Durability of New Sawyer Squeeze Bags

My experience with a bag acquired with a filter in Spring 2013 was very negative. Bag split just below the opening after 5 days of a 14 day trip in the Sierras. Luckily i improvised a patch and we were getting close to resupply where I got some hard bottles. Bag was used as intended with no excessive pressure. Not sure if I had a "new" or old bag design. Needless to say I was not impressed.

On a related note when I returned home I contacted Sawyer about this.
They were borderline rude and def. unhelpful in their communication to me regarding the issue. I was however able to return the entire filter and package to REI where I had purchased it.
Bottom line for me: Filters rock, bags suck as does customer service.

If you want to purchase, suggest you do so from a retailer with a good return policy such as REI.

My bag started leaking too, just below the opening as well after a few uses. I blame most of it on user error, and rushing it. I have since noticed that applying a lot of pressure, really doesn't speed up the process. Also, I know everything I have read tells me that a platypus does not fit on the mini. However, mine seems to make a great seal with the sawyer mini. I tested repeatedly with the the bag full of water and with the plug on the output end of the filter. I can apply all the pressure I want and it stays sealed.

I used one on my JMT thru last August (19 days) and while the thing pretty much delaminated on the outside, it help up quite well otherwise. I really liked it…but you do have to be a bit careful with it. It's not a "squeeze" as they say, more of a "roll-from-the-top" kind of apparatus.

Anyway, I had no problems. They were cheap, super light, and held up nicely to some pretty consistent use.

Just out of curiosity, would any of you who have had issues be willing to chime in on whether or not the "problem" bags were the old or the new version? (There's a picture of the different versions here: http://hikelighter.com/2013/01/20/sawyer-squeeze-updated-2013-version/)

I know that the older versions were supposed to have some pretty substantial durability problems, but I'd be interested to know if they were continuing with the new ones as well. I've seen a lot of stuff that indicates that the new version is a lot more durable, but that information is either coming from a small sample size (i.e. something on someone's blog) or from places selling the new bags. (Not accusing anyone of being misleading, but I wouldn't really expect to see "It'll delaminate and break within a month!" as ad copy either.)

John,

I only have the new bags. They have delaminated a little, but no leaks yet. Used them probably 7-8 days so far. Not a big amount of time yet.

Ryan

New bags.

My Smartwater bottles hold up great! The new bags are a vast improvement over the old bags, if you baby them they should last for a good while.