BeFree Filter Update: Bad News, 3 Days on the Trail with 5 People

@David & Joe

I am using the 1L version of the BeFree….the bottle still works, just a very, very tiny pinhole leak that only appears when squeezing the bottle ALOT.

I still will use the BeFree as my primary filter, but I will definitely carry a Sawyer Squeeze as my backup.

I love the BeFree’s rate of flow and I am willing to carry the Sawyer as backup for the pure convenience.

As for the water sources, I did go out on rocks where possible or places along the shore that were free of soap suds or pond scum.

Water was brownish looking in the lake, but relatively clear in the bottle.

I have restored a good rate of flow to the BeFree at home….with the help of my fellow BPLers….I have learned that it is possible to back flush the filter in the field….just not sure if I would be damaging the filter.

Tony

Maybe I am missing something (and do chime in if I am), the BeFree filtration system is coming across as a 90% solution.  While it may be good with relatively clean and clear water, it does not seem to be adequate for the remaining 10% time (situations, locations, accumulation, whatever).  It seems like the Sawyer Mini may be a 97% solution due to diminishing flow rate with usage.  It seems like you would be going backwards to bring a BeFree AND to have a backup solution at the same time.  I guess I am pretty happy with my regular Sawyer filter: it just seems a bit more robust for my taste.  YMMV

I’m with Jon.

I bought a Squeeze the moment they came out and considered it a revelation. It replaced a First Need purifier at a fraction of the cost and weight.  Similarly, I purchased the Mini immediately upon availability, enamored with the loss of an ounce in carry weight.  I disliked the Mini almost immediately for the lower flow and increased effort to squeeze the bag, and went back to the Squeeze.  After building a DIY gravity system around the Squeeze, I experimented (and ultimately stayed with) the black SP140 bottle filter in that gravity system.  In my opinion the Mini is a failed experiment and cannot be recommended for any reason.  The Squeeze and SP140 filters have proven to be effective, lightweight, reliable and are easily backflushed…I’m sticking with them for those reasons.

I see the appeal of the BeFree, but am unwilling to trust it given what has been said in this and other threads.

@ Jon & JCH

Completely agree with you that the Sawyer Squeeze is a 97% solution and that carrying the BeFree is redundant or unnecessary.

Once I get the Sawyer Squeeze, I will compare the flow rate against the BeFree.

If the rate of flow is close or the same, I will go with the Squeeze.

My ONLY reason to consider carrying both is that the rate of flow on the BeFree is REALLY good and adds a bit of speed for filtering water.

Using my Sawyer Mini for the past number of years has been okay at best, painfully slow at other times.

I am willing to take the weight penalty for fast filtered water.

Based on my future experiences with the BeFree, it may cause me to stop carrying it.

I have been using the Sawyer Filter since 2008-2009 with the original black inline filter they have had and then made the jump to the mini….so very successful and proven system.

I just never got around to buying the Squeeze, which I was going to after my frustrations with the mini…..then the BeFree came onto my radar and I gave it a try.

Worked great on my first trip….died horribly on the second trip….definitely frustrating to have spent $90 on two filters and to have them clog to a trickle that was slower than the mini that I carried as a backup.

Hope that explains why I am giving the BeFree a second chance.

@Jon…..P.S. love your stove. Been my go to esbit solution since we meet at the GGG a few years back.

Tony

Tony,

Can you explain how you are backflushing the BeFree?  I hooked up my Platypus bladder to it via my drink hose and the Sawyer blue screw-on thingy, but I was hesitant to force water back through it after talking to customer service.  I’m also still confused why Katadyn states that we are not supposed to back flush it.  I haven’t gotten a good reason why.  If I understand correctly, the output side of the filter is identical to the Sawyer.

Even though the BeFree is not perfect (I do hope they perfect it next year), I love it so much that I think I’m retiring my all-black filter gravity system that I’ve been using since 2009 (along with Tony).

David,

It was also my understanding that you cannot back flush the BeFree.

I think that there is a concern that back flushing could damage the membrane between the filter material and the output chamber under the flip top cap.

Don, who is part of this thread, said that he was able to use the Sawyer syringe to back flush the filter.

So I used an old Platypus Filter Link to screw onto the top of the BeFree, after removing the flip top cap.

Then I connected a syringe with tubing to connect to my filter link to let me push water back through the filter.

Using the inline filter screw on adapters from the Sawyer Squeeze should allow you to do the same thing.

Don said that he did it without anything but the Sawyer Syringe.

Anyway, I was able to push two or three syringes of clean water through the filter.

Afterwards, I did a blow test, which I am not sure exactly how that works, but I put some clean water in the output chamber and used my mouth to blow water back through the filter.

The water pushed through slowly and only as a few drips at a time….no full blast of air going through, which might indicate a blown out membrane/damage to the filter.

Previously, I had used warm to hot water to shake in the 1 L bag to try to clear the filter….I pushed the warm/hot water through the filter, used vinegar and water mixture….all of that restored my filter from a trickle to about 60% of normal.

The back flushing might have gotten me to 70%, but I honestly did not see a huge improvement over what I had previously done.

Still, good to know that I could attempt a back flush of the filter, but I am not sure if I have damaged my filter or not.

I am going with I have not as the water flow is not back to what it was new, but much better than when it was clogged up and essentially useless to me.

Tony

So…wouldn’t using a Steipen and carrying a Befree as a backup solve all of this? The Steripen never clogs, and if it should fail–it’s never happened for me,but hey–you have a functioning Befree to bring you through the trip. And since you can use the Befree bottle in camp to store water–it’s not a complete loss weight carrying-wise.

I carried an early iteration of the Katadyn squeeze bottle filter for years and always loved it. It rarely clogged. It weighed more than the Befree for sure. It never got any love here. Then I started using a steripen and never looked back.

“If it seems too good to be true…”
seems to be being proved right again.  I really wanted to buy the rather pricey $45 filter from REI, despite the online knowledge it doesn’t mate with any commercially (gas station) available water bottle (as in, Sawyer and SmartWater).

For context, I hate squeezing my Sawyer minis, but love them and my relatively effortless full-size Sawyer Squeezes’ : They always work. Bring the syringe, and filter and you have water. Ive bought numerous of each model from the local Wal-Mart for $20 and $30, respectively because I occasionally forget which gear bag has a filter set-up in it and it gets left out in sub-freezing weather we have here a third of the year.

If Katadin mates the Be free with a common threaded bottle (gatorade), I could consider the limited life span worth it for the greater flow rate, but until then, no way.

Sawyer, all the way!

@Jeffrey

Yes, carrying a BeFree and Steripen would cover all of your bases.

For ME, I don’t carry a Steripen (I do own one) because I don’t want to reply on batteries.

So I am going to either go Sawyer Squeeze all the way or carry the BeFree and Squeeze….redundant when I could just use the Squeeze for all my needs, but the rate of flow on the BeFree is very impressive.

I just have to compare the Squeeze to the BeFree in its reduced state of flow to see if it makes sense to carry both.

I am carrying extra weight for the convenience of fast filtered water that the BeFree offers.

Tony

Water is so crucial that redundancy is worth it. A poorly functioning filter can end up taking so much extra energy and time that the little added weight is validated. And again, I always have an extra empty bottle for storing water in camp so that I don’t have to constantly go to a source. A back up is that extra bottle.

We returned our first BeFree immediately because it leaked around the white part of the cap. The second one failed between the first and second trips. Only drips of water would come out when I tested it (thank goodness!) before the second trip. I did some nosing around on the internet and learned that the failure may have been due to very tiny calcium deposits precipitating from our tap water. (Our tap water is not unusually hard, but it isn’t soft, either.) I soaked the filter for 30 minutes in straight apple-cider vinegar. Then I filled the bottle with tap water, swished the filter as directed on the packaging, and squeezed. It worked perfectly! I wonder if this means I should always carry a small bottle of vinegar on longer trips? I don’t know how long it takes for the calcium to precipitate. I assume that the first clog was because I air-dried the filter after the first trip and then stored it for a month or so. (I did run some bleach water through it before drying.)

I also found out the hard way that the BeFree does not flow water when it is dry.  I fill the reservoir before my trips and screw on the BeFree to let it soak.

Ditto what Mr. Whitesell said.  The BeFree always locks up tight between trips and requires a good long soak (15 minutes? 30 minutes?) before it works again.  You can do as recommended above and let it soak as you head to the trail or expect to wait a while at the first water source.  Apart from that minor nuisance, I’ve had no trouble with my BeFree.

May I share some questions I passed by both Katadyn and Hydrapak that all that are using the BeFree filter would like to know about:

QUESTION – Hydrapak

Can an individual purchase BeFree “Stock” REPLACEMENT 0.6L & 1.0L filter bottle DIRECTLY from Hydrapak?

ANSWER – Hydrapak

We do not sell Katadyn branded goods.  I have notified the Katadyn CS staff about this issue.

Katadyn is a relatively new customer for us and their staff just wasn’t aware that our standard procedure is for us to NOT to sell their products.  We make flasks for Salomon, Nathan, and many others but you will never see us sell those products directly, as that would be competing with our customers.

Regards,

Rodger Bradford

Customer Service Department

 QUESTION– Katadyn

 Where mighT an individual purchase a BeFree “Stock” REPLACEMENT 0.6L & 1.0L  filter bottles??

ANSWER – Katadyn

We do not have replacement flasks for purchase as Katadyn as a company is not in the flask business, but rather the filter business. We do have replacement flasks that Hydrapak has produced for us in the event of needing to take care of a warranty issue. We have partnered with Hydrapak to supply the flask that is part of the BeFree™ System, but they do not sell filters, so it is in their best interest to produce flasks that are compatible with our filter (Seeker, Ultra, Stash). We completely understand your point of view, but I hope you can understand the reasoning for not having them for purchase.

QUESTIONS– Katadyn

 Have Modifications OR Updates been applied to the introductory KATADYN:  BeFree Water Filtration filter bottle to insure reliability,  as individuals that have used the system since its introduction have been experiencing issues with pin hole leaks in the seams and delamination of the cap portion to the flex bag due to welded seam separation? (The “systems” 2 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY while servicing a purpose to the customer, it does not help filtering water for the individual on extended outdoor trip that are using the system for their water needs!!…..why bring additional systems as backups??)

Does the design staff of Hydrapak feel this leakage is an issues with 1.) seam welding, 2.) production methods, 3.) individuals using the system and squeezing the water from the bag inappropriately OR a 4.) combination of factors?

Does Hydrapak feel currently the flask production issue with the 0.6L & 1.0L filter bottle is solved, as the filter system has been on the market now for almost a year with many individuals around the world using the BeFree Water Filtration product that your filter bottle is associated with …….some successfully without squeeze flask issues and some not?

Have you felt the need to communicated to KATADYN to place additional WARNINGS in the manual provided with the filter to guide individuals on the does/don’t ways of using the filter bottle in the application of pressure to the the squeeze filter bottle as the SAWYER Company has done?

ANSWER – Katadyn

You are completely right when you reference some initial issues with the first batch of flasks. The initial process was much different than it is today. During our first round of production the flasks were sealed by hand which made for inconsistent heat and timing issues, resulting in the polymers of the flask unable to adhere properly. Hydrapak has since addressed and rectified this resulting in much greater results.

We implemented two key changes to the BeFree™ line to avoid future failures as part of the natural progression of design improvement and new technologies. Katadyn offers a lifetime warranty on the BeFree™—and will replace any bottles at any time that have experienced delamination. We along with Hydrapak also support the 2 year No-leak guarantee which means that we will replace a flask should it separate from the seal.

In our BeFree™ Manual ( PDF that is included with the newly purchased BeFee Filter) we do walk customers through what should be done prior to using the filter, as well as warn users of what not to do in terms of holding, unscrewing, cleaning, etc. Here is the link to the Manual in case you don’t have your copy anymore.

https://www.katadyn.com/downloads/katadyn/manuals/filters/manual_befree_usa_en.pdf

Please let us know if you think any topics should be further discussed or illustrated in future manuals as we want to be as transparent as possible and provide customers with a pleasant experience.

Kind regards,

Leah Jones
Marketing Communications Manager

Katadyn North America
4830 Azelia Ave N #300 | Minneapolis, MN 55429 | USA
Tel 763 746 3517 (direct)
Fax 763 746 3540
leah.j@katadyn.c<u>om</u> | http://www.katadyngroup.com

Following in Steve Jobs’ footsteps. You’re just holding it wrong.

100 liters through mine and no issues with flask or filter.  Flow dropped off maybe 15% after 30-40 liters but it is still my favorite way to treat/filter water.  No special treatment other than rinsing the filter in tap water and putting it away after it dries.  I make efforts to select water sources that are as visually clean as possible.

I would take this on a thru hike but only use it when appropriate.  For stagnant and cow water I would treat with chemicals and hold my nose.   Bleach in droppers is my backup and long hike preference.  Simple, effective, and helps mask the often nasty taste with “pool water” taste.

Honestly, I only treat water when I feel it necessary which is about half the time.  This is for vacation backpacking.  On thru, long hikes, or desert hikes, you “get what you get” and need to have the ability to handle all types of water sources.

May I share some questions I passed by both Katadyn and Hydrapak that all that are using the BeFree filter would like to know about:

Thanks for posting that, KL!

@Ken  Thanks for taking the time to post up your conversation you had with Katadyn.

I just called them this morning and asked for a replacement bottle after one of my two 1 L BeFree bottles started leaking on my 3rd trip out with it…on a dayhike in Lake Tahoe to Mt. Tallac.

The seam weld between the hard plastic “top” and the soft flask meets failed….slow pinhole leak that soaked my pack on the trip up to Tahoe while it was in the outer side pocket.

Katadyn was easy to deal with.

They asked for the Lot Number printed on the side of the bottle…in my case, it was “2901X”, which was printed on the seam weld on the side of the soft flask between the 0.2L and 0.4L markers printed on the side of the bottle.

I just had to provide my name and address and they said that a replacement 1.0 L Flask would be mailed out.

Three days ago, I read a post on this thread about someone using 100% vinegar to soak their BeFree in to help restore the rate of flow.

I ended up doing the same thing….filling up my flask with enough vinegar to completely submerge the filter when turned upside down. (I replaced the flip top with a sport bottle top with a cap that it flat on top, which allows me to have the bottle stand upright while upside down).

I did squeeze come vinegar through the BeFree at the start of the soak to make sure that the filter was getting a complete soak inside and out.

After 30 minutes, I pushed the vinegar into my 2nd BeFree flask for its 30 minute soak.

Then I pushed cold tap water through the BeFree filter to remove any vinegar from the flask and filter.

The rate of flow seems better if not back to its original state.

So thank you all for your advice and tips from back flushing to soaking the filter in vinegar.

Just goes to show that there is no Perfect Filter, but just pros and cons and tips for best practices when using this particular filter.

Still love it, but with my “education” I have to careful about my water sources to avoid clogging and to consider carrying a Sawyer Squeeze as my backup.

Redundant yes, but I do love the rate of flow on the BeFree.

Here is hoping that version 2.0 will solve these known issues.

Tony

This may sound a bit stupid, but why are so many people prepared to back up a ~100g system with another ~100g system (and not with tablets)?

(Though as a tape-worm egg hypochondriac, I suppose I understand. ;-) )

Martin,

That is a good point….for me, I like that the Sawyer is a tried and true filter that has served me well for the last 8 years, but the rate of flow is poor….hence why I have moved to the BeFree.

Tablets would be a lighter backup, but carrying the Sawyer is “faster” water on demand vs. tablet and I don’t have to worry about running out of tablets, if on a long trip.

In the end, I am willing to carry the extra weight of a 2nd filter simply for the convenience  of being able to filter water quickly with the BeFree.

I guess that in my older years, I have opted to add some weight into my kit for the sake of speed/efficiency/comfort/convenience.

Honestly, I really no longer keep track of my base weight…though, I think that I am somewhere around 9-10.5 lbs…..though, hiking with a bear canister in the Sierras gives me a 2.1 to 2.4 lb weight penalty…so maybe I will never be ultra light in that sense?

Tony

I’m not criticising, Tony… I even understand it to an extent.

The remark about tape worms was in earnest. :-( A purification system that doesn’t deal with their eggs is one I won’t carry – not as my primary solution, anyway. Filters can handle them, tabs don’t.

Also, I myself take plenty of stuff others would consider redundant or too heavy.

Though it kind of strikes me that Katadyn is getting a lot of paying beta users by featuring such a great flow rate… and half of those beta users keep something currently more reliable in their packs, too. It’s the kind of thing that Apple could get away with, but Microsoft couldn’t. ;-)

@Tony…I also had a 1 L BeFree bottle that started started leaking prior to my Isle Royal packrafting trip so  I contacted Julie at  Katadyn. Julie asked for the serial # on the seam (did not want the bottle back) and it was 2901X as was yours,  BUT when the replacement bottle came I looked at the replacement serial # they sent and it was…….2901X also!!

@ Martin….all good. I was not taking your comments as any sort of criticism….just an honest question.

We definitely are beta testers for Katadyn.

I CC’ed a copy of my initial review on BPL of the BeFree via their email/feedback on their website. A woman emailed me a few days later thanking me for the review and suggestions for improvement. She said that she was forwarding them to their headquarters in Switzerland.

I suspect that they made the flask as light as possible with an eye on the competition and to make a big splash on the market with their new uber light weight product.

Once it is firmly established….fix any flaws and add a little weight.

@ Ken…..humm, good to know. When I get my replacement flask, I will post up the Lot Number on it

That said, I have two filters with both flask from the same lot number.

The other one is fine and one failed.

Tony

My 2016 2L Hydrapak Seeker still tastes like plastic after much use and trying the lemon juice freeze trick.  The flow rate on my BeFree is less than when I first started using it, but it is still better than a Sawyer Mini.  The comments on product reviews for the 1L BeFree bottle seem to indicate a high failure rate as well.

My reasons for using the BeFree so far are:  Lower weight (2L Seeker and filter for 2.9oz), larger mouth on water bag, and speed of flow.  But the plastic taste is getting old and the flow is getting slower.  Does the 600ml or 1L bag also taste like plastic?

I’m ready to call the BeFree a failed product.  Aqua Mira tastes better then plastic bag flavor.  The bags are still failing.  And Is there any way to correctly backflush the filter, since swishing isn’t enough for a thorough cleaning?

Bought a sawyer squeeze for $30 at walmart earlier this week.  The mini I have sucks for flow.

Good News/Bad News

Problem-Flow rate went from slow (after last trip) to zero (after bleach and 3 month storage).

Step #1-Soaked filter in water for 24 hours.  Flow rate = a few drips per minute.  Passed integrity test (i.e. could not blow through filter

Step #2-Soaked in vinegar for 48 hours.  Flow rate = high…as good as new.  Failed integrity test (i.e. could blow through it like a whistle)