Steripen Classic 3: Spotlite Review

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Doug

I stand corrected. I read the PDF manual, but not the bit on the outside of the box.
Steripen tell me they do include 4 off lithium AAs in review samples, so reviewers get the best impression. That's fine, although maybe they should include a note saying that.

Yes, I see about the NiMH as well – the key word there is 'economical'. That's because they are rechargeable. Me, I go for the lithiums.

Thanks for drawing this to my attention. I missed it. My bad.

Cheers

[BlackHatGuy]

"Yes, I see about the NiMH as well – the key word there is 'economical'. That's because they are rechargeable. Me, I go for the lithiums."

Yup, economical. I also prefer the lithiums. But the wording on their insert would certainly lead me to believe that they're recommending NiMH batteries for cold weather use too, since they say "as well as" after economical for cold weather use.

I'll stick with the lithiums though!

[Steven McAllister]

Re: NiMH,

Unless NiMH have changed over the years, I would never ever consider them for below freezing weather.

I've never had one make it through a cold night. My cell phone and camera all quit working after cold nights.

[Roger Caffin]

Worth remembering: if the electrolyte in the cell contains water, it is going to freeze just below 0 C. That tends to slow things down a bit.

Cheers

[Adam Klags]

I've had a steripen Journey for years. Other than the hard-to-open battery compartment, the thing has served me well.

There were two times when I was in the mountains where the thing would just NOT start the purification process. I could never figure out if it couldn't sense the water, if I had the button press situation wrong, or if the batteries were too cold. Each time the LCD didn't indicate anything wrong. I wonder if the water was too "pure?" Either way we were filtering water flowing from a crazy-steep, high-mountain stream that didn't flow from a pond, rather from a spring in the side of the mtn/rock. Probably safe enough for no filter anyway.

Other than those two times, this thing has been insanely reliable. Its light. Its fast. Its easier than the pump. I don't have to add chemicals or fuss with little pills and drops. The "waiting time" is reasonable, and you're occupied stirring. Less work than pumping. I just can't say enough good things about mine.

This new version looks much better, I may have to finally upgrade.

Anyone looking for the old "Journey" model? :)

[Bradley Danyluk]

I just wish they would stop mucking around with multiple small batteries and release a model that accepts a single 18650 instead. Capacity of 4 AA's in a package barely heavier than a single AA. It's a no-brainer.

[Roger Caffin]

> release a model that accepts a single 18650 instead.
I sympathise, but you can't buy 18650s at a local store. They usually will stock Lithium AAs.

Cheers

[Jason Livingston]

How does UV work in cloudy or heavily sedimented water? I didn’t see any mention of that in your article.

[Roger Caffin]

How does UV work in cloudy or heavily sedimented water? I didn’t see any mention of that in your article.

Poorly.
But then nothing works very well in that sort of water except boiling.

If you are desperate, go through 2 or 3 full cycles of UV, with stirring.

Cheers

[DGoggins]

I recently bought a steripen classic 3, after testing positive for giardia (I was using aquamira before…I’m not saying I got giardia b/c of the water….it could have come from most ANYWHERE, but I am not ruling it out that I didn’t wait long enough).

Anyway, this was my first test….->

So, I wanted to first test manufacturer battery claims. So I put a 1.3L evernew on my desk and just kept running the steripen while I was at work.

First, I used 4 sanyo eneloops. Now, these 4 were at least 5 years old, though I do take good care of my eneloops and have a la crosse battery charger for them.

After 83 liters, I got the low battery warning, and then on liter 88 I got the 5 red flashing lights…meaning it wasn’t successful due to battery level.

Steripen said I should get 100, I was expecting to get around 80….but got 88. I bet if I had new eneloops, I would have been somewhere in the 90s. I’m not sure if constantly running it on/off hurt/helped the results…though sometimes I would have 30 minute breaks when I was away from my desk. I did take out the batteries a few times to see if they were getting hot from use, and just noticed an ever slightly warm temperature, so I kept going.

I then tested Kirkland (Costco) brand regular AA batteries, with expiration 2024. I’ve had them for at least a year though.

To my surprise, I got 51 successful liters. Just by chance, after the 51st liter I took the batteries out and noticed they were pretty hot…so I let them cool overnight (it was late anyway). The next morning, while doing liter 52…got the 5 blinking lights….so unsuccessful and…meaning I never got the low warning message.

But still…the manufacturer delivered on their claims with the alkalines! I was expecting 40 Liters at most.

So, I’m very happy with the battery usage. I used to have an original steripen traveler (4aa model), and it was a bit fussy…..fussy by the usage requirements of needing to have the probes dry and doing the correct process of turning it on, waiting, and then inserting, etc.

But I LOVE the new firmware process….I don’t have to worry about drying probes between uses, or turning it on outside of water. In fact…I kept the steripen submerged the entire time in the pot and just clicked the button twice to get a new liter cycle running. And, the new twist off cap is great, and I like the double push for 1 liter….much more intuitive.

I’m already starting my next test….battery drainage.

My battery charger tells me exactly how much each single battery gets charged with each time, and after recharging the eneloops, I did get them charged with 2200mAh again, so that is how much the steripen used for the 88 cycles.

So now…I am going to set the batteries out for 5 days by themselves, then recharge them to test the self discharge rate of the batteries themselves. I’ll then place the batteries in the steripen, leave them in for the same amount of time, recharge, and then I can subtract the self discharge rate and see how much energy the steripen uses while off but batteries in.

 

 

 

 

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Dang that’s some clean water now.

[Roger Caffin]

No, not ‘clean’, just very, very sterile!

Cheers

[DGoggins]

Ok….continuing tests…

I tested the discharge rate of 4 eneloops over a 5 day period. That resulted in losing 209, 209, 215, and 228 maH per battery. NiMH batteries have a fast self discharge rate in the beginning, which tapers off to a slow self discharge rate long term.

I then fully charged the same batteries, put them in the steripen, and waited the same amount of time (134 hours to be exact, so 5 and a half days), and found that they lost 191-198 maH each. So…..they discharged less inside the steripen…which, isnt’ what I was expecting…I was expecting to have more discharge and the difference would be what the steripen drains while having the batteries inside the steripen.

So…..the first test was very promising….meaning that the steripen classic 3 drains batteries very slowly. I wouldn’t bother with continually opening and switching a battery upside down to prevent steripen discharge during backpacking….which would get rid of an annoyance with using a steripen.

However….I’ll retest this several times….the only problem is that it takes a while to do a test…and I’ll see if I can get an average.

Also…my first field test with the classic 3 was last weekend…3 days in the Idaho Sawtooth mountains. Coming from using aquamira, it was an adjustment to having to spend 8 minutes or so sterilizing 4L of water, but I just started treating it as another camp chore. It was nice though….that there were times we were out of water coming to our next water source and I could purify and drink right away instead of waiting for chemicals. And I kept needing to remind myself that aquamira did have required time dealing with mixing the solution, and the headaches I would have if my dropper bottles spilled, etc.

I also knew that I made an immediate mistake of bringing only narrow mouth bottles like smart water bottles. It was too hard to invert the bottle with the steripen stuck in, since the pen would only go in like..2 mm, and if I didn’t put a lot of pressure water would leak through onto my hand, or if I moved it incorrectly while trying to stir, I thought I was in danger of bending the metal prods. ->

So, I quickly sacrificed an Aquafina bottle by cutting the top off and using it as a water scooper and steripen treatment bottle. I would sterilize and then pour into the smart water bottles ->

So I did lose 1L of water carrying capability on the trip, but at least I didn’t have to invert and I could use one hand to sterilize.

Now I’m trying to find a better water bottle solution for my next trip. Gatorade bottles would work…but you can’t invert (doesn’t seal), so the bottle needs to be nearly full so the metal prods are submerged. ->

Now, looking at the smart water bottle….lets assume that steripen “approves” this bottle since its a 1 L normal water bottle. You can tell how tall the smart water bottle is…its 11.5″ tall, though the actual water container part is about 10″.

Even if you stir the water….I’m assuming that the water at the “top” of the bottle will only ever get partially closer to the bottom where UV light is. So that distance between UV light and water is sufficient to get the water sterilized. So…I know I read somewhere in the forums but I couldn’t find the post, that some users have been using larger water bottles…1.5+L and just doing 1L treatments. I.e…..if the height of the smart water bottle is Kosher, then it would stand to reason that you could also go wider than the smart water bottle and still get sterilized water.

Has someone found 1.5-2L water bottles that might be a bit shorter than smart water bottles but quite a bit wider? My initial thought was using a 2L seeker bottle…

Its 9.9″ by 5.3″…so pretty much exactly as tall as the smart water bottle, just wider. It seems that its just about the same size as a Gatorade bottle opening, so I could fit the classic 3 in without needing to invert, but I can still stir the steripen around. If its filled with water, I should be able to set it on the ground and still hold the pen and bag with one hand to sterilize. And…if this was still effective, it would cut my treatment time in half……and battery use in half….so I would probably start buying lithiums instead of using niMH and would reduce my pack weight….

[DGoggins]

And….to further add…I’m still considering the new befree water system…..but I’m still worried about viruses. I’ve seen too much unburied TP right next to pristine mountain lakes and water sources, and other really dumb stuff I see other backcountry users doing, that I know only a percentage of users actually bury their poop 150-200ft away from water sources. (heck I’ve broken that rule too). So that is what is holding me away from the befree.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi DG

Do you cook when you are out? Can you use your cooking pot?

Very easy, no extra gear needed.

Cheers

[DGoggins]

I’m trying to move away from freezer dried meals, but I’m still not there yet…so still using a jetboil sol ti. Even if I was cooking with alcohol, getting the pot out, taking out the contents (like a sidewinder, fuel, etc) would be extra hassle I wouldn’t want. I would rather just keeping using something like a cutoff aquafina bottle/water scooper.

Ideally, ….if the seeker 2L (or similar ‘large’ bottle) is safe to use…that would be a game changer, b/c it would speed up my sterilizing time (battery life is a secondary bonus to that).

Anyway, ….I was a bit disappointed that narrow mouth bottles didn’t work really..or least, not safe enough/hassle free enough. I should have tested them out before the trip. I was thinking the steripen rubber stopper was narrower at the head and would be able to squeeze into the narrow mouth opening. Oh well.

[Aimee M]

DGoggins,  the only thing I would mention is:  The bottle you are using as a scooper/purifier, which you then pour out of into your drinking bottle (if I read this correctly) has not had the water on the outside treated.  Meaning, where you scooped water from the source, will have contaminants on it.  If you pour from that side as well (difficult not to) you could be adding minuscule bacteria/protozoa to your clean water.  Which, if they multiply (depending on factors) could be an issue.

[Bob Moulder]

What works with a 32-oz Gatorade bottle is to cut a 1″ diameter hole in a spare cap for the 32-oz and use that as your adapter when using the Steripen Classic 3. I did a pretty thorough (and unsuccessful) search of my local supermarket aisles to find a bottle manufactured with a 1″ diameter throat.

The blue, cone-shaped polymer ‘stopper’ on the Classic 3 has a diameter of about 1″ (25.4mm) about halfway up its length, which means it works well with the stopper and that the bottle can be turned upside down to agitate the water during treatment.

In order to have a good seal between the stopper and the adapter cap, the hole in the cap must be very round and smooth, and it’s not as easy to do as it might seem. I used various Dremel attachment bits and practiced on a few caps before finally making a cap that worked reasonably well, and the finishing touches were very carefully done with an X-acto #11 blade.

 

[Roger Caffin]

the hole in the cap must be very round and smooth, and it’s not as easy to do as it might seem. 

Can I recommend the use of some very fine wet&dry paper for this, or something similar? (Most ‘sandpaper’ is too coarse.) Wrap it around your finger and then spin the cap on your finger to smooth the edge.

Cheers

 

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