Anyone else love the MSR TrailShot?

Wasn’t aware of this one so checked it out.

With my current bottle filter, if the water is difficult to reach I simply hang the wide-mouthed container from the end of my walking pole and scoop up the water fishing-rod style. For pole users this is a good solution, as it makes it easy to reach down steep banks. And with a bottle filter there’s no need for pumping – just fill and go.

The MSR does give a little extra reach with its intake pipe, but much less than I have with my pole arrangement. And the pump adds some  inconvenience, weight and complexity – according to some reviews, the mechanism is prone to failure.

Glad that it’s working for you, but for me I can’t see any advantage over the more failproof bottle arrangement..

I also checked out the Trailshot after reading your post, James – because I’m disproportionately interested in water purification systems. ;-)

Right now, however, I’m reluctant to replace my Sawyer with anything. Seems reviews of the newer products always follow the same pattern. First, we get euphoria – mainly due to great flow rates compared to the Sawyer Mini. And then reports of clogging start rolling in.

Another trailshot fan here

Great, easy, quick system

If you do away with the now not needed scoop and dirty water bag it’s actually lighter as well.

My old Sawyer mini with dirty water bag and hanging paraphernalia comes in at 182g, my trailshot is 164g.

2 litres requires a bit of pumping, but it’s faster and less effort than squeezing with the sawyer system..

I use a Befree for on-the-go water and the trailshot for camp filtering, i won’t go back to a sawyer now, i’m happy with this setup

There’s a channel on YouTube called Watch Mike Hike who has a good review on the Trailshot and shows a quick hack to speed up the flow rate.

That looks like it gets a pretty good flow rate, actually. 2 Qs:

1. Have any of you put a lot of liters through it? I wonder what the flow rate is like after 30 days of trail use…
2. Has anybody put a longer hose on it? I wonder if it would be much harder to pump if you had enough hose to stand up straight while pumping.

Geoff (and mattew k Q2),

You can add a longer hose to the filter to get more reach. It will require more pumps to prime the hose and filter, but in principle, once it is primed, I see no reason that the flow rate would be reduced significantly. It would require more force to pump, but the pump is very easy to pump in normal configuration. It’s about repetitions with this filter rather than having to squeeze hard.

The gentleman in this vid shows using a longer hose towards the end. A spare hydration pack hose should work well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOShy0VlaQg

Great if your bottle arrangement works for you. I suppose the same would also work using a cord rather than a pole? Definitely a good tip to have if water were inaccessible in a small ravine for example.

Martin,

I know what you mean! I had issues with the BeFree, but not with clogging. I actually got pretty sick after using it the first time, however I don’t suspect the filter failed, but rather I got a virus which it may not have filtered out. It could also have been due to hand contamination from reaching into the water (though I did use hand sanitiser). Now I use trailshot + chemical treatment.

I believe the hollow fibre filters used in the MSR & Katadyn have been around for a while in various forms in other products by those companies. The form factor is obviously different now though. The trailshot prefilter (on the end of the hose) has clogged for me before, but that is an easily rectified problem on the trail. The filter itself has not clogged at all possibly because there is a prefilter. Another pro of this vs the BeFree!

Mark

Glad to hear it! For me, I love the fact that the time fiddling around setting it up is shorter. No need to do multiple fills/squeezes or scoop and fill a bunch of times. Just set it up, pump and you’re done.

Thomas

Thanks for the vid – hadn’t seen it before. I think I may have inadvertently been doing something similar to the tip he gives (prefilling the bulb). While priming the filter I usually hold it vertically until the bulb fills up. I think this gives the same result, but will have to check next time I use it.

mattew k Q1

I’ve had 20 days trail use with it, but not in one go (over several trips). I haven’t noticed it slowing down possibly due to the fact that there is a little screen pre-filter thing on the end of the hose. I have had this prefilter clog a few times though (I forget exactly how many – maybe 2/3), but this was easy to clean in the field. I think technique can help avoiding this clogging. If you position the end of the hose in the bottom of a stream near the silt floor, it’s more likely to clog. Best to have it hovering in the middle of free flowing water if possible

Not sure the particle size which clogs these kinds of filters up – may be that it’s actually very small particles which the screen would not stop anyway. The sources I typically use here are relatively clear, but can be a little murky/muddy.

I’ve had one for about 9 months, last used on a US/Canada border canoe trip of 106 miles 11 days. Bought to replace a Sawyer Mini in a variety of use styles. In bottle tor trail use, gravity filtering in camp.

The Trailshot is easier to use on the go, drinking strait from it or filtering into another container, used both Nalgene bottles and Camelback bladder. Set up as gravity it flows faster than the mini.

As a gravity setup it works best without the prefilter, which clogged quickly, but was easy to clean. Probably tannin sediment in the water caused the prefilter clogs. When using as as originally designed to pump I had no clogs. It is not difficult to configure a way to backflush it in the field. On that trip I probably filtered 18 gallons with only the prefilter clogs in use as a gravity setup.

I prefer it over the Sawyer Mini and the First Need that I have, and used.

Photos of the setup I put together for gravity filtering.

12.5 ounces total. Just my Trailshot pump and hose (I use a longer intake than MSR supplied)  is 6.5 ounces. The dirty water bag holds 6 quarts. Setup as shown and In my field use it filters a gallon in 4 minutes, gravity mode, thur and after the trip. Just pull the outlet hose and disconnect the inlet from bag fitting, reconnect the prefilter and back to on the trail use. KM

Where did you get the longer inlet hose?  Diameter/thickness?  Thanks!

Thanks for the info and pics Ken!

I’ve found the same with the prefilter. That’s the part which clogs, but for that reason I leave it on and unclog as needed to prevent the main filter from clogging. I’ve thought about getting another less fine screen material and elastic banding it in place on the end of the tube, but have yet to try this.

Food grade silicon rubber hose from Ebay, OD.387 inch/9.83  mm, ID .254 inch/6.46 mm. Also fits Camelback fittings and many other things.

Same size works friction fit in the filter outlet to storage container.

The prefilter only clogged for me when installed on the dirty water bag fitting, drawing right from the bottom of the bag. When I’ve used it as a pump filter as advertised by MSR, from streams/lakes/puddles, no trouble. Just to see if it could be backflushed like other hollow fiber filters I tried blowing water from my mouth backwards thru the filter (after removing the prefilter/check valve), that works so a large syringe could be connected. Anoter backflush method is to remove the filter cartridge and inset it into the pump bulb backwards and pump clean water thru.

 KM

Interesting

This is another hollow fiber filter like the Sawyer Squeeze or Befree.  Interesting how they keep coming up with new ways to do hollow fiber filter.

It says it’s good for bacteria, not for viruses, same as Squeeze

It says not to freeze it like Squeeze

They have an integrity test to verify it’s not damaged from freezing or dropping it.  You configure it in specific manner, squeeze bulb, if bulb reinflates within 30 seconds it’s damaged, replace.  (I’m skeptical that’s a valid test but whatever…)

It’s about the same weight as the Squeeze when you include the squeeze bottle.  I think the befree is lighter.

Sawyer has a new filter which can filter bacteria, viruses, pesticides and heavy metals (depending on version) – https://sawyer.com/products/select-filter-and-purifier/. Also includes a smaller/lighter version of the sawyer squeeze. It’s out now on amazon I think.