Which SteriPen Model?

[Jerry Adams]

did it just run out of charge? they say it treats 50 liters, how many liters did you treat?

[Jim C]

No, it had about a 50% charge. We brought a solar charger/battery combo to keep it, my phone (used for navigation), and headlamp charged. The charger, incidentally, worked flawlessly.

[Kevin Holt]

I bought a Freedom a couple years ago. I really like it. The only real negative is recently while packing a bag, I accidentally dropped it about 2 ft onto the hardwood living room floor, and it stopped working entirely. I *think* it should be covered under warranty but haven't contacted them yet. But the moral of the story is always bring a backup (aqua-mira drops weigh almost nothing). Only other mildly annoying thing is sometimes the flashlight feature (which I've never wanted on purpose) would turn on by accident. Other than that, I really like it, and even if they won't replace it I'll still buy another (either Freedom or Adventurer Opti). I never found it annoying or difficult to use. I guess in retrospect a couple times it didn't recognize the water but I just took it out and put it back in and it didn't bother me. I usually carry a little 1/2 liter titanium mug, so I just dip that into the lake, swirl the steripen for 40 seconds, drink, repeat. If I want to fill a bigger bottle using the Steripen, I can just do multiple batches in the mug and pour them into the bottle, 1/2 liter at a time. If I use the Freedom for all my drinking water (but not for cooking water) it will run out on probably about the 4th day. I can also make it stretch longer by strategically using the aqua-mira. When I get to a lake or clean river, I tank up using the Steripen and the mug (no water bottles involved). If I'm hiking near water or will hit another lake within an hour or two, my water bottles will stay empty and I'll just tank up again then. If I'm going to be hiking a dry section, I'll tank up first (w/ the Steripen & mug), then fill up my bottles and just use aquamira (no SteriPen). Since I've just drank my fill, I'm not going to need to drink for at least an hour anyway, so there is plenty of time to let the aquamira do its work. Similarly if I fill up right before bed or right before a meal, I'll use aquamira since I won't be carrying that water while the drops do their thing. (Also for cooking I never treat my water since I use a wood-burning stove anyway — I just boil a little longer). Anyway, I totally love being able to just walk up to a stream and drink till I'm happy. I'm a fan. If I had to do it over, I'm not sure if I'd stick with the Freedom or get something bigger. If you're only doing solo trips under 6 days (or under 4 days if you don't want to supplement w/ aqua-mira) the Freedom is fine. But if you're doing longer trips and/or with more people, I'd probably spend the extra ounce on an Adventurer. Regarding the Adventurer — has anyone had any positive experiences with rechargeable CR123 batteries? Is there a particular brand to use (or to avoid)? I'm currently carrying Eneloop AA's for my Zebralight and they seem to work well, but no idea what's the story on the CR123's.

[Valerie E]

What Ian said. I've been using Steripens since the original model, and I've upgraded steadily (from Classic to Opti to Ultra) because I've always had good experiences. If they come out with a newer/better model next year, I'll probably buy that one, too… I just finished the 500-mile Colorado Trail, having used the Ultra thoughout. My longest stretch without recharging it was 8 or 9 days, and it performed like a champ. It worked very well with a Smartwater bottle, and I simply wiped off the threads with my shirt-tail. In the most cow-polluted areas, where you could see/smell the manure while you were filling your water bottles, my inherent paranoia had me double-treating my water (Steripen first, then a dose of my back-up treatment, Aqua Mira drops).

[Ian]

Jim, That's really unfortunate. My Ultra is still providing flawless performance (not quite a year yet) but ultimately its an electronic device and not immune from failure. I also carry chlorine dioxide tablets as a back up. My hiking companions mostly carry some sort of Sawyer filter so my plan if I were to have my steripen crap out on me in the field is to first use their filters, and if we're separated for some reason, chlorine dioxide.

[dirtbag]

I have been in search of my favorite water filter/purifier. Started with the hiker pro pump..then switched to original sawyer squeeze..then went with the sawyer mini squeeze..then tried aqua mira drops (gag), then I decided to pull out my steripen adventurer that I purchased a year or 2 ago but never used. I took it along on my little solo trip (overnight) few weeks ago but didn't really get to use it because there was no water. My map had 9 stream crossings on the trails I chose for my trip..but due to no rain and dead end of August in NY..they were all BONE dry..nothing..nadda. Anyway. I just did another overnight trip and got to use my steripen plenty! Camped alongside a wonderful lake to make sure water would be plenty this time. I really like that it's so simple. No pumping or squeezing or waiting. I do bring aqua mira tabs (gag again) as backup..for severe emergency and also a survival straw .but I think I'm going to like useing the steripen adventurer for now.

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