Checking in: Sawyer Mini

Don't chunk the Sawyer bags, they will work, although, maybe not as long as the Evernew bags. I am still using both brands. The Sawyer bag has delaminated, but it doesn't appear to have made any changes to the function of the bag. It was more like a thin layer of clear plastic peeled off. Only time will tell though. ultimately though, it will depend on how much you use the bags, and how gentle you are with any of them. It seems that the general consensus though leans towards the Evernew bags being the best, although, more expensive and at times, harder to find. I do like that they are clear bags though, which the Sawyer bags are not…

I personally don't trust using Platy's with either the Sawyer Mini or the Squeeze. All of mine do not fit. Some kind of screw on sorta, but no, it is not correct. The thread pitch is different… so it doesn't work. IMO, I would steer clear of using Platy's with Sawyer filters…

The Mini should work fine as an inline filter, which would negate the need for the bags. If you prefer this method over filling a bag and squeezing it to filter water, then go for the inline option.

Platy threads have a different pitch than the Sawyer filter threads.

But, there's only about one turn of thread. The plastic is flexible so it stretches a little.

I have an old platy that when I screwed it onto the Sawyer filter, it leaked.

I got a new platy and it doesn't leak. I think it's just that the plastic, being newer, is more flexible.

That being said, I think a used water bottle is better. No seams to fail, like in Evernew or Platy bag. 1.2 oz for a 1 liter bottle. Squeeze 1/4 liter. Unscrew to let in air and screw. Squeeze another 1/4 liter…

Have you read any threads about people that think Mini is too small so plugs up too easily?

I was thinking of a system where I could detach the bite valve and insert the "clean" end of the Sawyer, and essentially fill the bladder through the bite valve tube instead of hauling it out of the pack. I've seen a few of these described on the web and it looks pretty simple.

I have seen posts complaining about the smaller mini clogging more than the standard, but more that say there is little to no difference if using for solo trips.

I used the Mini almost exclusively this past summer. It has a lot going for it but I'm looking for simplicity and in my experience, the Sawyer doesn't deliver.

I had gasket failures with the Sawyer squeeze two summers ago and just about had to resort to chemical treatment on one of my longer trips. Sawyer's response was that I was over tightening it so take it fwiw.

I really wanted to love the mini but I thought that it was painfully slow compared to other options. It's tolerable when solo but a pain when filtering for more than one.

My buddy had three brand new Sawyer bags fail on the wonderland this year. I'd just buy the Evernew 2L and repurpose the Sawyer bags as a water scoop. They're too unreliable.

Another buddy paired a brand new Platy with the mini. No leaks on that trip. I haven't inestigated it further to see why this is as I'm not in the market for a bladder.

I've had far fewer headaches from my steripen so I'm taking a break from Sawyer, but, if I were to use a filter, it''d be the squeeze and not the mini.

I've never had a problem with my Squeeze. I don't use bags – lap seams are just too weak in my opinion. I backflush before and after every trip.

I tried recharegable Lithium batteries with Steripen – one set of batteries only treated a few pints.

I tried name brand Lithiums – worked on one trip – failed on next – I think there was slow current leakage which discharged batteries, if I had removed them while stored, I would have been okay?

I returned Steripen and got a Squeeze.

My point is, neither is perfect. There is a way to get either one to be reliable if you know what to do.

I assume you're talking about the adventurer opti, mine has a drain too so I take the batteries out after a trip. About the same energy/effort requirement as putting the mini on a Evernew bladder.

Aaaaaand back to the OP….

I had the platypus clean stream filter, with the 4L dirty and clean sides. I put a quick disconnect and extra bite tube kit so I could leave the "clean" bag at home for solo use.

The flow with this system was SUPERB, any times it slowed down, it was time to backwash. In a group context, I would fill my clean side up, and then refill the dirty side, and leave it hanging up as a camp sink.

I built an equivalent system around the sawyer mini using extra hydro bladders I had on hand. The flow was anemic from day one, I was never satisified, I seperated the components, hooked the sawyer back up to it's little pouch, and stuck it in my spare/survival rubbermaid where it sits today.

One improvement I like is to cut 6" of hydration system hose with an attached bite valve, and attach that onto the clean side. Then you can screw it onto the sawyer pouch or a water bottle. Like a survival straw.

FWIW, on a trip with a half dozen guys last year, there was a mix of Sawyer Minis and Steripens carried. Within two days, the Sawyers never again came out of the packs. Everyone wanted to use the Steripens because they were so much quicker. Fortunately the two of us who brought the Steripens had both put new batteries in just before the hike!

I found the sawyer mini too slow, the sawyer regular is much faster. I use the regular with the extra out nozzle addon, which adds about 1/2 oz to the weight, which is totally worth it since then I can use a clear tube into the clean water container. I consider the syringe as part of the filter on any trip over 3 days, and I use it before there is any slowdown.

The flow rate of the regular with mild pressure is fine, in my last trip, the first I'd taken of any duration using only the sawyer as filter I decided would be my last trip with the mini, unless it was just there as a backup if regular water sources fail.

I've measured the flow rate difference, and it's fairly significant, it's easy to see why when you examine the two.

I will look elsewhere to save that one ounce difference, I found I was filtering more water per stop to avoid the wait time, so there was no actual weight savings at all carrying the mini for me. I won't use enough pressure to speed that up radically as some do because that is how you statistically increase your odds of bag failure, even though some people get away with it.

Re bags: old (as in 90s era) platy bags had the same threading, new ones don't, so I use evernew. My 2L evernew is the dirty water bag and also the extra water bag, so there's no extra weight involved. My old platy bags, by the way, also delaminated, that thin plastic covering, but work fine, but I prefer new bags like everynew.

My experience with hard PET water bottles is if you keep bending them they will fail at the point where the bend forms a corner, like any plastic that is hard bent back and forth over and over, it's not hard to apply LIGHT pressure to your dirty water bag, some people insist on forcing water through them with far too much pressure, which leads to failures, which then leads to endless reports of failures online, just try to feel the material and work within its safety range of pressure, which is not high in my opinion.

If you are using the sawyer mini inline primarily, or as a gravity system primarily, I'd definitely use the mini since then it doesn't matter, but my primary user is filtering on the trail, from creeks + cooking water, ie, 50 / 50.

No comment on steripen since I have no interest in relying on an electronic battery powered device for water filtering, same for poisoning the water.

If properly treated, the sawyer has an incredible filter capacity, in the 100s of thousands of gallons, but there is I suspect too much room for error.

Ian, you must have been applying a massive amount of force, hard to make anything strong enough to resist that I suspect. The gasket on these is a rubber circle, basically a hose washer, that's not something that can really fail under normal use. I've swapped mine for neoprene gaskets, didn't notice any difference.

"Ian, you must have been applying a massive amount of force, hard to make anything strong enough to resist that I suspect. The gasket on these is a rubber circle, basically a hose washer, that's not something that can really fail under normal use. I've swapped mine for neoprene gaskets, didn't notice any difference."

No. Not correct.

Well one of the nice things about Sawyer is the low cost of admission. Excluding a recent sale on the Steripen Freedom, you can buy both the Sawyer Squeeze and Mini for less than the non-sale price of most of the steripens (excluding the emergency).

How important is the faster flow rate to you? For me it was important.

The bulk of the squeeze is not to be overlooked either. Not super big but I really appreciated how small the mini was in comparison.

I never used the mini as a straw but that may be a nice feature for some people.

"My experience with hard PET water bottles is if you keep bending them they will fail at the point where the bend forms a corner, like any plastic that is hard bent back and forth over and over"

Squeeze 1/4 of the contents of the bottle

Unscrew Squeeze to let air back in to fill bottle

repeat

Maybe after a couple weeks of use, replace the bottle

I've been doing for about a year without problem

I just can't see what people are talking about, that it takes too long or it's too difficult. Maybe it takes 1 minute to squeeze a pint. And it takes about 1 minute for a steripen. I don't think squeezing or stirring with steripen is any big deal.

My old Pur pump filter was a bit of a pain because it took several minutes to pump 4 liters. Back gets tired from bending over so I have to take several breaks…

With either Squeeze or Steripen, I only treat the cold water I drink. Water I boil for oatmeal/soup/coffee/tea doesn't need to be treated. Nor does the water I use for cleaning or the excess that I don't use and throw on the ground.