SteriPEN vs H2O Amigo, a long distance hiker’s comparison

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Tony

I have some Sawyer filters here about to go into test.

Cheers

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Beat

> some water seems not to have enough electrolyte content to be registered by the Steripen
Known, albeit rare, problem for the Adventurer. That's why the Adventurer Opti is a better choice.

> It would occasionally just not light up at all, and often light up briefly, to be followed
> by an error (red light
> increasingly difficult to turn on (it would turn on and immediately turn off),
That sounds like an inadequate battery to me. Happens all the time with cheaper batteries. What brand were you using?

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

That looks like a really nice product

Cool packaging – clear case so you can see circuit board inside

Skimpy info on their web site

It says 12 treatments per charge – how many pints is one treatment? How long does it take to treat a pint

Then you can charge the internal battery from any battery with magnetic clips – cool

Is the On/off switch easy to turn on and off? My Adventurer is a real pain, especially when it gets cold.

They said it costs $49 but isn't currently available, check back in June 2010 for availability. Maybe they meant 2011?

They said this is their first product

This sounds like a new company so one might expect some complications ordering and receiving a product

[Tony Wong]

Roger,

Great news to hear that you will be running test on the Sawyer filters.

Looking forward to seeing some real scientific testing on them.

Any idea of when that article might be out?

-Tony

[Mads Nielsen]

Granted I'm not an expert, but I am a vet and have had some dealings with inland fish farming where water purification is a key part of the business. They use UV for purification but only AFTER serious filtration because UV does not work if the water contains particles that can provide shade for bacteria and virus (remember they are quit small). So from my knowledge there is no way that a device like stirpin can work in a trail situation. Do any of you guys have any explanation that would tell me how the system can work?

[Jerry Adams]

You're supposed to stir it and it requires more than a minute to treat

In that time, you'll be exposing all side of any particles

[CW]

I'm not sure where you get your info Roger, but everything I've read indicates the chances of getting a virus from US water sources is basically nil. Of course they exist, water borne or otherwise, but that doesn't mean we need to be paranoid about treating for them.

[Mads Nielsen]

Suppose it depends on standards and the goal is perhaps just to get under the infective dose of a pathogen, but in muddy water I doubt that it's possible with UV light. Furthermore particles are 3D and can hide microorganisms quit well.

[Rick Dreher]

Hi Mads,

One's supposed to pre-filter or settle turbid water before treatment. The Steripen literature has a maximum NTU value to stay within for it to be effective, as well as physical descriptions of what water looks like at that turbidity (since nobody carries a meter with them). Offhand I don't recall the value.

Also, double-treatment is recommended for poor water conditions. Luckily, a good proportion of high-country water is quite clear. Obviously that's not the case everywhere!

cheers,

Rick

[Jerry Adams]

If you use your bulk water container to store untreated water

Let it settle to get clearer water to treat

For water you're going to boil anyway for cooking, no need to treat it, if you just bring it to boil it will kill the bugs according to some link on a recent thread

Then you can save your batteries too

[dale stuart]

I also have the ULA Amigo.

I was less than impressed with it. I had it fail and had to get a new filter on my 3rd outing. I tried to filter the brown (tannin filled) water that is available on coastal hikes in Washington. But everyone else’s pump style filters also got clogged so I was not too dismayed. Then while hiking the Loowit trail (Mt. ST. Helens), it clogged again do to silt in water. The replacement filters were somewhat pricey back then and then the foam pre-filter in the silnylon came loose, so it has been retired.

I have since gone with Aqua Mira liquid. It is not as thorough as the filters (unless you wait 4hrs) but very convenient. I carry two sports bottles and let one "cook" with the chems as I hike using the other.

-Dale

[Keith Selbo]

I have a Steripen Adventurer. I took it on one 3 day hike. It worked fine as far as I can tell, but why anyone would want to sit around stirring for 90 seconds if they had a choice is beyond me. I went right back to my Sawyer and Charcoal filter combination. Two drops of chlorine per liter to kill viruses, Sawyer removes cellular organisms, charcoal removes chlorine and many contaminants. I connect the output of the filter directly to my hydration bladder so I don't have to worry about spilling. The best part is hang and forget. I snooze or snack or check my map while my filter does the work.

By the way, all the filters I've owned say freezing compromises them. You should check your instructions to see if the Amigo filter is safe after freezing. I always wrap my filter and water in my pack liner and sleep with them when freezing temperatures are expected. My filter never freezes and I always have water in the morning.

[dallas shewmaker]

I use the Sawyer inline filter tied into my standard bladder drink tube. Just dip the bladder, put it back in my side pack pocket, and go. It's showing on my shoulder strap in the profile pic. No clean/dirty bladder setup; just the dirty one. My water stops are quick; sometimes reloaded and out before the mosquitos find me. I do have to draw maybe 20% harder on the bite valve than when the filter is not present, but that is about the only downside I've found. Weighs about 2 ounces; nothing to replace; micron protection is same or better than most pump filters; one-time purchase at about $56. I convert a lot of backpackers with it at my store based on my experiences and praise of it; hope BPL's future review concurs.

[Bart Godefroid]

Interesting article!
However I do miss some lab tests of the treated water. Now you can not know if the filters are actually effective because:
a. the collected water could simply be not contaminated
b. the persons drinking the water could have built a resistance against the contaminants in the water

[John S.]

nm

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Chris

> everything I've read indicates the chances of getting a virus from US water sources is basically nil.
Ah, now if we transition from whether there are viruses in the water in America to whether you run much of a risk from the viruses which are present – that is a huge world of difference. In practice we can tolerate quite a lot of the more common sorts of virus (and bacteria). We would be dead very quickly if we couldn't.

In fact, we carry a huge load of bugs in our bodies anyhow, and are critically dependent on them for life. This is what most of the population does not seem to know, understand or believe. You are alive because of the microflora of your skin, body, gut etc. Without all those bugs you would die. So why the authorities allow some unscrupulous vendors to sell antibiotic wipes for the kitchen to the uneducated public beats me.

Cheers

[Roger Caffin]

> Any idea of when that article might be out?

At this stage, 2011 is as much as I can say. It's another wide survey, not just the Sawyers.

Cheers

[CW]

Thanks Roger. We're on the same page here. I need to work on correctly wording my posts to relay my intentions a bit better.

[chris mcMaster]

Some of you may be interested to know that ULA recently made a deal with the inventor of the h2o amigo and we now have the rights to produce it again// No time table as to exactly when it will be available, as you can imagine the next 3 months are extremely busy for us and I can assure you it won't be before early summer that we're ready to go with it again/

[Ken Thompson]

"Buy the batteries online. Cheap."

Of course I mean you can buy the best batteries online cheaper than in the grocery store, etc..
Battery Junction sells Energizer and Duracell for less than $2 each.

Lower quality/output batteries are what I suspect cause a majority of dissatisfaction among unexperienced users.

I have had no issues in years of use.

[Ken Thompson]

inventor of the h2o amigo

Bill F. Getting credit?

[Todd Hein]

I have used an Amigo Pro for several years and it works great. However, maybe I missed something, but why do a comparison using this product since it is unavailable? Maybe ULA will bring it back…

[David Ure]

Isn't the Platypus Clean Stream system essentially the same as the Amigo and available now?

[James Verlander]

.

[Jim Cowdery]

My daughter started with a steripen on her AT thruhike in '09. It broke about 1 month into the hike. She started using AquaMira and a bandana for a pre filter.

Steripen replaced the product and I have used it on several section hikes. It ceased working on my last section hike and I replaced it with a Platty system.

I will stick with the low tech solution.

[Author]

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