Steripen Usage

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Mary

The switch sounds like a faulty unit to me.

The aborting sounds like you had the wrong batteries. Yeah, I know… but we KNOW that cheap batteries will give this behaviour.

Treatment time – well, it's a lot faster than chemicals or a filter. But, ymmv.

Untreated water on the threads of the Nalge. Frankly, this is trivial. The amount of water there is so small it is quite harmless, and you can always rinse it off with a few spoonfuls if you are really concerned.

There is a review here at BPL you might like to read:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/steripen_adventurer_review.html

Cheers

[chris Mcfarland]

As you can see, the pumpkin is always an important part of the steripen equation :)

The steripen fits snugly into the cap and water pressure keeps it there without any assistance. I like to apply LIGHT pressure (punny?) to the steripen as i am shaking the bottle so that if it does not accidentally fall on a rock and break the lens. If you try you can shake very hard and break the seal, but only a light swirling motion is needed to fully treat all of the water. In this photo the steripen is not being supported by anything other than the gasket.

when i first started using the steripen, i would be so worried about agitating the water that i would expose one of the water sensors to air and cause the pen to abort the cycle. could that be what was happening with your steripen Mary? no matter what it was, I'm glad REI has such a good return policy. :)

[Mary D]

If the switch on the Steripen Adventurer I had was defective, why, after I posted my complaints on another backpacking forum, did I get half a dozen responses and several more private mails from women who also couldn't work the switch? Most men have far stronger hands than do most women–did you guys ever wonder why you're always opening jars for your SO?

The batteries were the original batteries that came with the Steripen. If they were faulty, that was Steripen's fault. If you look at the Reader Reviews, in addition to mine, there was another report about the gizmo continually aborting before the cycle was finished. He thought it was due to the altitude, but I was at sea level (literally–at the beach) when it happened to me. I know I was extra careful to keep mine in the water at all times. I don't know about the other reviewer.

With my ULA Amigo Pro, all I have to do is fill up the container and relax while it filters itself. It will fill a 2.5 liter Platypus in less than 5 minutes, si I can do this during any rest stop. I don't have to stir anything or stare at tiny lights. Nor do I have to stay by a mosquito-ridden water source to accomplish this.

[Mike W]

…

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Mary

I guess there may have been a defective batch early on? But my experience with Hydro-Photon support has been extremely good, and others have had similar good support.

> The batteries were the original batteries that came with the Steripen.
Ah yes. Unfortunately, Hydro-Photon got bitten by the battery supplier. The 750 mA batteries they initially received from China and supplied with early units were a total disaster. Had you contacted the company I (strongly) suspect they would have swapped both the unit and the batteries for free. Also, cheap CR123 batteries won't work in the unit either. Cheap is … cheap.

The full story is in the BPL review.

Cheers

[Roger Caffin]

A walker I know uses a cut-down 2L juice bottle with integrated handle. He kept the handle on the side so he could use it as a scoop as well. He has a 1L mark on the side for use with the Steripen.

How does he carry such a large thing? Simple – he stuffs it with either some clothing or with lots of food packets. It ends up occupying essentially zero incremental volume, and weighs maybe an ounce.

Me – I use my 1.3L Ti cooking pot.

Cheers

[D G]

How does he carry such a large thing? Simple – he stuffs it with either some clothing or with lots of food packets. It ends up occupying essentially zero incremental volume, and weighs maybe an ounce.

Me – I use my 1.3L Ti cooking pot.

Hi Roger,

Does the walker that uses the cut down 2L jug use it primarily in camp? I would think it would be rather inconvenient to have to unpack a bunch of clothing and or food every time you want to sterilize water on the trail.

I've thought about using my cooking pot for sterilization also, it seems like the ideal container, but I tend to store my stove, kitchen stuff, etc in it and it seems inconvenient with the way I pack to have to empty the contents when I want to sterilize water on the trail.

In the end, I settled on using a 1L HDPE wide mouth nalgene. Though it's a couple of ounces heavier than the platys and PET bottles I used to use, The steripen allows me to carry less water, so my packweight is lower.

[Mike W]

…

[Tad Englund]

Boy am I glad I read this yesterday…. I went to a REI garage sale this morning and there was a new Steripen Adventure that was marked "won't turn on" @ $29.00. I figured that it was one of those returned by Mary's friends so I bought it.
When I got home I put it in some water and it worked just like it's suppose to. What a deal. I was going to pay the full $99.00 for one after reading this thread but instead I saved over $70.00!!!
I got some other great deals- sorry for gloating but I'm really excited.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Just like hers, my Adventurer died as well. Bought the kit, was in my pack always well charged, had extra batteries (rechargeable ones). On a PCT trip this summer, I use it fine for two or so uses. It dies. Won't work at all.
Strip out batteries, put new ones in. Nothing.

I can say this: I didn't drop around $100 to have something die after TWO uses.

It went back to REI for a full refund. I was so grateful I had backup MicroPur tablets with me.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Roger says "The aborting sounds like you had the wrong batteries. Yeah, I know… but we KNOW that cheap batteries will give this behaviour."

Roger, the batteries on the Adventurer are not "cheap" and no you do NOT have the choice to use "cheap" batteries. It takes 123 batteries which you have limited choices on. The Adventurer comes with rechargeable ones – myself I went online and bought a second set, same brand, as recommended by Steripen. I even tried the Steripen when I got back with my husband's pile of 123 batteries (for his tactical flashlights).

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

To which I forgot to say: when I tried my husband's batteries in my kit? Yeah, he doesn't buy cheap knock offs from China for his flashlights – and no, they didn't make my Steripen work any better. It was still dead.

[Tad Englund]

Well Sarah, thanks for popping my bubble. Just kidding, at the price I picked this up it is worth trying out. I would rather have the option of being able to return it but I think it is worth the gamble for me (I always carry AquaMira tablets in my hiking essentials). And I think my scouts will think its cool.
BTW the kit came with the solar charger also. really good deal. I saved over $110.00! I forgot to add the charger costs in my savings.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Sarah

> and no you do NOT have the choice to use "cheap" batteries.
Well … I have seen a big range of prices for the CR123 batteries, with 'brand' names like Panasonic and Sony at the high end and Chinese ones by the 12-pack at the low end, sold by many of the tactical torch vendors.

Have you read the review of the Steripen here at BPL? It's at
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/steripen_adventurer_review.html

There's an extended discussion of battery performance in that article. It explains the various problems you can get from some batteries. The CR123 battery chemistry varies considerably between brands, even though most of them work OK for torches. I found that only the Tenrod 900 mAh batteries worked reliably, but that they DID work fine.

The key point is that while many CR123 batteries work just fine at medium currents (including the cheaper batteries sold in bulk by many of the tactical torch vendors), they do drop in voltage a bit too much at the high currents drawn by the Steripen Adventurer. Only a few CR123s keep their voltage high enough for the Steripen to work. This is a battery problem, not a Steripen fault. One could argue that the battery threshold on the Steripen is set too high, but there are technical problems with setting it lower.

What we need are good affordable UV LEDs to replace that power-hungry UV lamp. Such LEDs are coming … eventually.

Cheers

[Aaron Wallace]

FWIW, the Steripen website has some data from their testing of various CR123 batteries:

http://www.steripen.com/batterytesting.html

The Energizers, Kodaks, and Sure Fires come out on top. They also provide a link where you can get the Energizers at $1.43/ea. (I don't know if this is a great price, but it's far cheaper than a typical convenience-store price for these cells…)

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

The ones sold by SureFire are good batteries, and no, they didn't do any good in the piece-of-junk Steripen. Yet those same batteries worked in all of our Sure Fires……

Personally, if gear fails for me? I get rid of it. I see no point in carrying something that is potentially dead weight. In theory it was a great idea – instant water! – but yeah I also then got to carry it dead for another 12 or so miles. Even if it had started to work again at home I would never have trusted it again in the wilds!

[Mary D]

Interesting that all those praising this overrated (IMHO) gizmo are men, undoubtedly with strong hands, while those having trouble with it, especially with the too-stiff on-off switch, are women.

Did any women test this gadget, or was it only men who gave it such rave reviews? I notice that all those praising it here are male. Try having your wives/SOs use the thing and see what they say.

[chris Mcfarland]

my wife has never had any problems using it, she is rather petite and loves to use it at night… creates that magic wand effect. Abra kdabra…. drinking water. maybe the production tolerances on the steripen aren't that narrow and some units are released with extra difficult switches? it could also be that its just not for everyone, i love it and have had very good luck with it, mary has had nothing but hassle. hike your own hike

[bobby c]

"The ones sold by SureFire are good batteries, and no, they didn't do any good in the piece-of-junk Steripen. Yet those same batteries worked in all of our Sure Fires……

Personally, if gear fails for me? I get rid of it. I see no point in carrying something that is potentially dead weight. In theory it was a great idea – instant water! – but yeah I also then got to carry it dead for another 12 or so miles. Even if it had started to work again at home I would never have trusted it again in the wilds!"

A few things need to be noted. First of all, you purchased the Steripen from REI, the kings of returned goods. You could have gotten one that was damaged and returned, then resold to you. Happens all the time.

Secondly, I don't think that one user's experience dictates a failed product when so many people have had outstanding success with it, including many on the BPL staff (Roger Caffin comes to mind, and oh yeah, Ryan Jordan). A negative review of a product that has been one of the best pieces of gear that I've ever bought is like a stab in the heart.

I would like to tell anyone that might have read Sarah's negative posting about the Steripen to consider what she wrote carefully, and compare that to the many glowing reviews and satisfied users that the various Steripen models have on this site. I use a Steripen Classic, which has performed beautifully for me, and is superbly compatible with 32oz. Gatorade bottles. Over 80 miles on the Foothills Trail with 1 set of batteries and not a single failure pretty much gave the Steripen a place forever in my kit.

[James Sogi]

I recommend using the Steripen Journey because it fits into the 1L Aquafina etc bottle. I returned the Adventurer for that reason. I use the universal prefilter as total system weight ended up less. Turn it upside down to treat. My biochem Phd daughter says there is plenty of dispersion over the period. She says it doesn't kill the protozoa,but merely zaps its DNA so it can't replicate. I think I will use a small charcoal bottle filter to filter out taste and the organics. It worked fine for 4 days in Sierras. Bring extra batteries, or at least one extra. I use the Smart Water bottle drinking spouts that do NOT touch the untreated water.

[Patrick Minix]

My system:

The Steripen Journey fits in a ziploc #1 (1G) with extra batteries and some back up tablets. This bag fits in a large ziploc #2 (2G) with 1L and 2L fill lines marked on the outside. A third ziploc #3 (which is blue, and I don't recall where I got it, larger then 1Q) is used to collect water, it is stored in ziploc #4 (1Q). A fifth and final ziploc#5 (1Q) holds some coffee filters if I feel the need to strain my water.

Open the big bag and fill it to the 1L or 2L line, using the dirty ziploc bag #3. If you need to filter, use the ziploc slider to pinch down on the filter. With only 1L or 2L the large bag stand up fairly well and you can stir the Steripen around easily. Folding over the top edge of the big bag helps.

Packs in tight spots and you can replace everything cheaply.

[Will Webster]

+1 for the Steripen Journey (we call it the Magic Wand) with a 1L Aquafina bottle. Easy, fast, no chemical flavor. I use a freshly charged set of batteries from LightHound.com and I carry an backup set of virginal Energizers – plus AquaMira tablets. The only time it's let me down was on my second or third outing with the batteries that shipped with the unit – I hadn't gotten around to buying a backup set but fortunately I did have the tablets.

[Rakesh Malik]

I have a Journey LCD and an Adventurer Opti (the newest, lightest model).

The Journey is great; very easy to use, and it's been quite reliable for me. I've had a couple of occasions when I've had to warm it up before it would turn on, that that's been about it.

I got an Opti because of a review that I read here, and so far I'm not convinced that it's an improvement. The LED isn't as obvious in its meaning as the LCD display on the Journey, with its goofy smiley/sad/neutral face icons and all, but it gets the message across. No problems there.

The button is so stiff that everyone had trouble with it, including me — and I have a strong grip. The Opti is VERY difficult to trigger, because in addition to having a button so stiff that it's inane, it's also really finicky — if you don't apply a massive amount of pressure in just the right spot, it doesn't work. I'm most likely going to take it back and find out whether or not mine's just a bogus unit. I hope so.

I also picked up one of the Steripen prefilters, because in addition to being convenient for filling bottles and getting the floaties out, it's supposed to work as an adapter for a Steripen, so that you can invert a wide-mouth bottle over it to make it easier to agitate. No dice — the Opti's shaped differently (oblong rather than circular), so it doesn't fit.

It might have better battery life, and it's definitely smaller and lighter, but in all other ways, it's a step down from its predecessor.

[Adam Kramer]

Same problem…switch is very stiff and finicky in that you have to apply a massive amount of pressure in just the right spot or it doesn't work…do i have a defective one?

[Stephen Barber]

I just checked my Steripens – I have an older Adventurer and the new Opti.

I have to press VERY hard to get something to "click" and turn on the green light.

BUT…

…if I just press with "normal" force, there is no click but the green light comes on as soon as I release the button, and the cycle works normally.

The process seems to start with the release of the button, not the pressing of the button. If I press very lightly, the process doesn't start. But with what feels like a normal amount of pressure, certain nothing excessive, and nowhere near 20 lbs pressure, the process consistently starts on the release.

YMMV

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