Steripen Adventurer above 10,000 ft

Maybe the water was really cold where that other guy was or something.

I use my Steripen Adventurer regularly above 10K and have not had a problem. Just use good batteries like Energizer lithiums. I'm not familiar surefires but did have trouble one winter trip using the batteries that came with the Adventurer.

Surefire's are what I'd go for.

To say the least about Steripen my thrill with them is pretty much gone.

Steripen Adventurer died on second use, with good batteries. Just wouldn't turn on or do anything. That one went back.

Dicentra had a 4 AA model that DID work well but was sadly stolen when her house was broken into this year – the thieves grabbed her daypack as a way to carry the loot.

She borrowed a brand new model of the Adventurer (the one with the digital display) from a friend last weekend. I treated one container for her, went to do the next one and the machine wouldn't turn on. The LCD display started fogging then going black. Then the thing started getting hot. Rooinater, who was with us, got the bottom off and dumped the batteries. Which were smoking. The Steripen was toasted and done for. It had Energizer brand ones in it.

Who knows why it did what it did. I didn't load said batteries, etc. I was doing the water simply due to Di being tired.

And as always…thank god I was carrying MicroPur tablets!

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll pick one up and bring an energizer lithium in case the surefire's have issues.

hey sarbar,

Are you still using the steripen for water treatment? it was some of your praise that pushed me over the edge to purchase…

I just got back from yosemite, treated about 18L of water for the group, the only issue was, i went to use it when it was still wet and got sad faces, dried it off, and no problem… also hydro-photon, the manufacture of steripens, says to use energizer lithium cells:

http://www.steripen.com/batterytesting.html#advent-travel_batteries

YMMV, but so far I'm very impressed, and of course carry a backup solution, in case of failure.

I think any problem with the Steri-pen at high altitude has more to do with battery temperature then altitude. I use mine regularly between 3k and 7k feet (central cascades) without any problems.

I pick 2 up at a REI garage sale last year for $25 apiece. After reading an old thread about the Steri-pen likes and dislikes- some of the women said they had a hard time turning them on and off so they returned them to REI. I took a gamble that these had the same issue, they have worked great ever since! I guess my thumb is the right shape for the button, I have never had a problem with them.

it sounds as though you have one too many steripen's. I am here to help. :-)

Just kidding. Thanks for the info. I expected the responses would indicate it was a battery temp/battery quality issue, not an altitude issue. From what I can gather, most of the negative impressions of the steripen are related to the batteries (cold/poor quality/drained from always in unit) or difficulty with the button.

Jesse,

I think it comes down to this: I like the concept of the Steripen – it is easy, no thinking, immediate, etc…but and a big but – I won't ever buy another one that takes 123. The 4AA one never had any issues in its life till it was stolen…but twice I have been "burned" on the 123 battery powered ones.

On the turning on, I know that for both me and GrannyHiker it wasn't turning on the button – it literally did not turn on. Nothing there, even with new batteries added. This was for both of us using the Adventurer yellow colored one that ran on rechargeable batteries. One use working, couple minutes later nothing.

Sarah, sorry to hear your problems with the 123 size- again I haven't had any issues for over a year- the tag on the slip at the garage sale said "won't turn on"- I'm glad they didn't turn on for somebody because I saved $150, and one came with the recharger- I do use my thumb nail sometimes but lucky for me they work great.

yea I don't like using cr123 either… it would be sooo cool if they could make the unit run on AAA's like all my other electronic do-hickeys…

are you just using clo2 for water treatment then? do you find the wait time to be a pain?

I hope it works the way it did last weekend, forever! awesome product, SO CONVENIENT! but time will tell… you know I'll be posting if something happens ;)

Longtime Steripen user here. I don't see how altitude, at least in the vicinity of 10K feet, can affect the unit's performance. Temps yes but altitude in itself should not be a factor.

I do have a Steripen anecdote but it involves moisture, not elevation. I was hiking Sespe Creek here in SoCal with my 4AA Steripen in an outside mesh pocket for easy access. One particular day I had to negotiate several water crossings, some of which were over my head and I had to swim, or more like float because I used my Ridgerest as a raft. Needless to say the Steripen got wet. I took no precautions to waterproof it.

Yep, that afternoon in camp it didn't work. I just got a red LED. The battery compartment had moisture in it. Lucky for me it was a hot dry day. I took the 4 AA's out and let everything dry in the sun for a few hours. It worked fine the next morning.

Lesson learned: Even though the lower end is made to be immersed in water the upper end is not waterproof, at least not my circa '05 4AA model.