Filter vs Steripen

Go with the Steripen. It's a lovely thing: treat it well and it will treat you (and your water) well. I've used both the classic and the Adventurer Opti once a month or so since 2007 without mishap. You'll never go back to slaving over a pump again!

(If you do opt away from the Steripen, try Aqua Mira instead of messing around with a pump.)

I believe the classic has two electrical contacts. When you fully insert the steripen into the water, the electrical contacts are in the water. This detects that it's fully inserted. If you pull out the steripen a little and the contacts are out of the water, it turns off to protect you from UV radiation.

The problem is, that some people report problems with this. It thinks you're out of the water and turns off. Especially with some water. Maybe some units are worse.

The adventruer opti has an optical sensor and doesn't have this problem.

Therefore, I would get the opti, not the classic, but it costs an extra $20 or something.

I tried using rechargeable batteries in mine but some of the batteries failed. Brand name non-rechargeables seem to work better. I got some Energizers from amazon.com that were pretty cheap.

Of course, you should bring a spare pair of batteries. The batteries in the unit could fail so the spares add reliability.

Pushing the button can be difficult, especially if it's cold. That button is engineered to be difficult to push so it doesn't accidentally go off in your pack.

Given that it's an electronic thing, and given all the complications I've mentioned, you might conclude it's not worth it, filter is better.

I am happy with the opti – it depends on the person.

Make sure and play with it a little before you take it out.

I have had occasional problems with my Steripen classic. I have backpacked with others who have also had problems. I still use it but carry a backup. I am eyeballing the Sawyer squeeze filter. People seem to like it a lot and its only about 3 oz.

I'm considering a Steripen myself. Right now I use chlorine tablets or filter or just drink it raw.

A few things to consider about filters which might not be obvious:

– They weigh more than specified because they retain water.
– They can stop filtering and allow pathogens to pass through without any indication of failure. This could occur due to a drop or freezing.
– They can clog. Most can be flushed, but that requires clean water.

Obviously a Steripen is an electronic device which could fail without warning or due to being dropped or a battery failure. Also, it doesn't remove or deactivate multicellular organisms or their eggs. Don't rely on it where tapeworms are likely to be an issue.

I would advise against any pump – just too much weight and effort.

A gravity filter is great if you're filtering a large quantity of water at a time – like 4 liters or more. Platypus makes the lightest commercial version, I think. You can switch to a Sawyer .01 filter for even more safety, if you want. I have a set-up like this and use it when hiking with a group.

The Steripen (and I would advise you to spend the extra $20 to get the Opti – it's worth it, honestly!) is great for solo hiking and only doing 1-2 liters at a time. Light weight, quick, easy, effective.

Both set-ups have drawbacks, both have strong points. You just have to decide what you want to live with!

I went from the MSR pump to Steripen classic to the opti.

The opti is amazingly easier than a pump. I will never even consider using a pump again.

I cut the top off of a plati canteen and marked the two levels the opti cleans. After zapping the water I pour it through a big coffee filter into my water bladder or bottle.

The plati canteen/cleaning cup and coffee filters roll up and fit into the opti sheath and its supper light and compact.

Thanks for the help guys. I think I'll go with the Opti. Anything is better than carrying water and should the device fail I have my purification tabs. I didn't even think of the fact that the filter could stop filtering and I might not notice. That and the high cost of replacement filters is the deciding factor. Again, thanks for the help.

Why the Opti instead of the Journey? I'm wondering this myself. Is it because the Opti has the better water sensors (optical rather than contact)?

(More of a question for everyone else than you, catskilled.)

Yes, the optical sensor-interlock is less buggy. Plus, the Opti is lighter and a bit less expensive. It only communicates via blinking lights though, so some folks will prefer the LCD display.

Cheers,

Rick

I have used the Steripen Classic, Aquamira, Katadyn Vario & Hiker Pro. I now use the MSR Hyperflow filter because no matter what conditions you face, you can always use it with proper care (don't drop it or let it freeze). Case in point: last weekend on Springer Mountain, Ga. the spring was almost dry. My buddy & I were able to filter out of a couple of inch deep pools that were the size of a salad plate. The Hyperflow filters from a surface floating pre-filter, is very fast (easy to deploy & put away), versatile with any water carrying system, compact(for a filter), & relatively lightweight, does not retain much water, & is field serviceable. It does require a "learning curve" to backflush it & to check for filter integrity.
I like the Hiker Pro filter(which also has worked in the above scenario), but like the lighter weight, compactness, & speed of the Hyperflow.

Hi guys,

I am new here and new to backpacking. Honestly, I've never been. Kind of embarassing. Anyway, I actually have a lot of gear but need more before I go on my first trip to the back country in the valley near where I live. Anyway, I have an Steripen Adventurer Opti which is being discussed here. I was just curious, and excuse the dumb question, but if you use it to purify water, it will just kill the bacteria, but won't the water still potentially taste gross? I mean if you took dirty (looking) pond water and made it safe to drink with the Optipen, it would still taste terrible, right? Is this just accepted or do you carry some other means to improve the taste, like a filter?

Hi David,

You're right–UV will do nothing to improve water's taste. A filter with carbon and in some cases, chlorine-dioxide treatment can improve taste and odor, but how much depends on the water.

Folks who hike the mountains are often lucky enough to have source water that tastes great, and treat only as a precaution. I try to avoid camping by swamps ;-)

Cheers,

Rick

My steripen went on exactly one trip. The speed is deceptive. You have to sit there and stir. You can't do anything else, and the others are correct, it doesn't improve the taste or appearance. It will even leave wiggly things still wiggling.

I've never found anything better than a gravity sawyer, charcoal filter combination. I never cease to be amazed at how I can put murky water full of sediment, plant debris, wiggly things topped with beige foam in one end and watch clear sweet pure water come out the other. Yes, it takes a few minutes to filter 3 liters, but it's a few minutes you can spend cooking, reading and innumerable other things.

The Sawyer is unparallelled for reliability. It's cleaned with a simple back flushing that takes about 20 seconds in the field to restore new filter flow. The manufacturer guarantees it for life.

About the only things I can fault are the minimalist instruction sheet and lack of an integrity test. It was up to me to figure out how to get it to filter at full speed, the best way to backflush and that purging all the air from the filtering train is necessary for fast filtering.

The most compelling testimonials for the Sayer come from the actions of people I hike with. To a man/woman, they start the hike with various pump filters, chemicals and yes, steripens and to a man/woman, they all end up borrowing my filter citing the ease of use (fill it and forget it) and it's infinite capacity.

For more information see the reader reviews.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/reviews/display_reviews?forum_thread_id=5536&cat=Hydration%20-%20Water%20Treatment&cid=55

For me it would break down by how large the party, and how frequent the clear streams. 90 seconds may seem long, but I just remind myself that it's the attention that makes it so. If there are streams, and I can add a liter at a time, it's all very smooth. Total weight is low.

On the other hand, if I have to get water for five people at a lake, I'd rather have the filter.

I bought the Adventurer Opti yesterday. Looks cool at least. We'll see how well it works when I go out in September. Thanks to everyone for the input.

Rick (or anyone),

It seems like there'd be an obvious answer but I can't get my finger on it. Can someone outlay a specific water treatment regiment for out in the field? I have a Steripen Adventurer Opti. I know it requires a wide mouthed container so …

1. Steripent Adventuer Opti
2. Nalgene 32 oz wide mouth bottle
3. Coffee filter or cloth???
4. What container does the clean water get filtered into?

What's an effective way of filtering pre or post UV treatment? I've read various posts and sites that casually mention using a bandanna or coffee filter. Great, but in what setup, specifically? In my experience, using any sort of non-rigid filter (ie coffee, cloth, etc), requires a cone or funnel device to provide a rigid sidewall.

So, now that my Nalgene is full of UV treated water, how do I get it into my bladder or some other bottle, assuming the second bottle isn't also a wide mouthed container. Let's say it's a 2L Platy Bottle. Wouldn't holding a coffee filter over the Nalgene and tipping it over, cause unpredictable and random run off? In other words, not a directed stream?

Sorry if I am just missing something obvious here.

Nalgene – way too heavy

I treat 1/2 liter at a time. Took a 1 liter soda bottle, marked 1/2 liter level, cut off the top a little higher, 3/4 ounce, treat water in it

Usually I fill up a platypus water bag 2 liter or 4 liter. Carefully get as little stuff in it as possible. If there are a few floaties on the top I'll just pour them off. Let the sinkies settle to the bottom.

To David Vo (and whoever else cares) I’ll lay out my normal water gathering regimen. I normally hike over here on the East coast, so water is readily available in most places and is usually flowing and clear. I currently use the Steripen Adventurer Opti by the way. Typically I treat a couple of liters throughout the day as required, and then gather 4 liters (in a 4 liter platy tank) and treat that as needed around camp. I use my cook pot for the treatment container (Snowpeak 900…yeah I know I'm 100 ml short of the full capacity I could be treating…already have a Caldera Cone for the pot though so not changing it anytime soon), and a 1 liter platy or just normal plastic drink bottles for my clean containers. Around camp I only treat my drinking water. Water for cooking is simply treated by boiling (saves a treatment or two per day…i.e. for breakfast and dinner).

As for a pre-filter, I use the modified platy cap as seen here: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/28445/index.html?skip_to_post=237204#237204. This goes on the 4 liter platy tank, so when I pour the water into my cook pot to be treated it has already been pre-filtered. It works amazingly well. Usually if I get water that has a little debris in it, once I pour it through the pre-filter the water that comes out has no visible debris in it. If I get into really dirty water (only happened once or twice) I have used a coffee filter before. I haven’t figured out a real good way to do this yet, but in general I just hold it taut across the top of my pot (they’re big filters) and pour the water through it into the pot.

@Matthew – With all due respect, your water treatment regiment is not clear to someone, like myself, who had no field experience with this. It's the equivalent of asking someone how to assemble a computer (from scratch) to be used for video editing and I answer: Well I put the parts together, load up the video and edit.

How do you treat the water throughout the day? You collect it directly from the water source using your Snowpeak 900? You just scoop it up? Then you treat it with a Steripen? Where do you put this water after it's treated? You separately mention you also gather 4 liters (dirty) in a Platypus Tank and treat that later in camp. How do you treat 4 liters at once? You're pouring it through the pre-filter into the Snowpeak 900? What about in the field? No pre-filtering? Just stream to SP900 + Steripen to bottle?

Hi David,

You're right to ponder workflow, as UV differs from the other options.

If the water needs prefiltering, I have a small mesh bag that fits over any opening up to the standard Nalgene lid (whatever that diameter is–can't recall). It removes debris and visible swimming things, but won't reduce cloudiness or anything microscopic. (I don't think UV is the best answer for cloudy water in any case.)

The Adventurer will fit in a mid-size container opening–such as a Gatorade bottle–so I generally use something like that. Light, strong, more or less free.

I don't find it a problem pouring from such a bottle into a narrow-neck container. Another reason to prefilter before treatment.

This system won't be a good match for refilling a hydration system on the go unless it's carried outside the pack. But a couple liter bottles in side pockets are just as handy.

Cheers,

Rick

To David Vo, I didn’t realize you wanted all the nitty gritty details. Ok, let me just lay out a typical day then. Usually I start off the morning hike with water that was gathered and treated the night before. So we’ll go from there. The first water stop of the day while hiking goes like this: I stop, pull out my empty 4 liter platy (which is usually folded up and strapped to the outside of my pack), collect however much water I want to treat into it either by dipping it in the source (if there is room) or by scooping the water from the source with the Snowpeak 900, rinse the pot with a small amount of pre-filtered water from the platy (just to get rid of debris), fill the pot, treat the water with the Steripen and finally pour the water into my clean container for consumption. Each subsequent time I stop during the day I follow the same process, and empty out the platy when finished to be folded up and placed back on my pack.

At camp I pretty much do the same thing where I fill the entire platy up either by dipping in the source or scooping water using the pot, and then follow the same steps for treatment to consumption as outlined above. I treat water on an as needed basis at camp, so the platy just sits around camp with the remaining untreated water in it till the morning when I empty it to start hiking.

Hope that clears things up for you.

I have a love/hate relationship with the SteriPen. I love the simplicity and when it works, it is fast. Unfortunately, I have had big problems with mine. I used both a classic and an adventurer on the PCT this year and last. With both models I have very frequent shut-off problems. Halfway through treatment the unit shuts off and flashes red. The red flashing last waaay too long, then I have to reset and try again. I have had this happen up to seven or eight time per liter. So frustrating.

It's interesting to read about the Opti in this thread as possibly that is a solution. I have also been told the unit gets built up humidity in the bulb with frequent use and the humidity plays havoc with the sensors. Additionally, all these errors make you use more of the batteries than you should be forcing me to carry extra batteries. The 123 batteries that the adventurer that are hard to find and expensive and its the only thing I carry that takes that battery so it really is extra weight.

Does anyone have similar experience with the SteriPen? I feel like its a technology that is not yet ready for prime-time. I am hoping they improve with newer models but, in my opinion, SteriPen is not ready for the trail just yet and I would not recommend.

I have an Opti and love it. I've never had a single problem and it's seen LOTS of use.

I've been reading the in-depth steripen treatment techniques and am wondering why use so many containers? I recently purchased my steripen, but I haven't been able to use it on the trail yet.

This was my plan: 1) take wide mouth drinking bottle and cover the mouth with prefilter (bandana) 2) submerge bottle into water source 3) let debris free water fill the bottle 4) remove bottle from water and prefilter from bottle 5) stick steripen in bottle and treat water 6) give high fives and enjoy tasty clean water!

What am I missing? Why do I need three water containers? I understand if the source is a shallow pool, I may need something to scoop what out of it. I would use my cup or pot. Still that is only two containers.