The battery life is excellent. As long as my batteries are relatively new, I have no worries about going on a weeklong trip with 2-3 people with it. I leave the test strips at home and just bring the actual gadget plus a small bag of salt. You certainly don't need nearly the whole baggie of salt that comes with the Miox.

I haven't had any troubles with inserting the batteries like BPL did.

The taste is acceptable in my opinion and my wife's. I find you can smell it pretty clearly, but there isn't much actual taste. If you do find taste to be a problem you can leave the lid off your water container for 30 min once the treatment period is over to let the chlorine evaporate off.

I don't wait longer than 30 minutes to drink mine. I'm not sure why BPL felt the need to wait 4 hours, since most other treatment methods don't even kill crypto in the first place. Just forget about the crypto and wait 30 minutes. Also, 4 hours is the time at which you have a 99.99% (or something like this) chance of killing all crypto. After 30 minutes you've probably got a 98% chance that any crypto is dead. Considering how rare crypto is, those are pretty darn good odds even after 30 min.

What's not to like? It can be a bit finicky to get enough salt in the water. If you don't shake it enough, you get the low salt light. If you remember to pre-wet the salt and also don't overfill the salt chamber then it's easier to use.

Also, the whole unit is a bit heavy compared to the drops and pills on the market. I'm at work so I don't have the weight spec on mine, but it's a lot heavier than carrying a few droppers of chemicals (ie. repackaged Aquamira).

If I do stop using the Miox one day, it will be because of the weight. The smell/taste and potential for unit failure are not significant concerns for me. I find that most other people do not complain about the taste. When I've been camping with large groups, people often ask me to treat their water too and everyone loves it. The Miox is really cool to see working.

Two weeks ago my wife and I were camping with another couple that were using a microfilter pump. Initially they said they preferred pumping their water for the fresh spring water taste, but by the second day in bug infested conditions they were much happier to use the Miox and not have to spend 5 minutes down at the stream pumping water. When time is tight, weather conditions are adverse or the bugs are really bad then the Miox shines. I carry mine in my hip belt pocket and I can fill up my Platypus 1L, treat it and be on my way in well under a minute.

The reason I'm writing this review is because last night I mentioned to my wife I might sell the MIOX and use drops instead to save weight. She was really surprised and asked me to keep the MIOX because it is her favorite piece of gear. I had no idea…it is pretty darn cool…and fast….and safe.

I think I'll keep the Miox until someone comes out with drops that work as well the Miox without the 5 minute waiting period that Aquamira has. Waiting sucks when it's pouring rain.

Now that I think about it, how many water stops do you do in a full day of hiking? 4 or 5? If the Miox saves you 4 minutes per stop (1 min vs. 5 min) then that's 16-20 minutes per day. Shaving a few ounces off your pack isn't going to make that back so the MIOX hiker should be faster than the Aquamira hiker.

Update:
I weighed my MIOX to see how it all adds up. Here's the results:

99.8g – MIOX wand loaded with batteries and salt (all you need for 1-2 nights)
62.5g – MIOX wand without batteries and salt
16.5g – One CR123 Lithium Battery. The MIOX uses 2.
31.7g – MSR Salt Bag filled with Salt. This is a LOT.
10g – The amount of salt I'd bring for a 2 person 7 day trip
13g – My test strip container about 1/3 full of strips. A full container is likely around 20g.
15g – Supplied Bag

For trips that are 1 or 2 nights, I would just bring the wand loaded with fresh batteries and salt (99.8g). For trips up to a week, I would bring about 10g of extra salt. For trips longer than a week I would bring 2 spare batteries (33g) and more salt. So a MIOX setup would weigh between 100g – 150g depending on weather you are going for a few nights or a few weeks. If you wanted to bring the bag and test strips you'd be adding another 50g or so.

[EndoftheTrail]

Without negating the above, my big problem with MIOX — as compared to Steripen or similar UV devices — is that if I feel I need to treat my water at all, then I would rather spend 45-90 seconds treating my water and knowing that it is safe to drink — versus treating it with MIOX and then having to wait anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours! for the chemicals to kill protozoa (e.g. crypto, giardia, etc.).

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

The Steripen is an interesting competitor. It takes marginally longer to do, but then you can drink right away and then is no chemical smell or taste. The price and weight are very similar. On the face of it, that sounds like a compelling case.

There are a few areas where the MIOX would shine though. One is battery life. The Steripen is rated at 50L per set of CR123 batteries whereas the MIOX is rated over 200L on the same set of CR123. This means lower operating costs in the long term (not really a big deal) and it means more weight on some trips. I wouldn't take spare batteries on a week long trip with 2 people for the MIOX (or even 2 weeks), but you'd probably want them for the Steripen. Since the MIOX uses about 1/4 the batteries, this could be significant on a longer trip or a trip with lots of people.

Secondly, the MIOX can crank out a lot more water. The Steripen works good for individual use, but it would make water stops long if you have 4 people who all need to make a litre or two of water. If everyone brings their own, that would obviously add a lot of weight. The MIOX can crank out a batch of MIOX in about 10-20 seconds and that batch can do up to 4 litres of water.

Thirdly, I believe the MIOX works better with turbid water but I'm unsure about this.

For solo hiking the Steripen is probably the way to go since you aren't making much water and battery life likely won't be an issue. For longer trips or larger groups the MIOX becomes increasingly advantageous.

[EndoftheTrail]

Dan:

I totally agree — in terms of treating water for a large group — it would be seriously tedious to treat with Steripen. I would use something else — but STILL NOT MIOX.

Again, convenience is one thing, but effectiveness is the critical factor here. My big hang up is the 30 minutes to 4 hours wait time to treat protozoa — which can have both long and serious effects! Overnight treatment aside, waiting up to 4 hours for water (say in the middle of the day) is just too impractical. Compared to this major shortcoming — the benefits of longer battery usage, etc. are tiny as to be almost meaningless.

Not saying that Steripen is "the" answer (it may or may not be depending on circumstances) — but saying that MIOX falls short in terms of high initial cost, slightly tedious usage (as compared to chlorine dioxide tablets for example) — but most of all for the overly long treatment time required to protect against protozoa.

[Author]

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