Sawyer 0.02 micron Purifier series water filters

Mine's still fine after a full season of weekend hikes. Set up as a gravity filter with Platypus bags. Pre-filtered with a bandana! Back flushed several times. I use Micro-pur after filtering if I'm in a high use area. Still doing its job as far as I can tell.

Is _more_ better?

It seems like so many people go crazy over a filter that has a smaller and smaller pore size. You might want to take a step back and decide what it is in the water that you are attempting to filter out. For example, in some third-world countries, water can have all sorts of viral contaminants. Been there, done that. In other areas, it is bacterial contamination that you want to avoid. Each contaminant has a different minimum size, so it is good to know what you are trying to hit. Personally, I do most of my wilderness travel in the Sierra Nevada Range, and to a very great extent, the only contaminant that I am seeking to avoid is Giardia Lamblia. At the largest, they go around 25-35 microns. In the egg form, they are more like 2-3 microns. Therefore, if I use a filter that is 2-3 microns or smaller, I am successful. When you try to filter 10 times or 100 times smaller than that, you will need some help to get the raw water through the membrane. That might mean pumping, or it might mean gravity pressure.
–B.G.–

Here's a reader review, here on BPL:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/reviews/display_reviews?forum_thread_id=5536&cat=Hydration%20%2D%20Water%20Treatment&cid=55

Several people chimed in, including me.

(Hint: I LOVE my Sawyer filter.)

I have to agree, though… Do you really need a 0.02 micron filter? The 0.1 micron version should work well for almost any use short of drinking directly from a Mexico City sewage canal, and will have a much better flow rate. Just carry one or two AquaMira tablets in case you are forced to use a truly questionable water source, or something. OTOH, if you DO plan to travel to some frighteningly viral third world countries then the 0.02 micron filter might not be a bad investment.

I travel to alot of frighteningly viral third world countries, and never filtered water before I started hiking. Spent most of my childhood to mid-20s in central and south america, and have never gotten sick from water. I think it just depends on everybody's predilection for this sort of thing.

Honestly, what Dean says is in line with my personal experience. Most filters will cover anything short of the stuff that *no* filter will handle. In that case, chemical or pasteurization are the only angles.

Only direction I'll go crazy in the filter area is towards lighter/faster, and I'm certainly not going to have a closet full of "options" based on micron size of perceived microbial threat. That's just me though, to each their own.

Speaking of third world countries, Nepal is a favorite of mine. Go into the Khumbu region, and walk up the valley of the Dudh Kosi River. The Sherpa people who live there told me that it was bad luck to touch the water, since it was a sacred river.

Bull! I figured out what they meant. The river is contaminated by half of the virus strains in the book. Touch the water, and you may just get sick. It just required some interpretation.

I didn't drink any of that water until it had been boiled.
–B.G.–

I completely forgot to check out the reader reviews here. They were a big help in deciding. There is a lot of useful information there, like how to back flush in the filed. I ended up getting the regular .1 micron Sawyer since I had a gift card for REI. I was planning on using this in gravity mode but if it works well inline with my Platy its even better. I like the flexibility!

Frankly, you can back-flush in the field just by filling your mouth with clean water and blowing it back through the filter. I've done it many times. I'm not sure if this is the "approved" method, though. I suppose that you would be introducing moth flora into the filter, for instance.

The Sawyer way of back flushing in the filed uses a syringe with a piece of tubing attached. I probably wont need to back flush in the filed anyway. If I had to I would probably squeeze the clean Platypus to reverse flow. If I were using the filter inline instead of in gravity mode the mouth flush would be quite easy.

Hey guys! New here and new to backpakcing in general. Just picking it up. So I am just about ready to leave for Mozambique, Africa. THe missions compound where I will be staying does not have clean water. An experienced backpacker said to make sure i got a purifier (vruses) if i WAS USING IT IN aFRICA.

i'm on a very tight budget (although my brther is helping me buy the water filtration to make sure i GET THE RIGHT one. Any suggestions or leads on where to get an affordable purifier? If anyone wanted to lend one, I would gladly pay shipping both ways and use some type of collateral to make sure you got it back.

Speaking of that, thought i could get the purifier, Sawyer Complete .02 for just over $100 on Ebay, but its gone and not sure if there was anything just as good for cheaper.

Oh, I will be going to Tanzania afterward, and not sure on water situation there. WIll be traveling throgout the country doing research Total of 6 months. Trying to travel in 50 L.

oh, also
Lost my sleeping bag on the plane back from California): It was perfect! At just over 1 lb and only 4 liters in size, I could actually fit it in my 50L pack. I got it for under $50. Any idea whatsoever where I can get on this small for that price or lower? My budget is rather tight with paying for the missionsary scool I am going to, and my other thesis expenses up front! Check this one out, but out of stock- at REI Lafuma Manor Extreme. Warmth doesn't matter really, just compact-ness!

Thanks so much! Blessing!
Cade

Cade,

Wow. You managed to dig up an old thread.

I was in Musina and then outside Maputo for a couple years. I used a basic filter to get rid of large debris/dirt and then a combination of boiling and chemicals. You will find most of the people in the villages in that region will boil water over open fire regularly (everything is done with open fire), so it won't be that inconvenient. Plus on the infrequent runs to town you can stock up on gallons of bottled water. If you are really lucky your compound may also use giant bottles of pressurized propane for kitchen use, which is pretty typical for that region. You also have the sun for sterilization. Lots and lots of sun. The rains only come about once every 2 years in that area.

That was my strategy anyway.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

Best luck.