Katadyn hiker pro quick disconnects?

[Henry Liu]

Does anyone have the katadyn hiker pro? Does anyone else think the quick disconnect system is silly? I mean sure I can have a quick disconnect to my camel bak or connect it to the nalgene adapter but there's no quick disconnect on the output port!

You have to disconnect the output port cable every time then slip the red protector on it. Very annoying! They should have made a quick disconnect on the output port like they did for the input port. You can partly remedy this by cutting the tubing and putting a quick disconnect on one end but you can't leave this attached because it's going to get contaminated. If they supplied a quick disconnect cover, you could at least leave the hose on!

Anyone figure a work around? My guess is just to find something big enough to cover the quick disconnect and leave the quick disconnect connected…

Very poor engineering!

[Dale Wambaugh]

The input hose is removable to help prevent cross contamination. There are extra fittings to splice into your hydration bladder drink hose so you can fill it directly on the trail without removing the bladder— and half your pack in the process. I like it! I can drop the filter pickup in the water, snap the output into my drink hose and pump the bladder full without opening my pack.

If you use bottles, you can just hook the output hose to the bottle adapter and go for it— the extra fittings are of little use and should be donated to ME :)

I have one hydration pack with a Naglene bladder that I can hook up directly, but that is a minor pain as I need to take it out of the bag or worm the filter output hose in there and try to swap the hoses in the limited space. If you do remove the bladder, it does allow you to fill it with the bladder just laying on the bank or a rock and nothing can slosh in or out. The extra large opening on the Nalgene bladders doesn't fit the bottle adapter and would require an extra hand. If you have the whole system it makes sense.

If you use Platypus bladders, you can get a right angle hose fitting for the Platypus opening and mount that on the Katadyn output hose for a slosh-free attachment.

[Jason Brinkman]

I found it quite satisfactory for use as Dale described with a Camelbak bladder.

I've since ditched both the filter and the bladder in lieu of two 1L Aquafina bottles, Micropur tablets, and a bandana prefilter when required. I don't taste the Micropur at all, and most water here tastes fine (the carbon filter helps eliminate taste/odor).

[Henry Liu]

Ya I realized I need a filter when I had a steripen only before. I use a filter and a steripen to kill the extra nasties. I'd use just one or the other but so far doesn't seem to work for taste/paranoia…

[J Phillips]

I think the engineering of the Katadyn line is superb. I also think the quick disconnect on the inlet is part of an improvement on the design of the Hiker. I have had a Hiker for 5 or 6 years- actually, I'm on my second one- the barb for the inlet tube had broke off on #1 in its fourth year. This may be the reason for the QD in the identical position on the Pro. Anyway, I am in a similar situation as Dale where refilling my in-pack hydration system is a major pain and takes way too much time to do on the fly. When I heard about the Pro, I wanted one as I assumed it would allow me to fill my hydration system in place. Then I saw one up close- one QD on the inlet and one to add to your existing gear. Wouldn't work the way I wanted to set things up but I really liked the small QD included with the Pro. So, I asked if the QD were available seperately and it is, not too bad a price tag either (less than $10). That is when I arrived at a solution similar to Dale's. I.E. – take two QDs- one to insert in the outlet hose of the between the pump and the fill cap and one to insert in my hydration system drink tube between pack exit and bite valve. This allows me to route clean water any way I see fit (and covers my routine hiking partners who are Nalgene bottle freaks) and avoids me having to unload half of my pack to refill. When not in use, just join the two halves together and contamination is avoided. Don't have the system in place yet but will soon. Maybe one of the biggest benefits of the whole learning exercise was that I also found out that my first Hiker could be fixed for no charge. So I upped the quantity of QDs being purchased to four and am giving the spare setup to my hiking mentor/brother who is currently filterless (and didn't argue with the price tag). Hopefully, it will all work as planned!!

[J Phillips]

this setup works great.

[Author]

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