water bottle filters

I have used both Seychelle and Sawyer.

Seychelle can filter out protozoa and bacteria (but not viruses). It will also improve water clarity and taste — and quite effectively too.

Sawyer purifier can block out protozoa, bacteria and viruses. It will improve water clarity, but not the taste of water, due to the lack of a carbon or charcoal element. Note that there is a separate, cheaper Sawyer filter that does not filter out viruses.

Between Seychelle and Sawyer, I would pick the Seycehlle. Viruses, I can always treat with a Micropur tablet. But if the water tastes bad, the Seychelle will significantly improve it whereas the Sawyer won't.

Finally, I would favor a water bottle filter that can also be used as either inline or gravity feed filter — kind of sucks if the only way to get clean, treated water is by sucking through the mouth! Yeah, pun intended. The Katadyn Exstream cannot be used as inline or gravity feed filter.

I hated it!

The flow through the tube was pathetic even while squeezing and drawing from the tube.

REI took it back.

check out the Bota of Boulder Outback filtration Bottle. They are quite cheap, as far as I know compared to the Katydin bottles. Bota offers two sizes. The filter very effectivly filtered out the plastic taste of the bottle, probably most of the other icky stuff too, and the flow rate wasn't too bad, but it does require a firm squeeze obviously to push water through the filter. I highly recommend the product. The bottle (albiet without the filter on this occasion) will forever be remembered by me as my savior during some humid Lousiana days when I went down to help with Habitat for Humanity. Im now considering buying a nalgene flexible canteene like the 48 oz one, and tryging the filter on that with the Bota sport cap, as it is really just a nalegene all terrain bottle from what I gather.