New katadyn "befree" filter bottle?

[Ryan K]

I just saw this for the first time when I went to REI on Tuesday to pick up a new Sawyer mini because I couldn’t find my old one (never had clogging issues).  I pulled the Katadyn out of the box to play around with and really liked the feel, but was concerned about the 1,000 gallons limit.  But this thread has inspired me to go back and pick up the Katadyn tomorrow.  It seems about perfect for my purposes – a shoulder-strapped water bottle that I can drink from hands free by just bending my head down.

I like the Hydrapak softflasks – the bag material is pretty indestructible, they feel great to hold (much nicer than a Playtpus) and soft against your chest if strapped to shoulder straps, and they don’t suck in air as you drink so no water sloshing inside.  Hopefully the Katadyn will have the same benefits.

0.6 L volume is ideal for me. Much more and the weight on my chest can become annoying (750 mL is pushing it).  When I need it, I just carry extra dirty water in my 900 mL Evernew.  The big drawback with this setup will be that I will no longer have a bottle of clean water to add drink mix.

[Abraham Schlossberg]

Picked up the 3L Seeker and the replacement filter at REI. They were both on an endcap display with an “Exclusively at REI!” sign. Must have made some deal with Katadyn. Makes sense that the LL Bean website says the seeker is “no longer available”.

The flip-top part of the filter cap screws off to reveal standard size threads. The sawyer squeeze tube adapter fits–may allow easier squeezing into a drink bottle.

[Daryl and Daryl]

Filter arrived.  1.2 ounces on my scale.  Don’t have bag yet.

[Valerie E]

So far, I’ll stick with my Steripen, but I picked one of these up for my husband (gotta transition him away from the Aqua Mira drops, since he’s too impatient to wait the appropriate time for the drops to work).  We’ve got about 300 miles coming up later this summer, so we’ll see how it performs with that much use…

[Ryan K]

Just picked one up.  Here’s a micro-review:

Dry weights:

Soft flask: 21.5 g

Filter: 30.6 g

Cap: 4.4 g

Total dry weight: 56.5 g (2 oz)

Total wet weight (emptied and shaken dry): 70.3 g (2.5 oz)

Flow rate – used clean tap water, it takes about 20 seconds to push a full bottle worth of water (~0.5L) through the filter.  Although the flask can technically hold about 0.6L, the filter displaces some volume and because the air cannot pass backwards through the filter, it is very hard to squeeze all the water out of the flask without first unscrewing the filter to allow air to reenter the flask and then squeezing out the remaing amount.  Visually, the flow rate and volume produces more water than I have observed out of any standard pop-top inverted hand-squeezed water bottle, and much more than through an open bite valve using unfiltered clean water in a Platypus, inverting or putting pressure on the bag.

Note it does not have a bite valve or anything like a standard pop-up cap on standard biking water bottles.  The cap is comprised of a swing-top cover over a simple cone-shaped opening. You can see right down through the opening at the top of the filter fibers.  As long as you fill the flask near-fully before reinserting and screwing on the filter, there will be no air in the flask and you do not need to invert the bag to drink.  Just flip off the cover and slightly squeeze the bag and water will pour out of the opening.

For my purposes, I just took some spectra cord, tied it to my shoulder strap daisy chain, tied a hitch loop around the flask opening, screwed on the filter cinching down the loop, and tied an elastic loop lower down the strap to secure the bottom of the flask.  It feels really nice slightly bouncing on my chest and really easy to drink from just bending my head down – still need one hand to flip the top and put pressure on the flask, but doable while still holding a pole.  Only drawback so far – it’s pretty easy to spray water all over my face and chest if I’m not careful.

About to head out on a 4-day trip to test it out – I’ll update if I discover anything new.

[jimmy b]

Thanks Ryan for the preliminary review. Looking forward to see how it works for you.

[chris smead]

Alrighty I picked up the befree filter and the seeker 3L bladder.   My quick, non scientific impressions:

• Flow rate feels twice as fast as the sawyer mini.   I squeezed out a liter before counting to 20.
• Flip cap is very similar to the smartwater sports caps.  Convenient, but I’m slightly concerned about how long it will last.  That part is standard threading so you can actually bring a spare smartwater cap for safety.
• The seeker 3L bag itself feels very soft.  Could be very strong, but I’m mildly concerned about springing a leak just because I’m unfamiliar with the stuff.
• I was excited about a bigger opening in the bladder to ease filling.  (vs using a scoop).  To test, I filled up my kitchen sink with water, and proceeded to try to fill my bladder.  I was able to get it about 75-80% full without a scoop.  I might be able to get 100% if I put more effort into it.  Slightly disappointed, but overall it’s still much better than trying to fill a sawyer bag.
• The bladder shape seems like it would fit nicely into a side pocket of a backpack.  That’s something that’s not easy with a 3L platypus.

To echo the others, I’m definitely interested in a long term report.

 

[jimmy b]

As with any piece of gear that may make its way into my bag I try to think of any drawbacks to the new piece over what I’m using now. I really like the idea of this filter but I did realize that with my sawyer the soda bottles I carry will mate to the filter in the event of a bad bladder failure. If cheap plastic bottles with a similar thread size as the befree were available that would work too. But short of that I would have to rely on the one supplied bladder or change from bottles to adaptable bladders to have any redundancy.  Any thoughts on this from others.

[Clue M]

3D print a cap adapter ?

[KRS]

So I just saw this today and think i’ll be ordering ASAP. I like the idea of using the included container for on the go and the 3L container for camp. Gravity filter should be easy to rig with a blue Sawyer adapter and tubing.

 

[Ross Bleakney]

I like the idea of using the included container for on the go and the 3L container for camp.

I was thinking the same thing. Right now I have a Sawyer Squeeze that I use for that. I put holes in the edge of the dirty container, and then put cord there so I can hang it up. I use a Tornado Tube to attach the filter to the clean platypus. That way it is pretty easy to hang up (the clean water bottle doesn’t have to sit on the ground).

For this thing, the first part of the process looks very easy — the Hydrapak can be hung up in the air without having to punch any holes. It is the other part that I wonder about. From the picture, it looks like there are screws on the outside (the clean end) of the filter (to hold the cap, presumably). I can see if it fits the Tornado Tube and if not, I can try gluing a couple caps together (and putting a hole in there). I’ll have to check this out, as it may be a bit faster for drinking water on day hikes as well backpacking trips.

 

 

[Jim C]

I picked up the filter and the 3L Seeker the other day, and last night, I set it up as a gravity filter. This was just the typical shower test with tap water, but so far, I’d say this works. I’ll try to post details and photos tomorrow, and I’ll do a field test of it next weekend.

For now, though, this looks like a winner.

[Nick D]

I picked up a BeFree + the Seeker as well. For $5 more, getting the 3L Seeker vs the .6L seemed like a no brainer. I immediately removed the BeFree flip cap and replaced it with a durable push-pull cap. I also ditched the Seeker cap, no need. In my mesh ditty bag it all weighs 4.6ozs.

I tested the flow rate and it seemed REALLY good. You don’t need to squeeze the bag, just invert it and it already flows faster than a pressurized Sawyer mini. I think the Seeker bag material is nice too. It seems quite durable, like a thinner version of a Camelbak bladder. I like that it’s not ‘crinkly’ either. I may prefer the 2L Seeker for nesting in my side pack pocket but that wasn’t available at my REI.

As others have said, I think this has nice potential.

[Dean F.]

Is anything else compatible with these 43mm openings?  Is that the size of a Gatorade bottle mouth or something?

[Nick D]

No…. unfortunately, it’s a little bigger than a Gatorade mouth. That was one of the first things I tried.

[Donna C]

I just picked up the 0.6 liter bag with filter at REI only because I wasn’t sure if I would like such a weird feeling bottle and if it suits my needs.  I also looked at the 3L Seeker as well and decided to wait.

1.  This is a keeper. I love that I can actually see the filter and if it’s got any grunge growing inside after use ( proper cleaning of course after a trip).
2. I love that it can dry quickly because of the amount of exposure to the filter.  This may be a downside if I drop it in the dirt or sand. It happens.

What would be nice is a cap for the 0.6L bottle if I am using the larger Seeker in camp to store water and filter.  I am guessing the Seeker lid fits the smaller bottle as well.  I am going canoe camping for 8 days and will bring this along.  I can just dip the bottle into the water and drink. I’m not sure how good a grip I can get on a soft, wet bottle.  I really am not fond of soft flasks, Platy or others. They all collapse when filling.

 

 

[Jim C]

I’m going to be experimenting with Gatorade bottles in the next couple of days. Here’s what I’ve seen:

1. There are (at least) two mouth diameters on Gatorade bottles.
2. All bottles below 32oz have the smaller mouth and will not work.
3. Some 32oz Gatorade bottles have the small opening, while others have the larger opening. At the stores in my area, the bottles with a curved, concave profile have the smaller cap. The straight sided bottles have the larger cap. Unfortunately, I think the curved bottles are replacing the straight bottles.
4. The larger opening is the right size, but may not be the right threading. I partially tested this, but with several caveats. I’ll put together a better test and report here, hopefully in the next day or two.

[J-L]

Ross, I have a Tornado Tube. You can screw off the flip cap on the BeFree and screw on the Tornado Tube. It fits fine

[Jim C]

It definitely does not work with Gatorade bottles, even when the diameter matches. Gatorade bottles have a much coarser thread than the Katadyn/Hydrapak filter/bottles, so they don’t match and it leaks. I found I could invert the bottle and drink from it without it leaking, but the slightest pressure, and it would leak. Since you’d be dealing with dirty water, you wouldn’t want even a small leak.

So no go with the Gatorade bottles. A similar Tropicana bottle also failed.

It does work perfectly with a 750ml Hydrapak Softflask, if you want a little extra volume.

[Ross Bleakney]

Thanks John — this looks like a winner to me. I’m definitely going to pick one up.

I guess the big question is how well it flows after a few months or years. Almost all filters are great when you first buy them.

[Ryan K]

Just got back from my trip testing out the BeFree.  It worked like a charm.

Comfort: Very comfortable strapped to my shoulder strap, almost no bounce except when I was running, and nice that it shrunk in size as I drank.

Flow: Flow rate was great – better than any squeeze bottle. Perhaps not as nice as sipping from an open bottle, but the fact that I didn’t need to unstrap it but could just bend my head down and squeeze was huge.  Because it shrinks in size, it’s very easy to monitor how much water I had at all times.  You do need to try to fill it fully or squeeze it to bring the water level near the top before screwing on the filter fully or you won’t be able to squeeze water out of it without inverting.  One issue it that you can’t squeeze all the water out because the filter inside gets in the way.  To get the last bit of water, you need to unscrew, let the flask reinflate, screw the filter back on, and invert while squeezing.

Volume: For dry stretches, my Evernew 0.9 L and the ~0.5 L on the BeFree (the filter displaces some) was enough.  Normally, I only hike with one 0.5 L bottle for filtered water, and pack extra dirty water in Evernew/Playtpus bags ranging from 0.9L to 3L, so the BeFree matches my style well volume wise.

Filling: The large opening makes it real easy to pour water from my Evernew into it without losing any.  You do have to hold the flask right around the top plastic part to avoid squeezing the flask (of course it doesn’t stand up).  The large opening also helps when filling from non-moving water – one sweep of the hand fills the flask, much faster than trying to fill my Evernew with standard screw-cap or even my Platypus Big Zip, where you have to repeatedly dunk and sweep while trying to avoid losing water you’ve already collected.  On one little seep with the water just flowing down a rock face, I was able to squeeze the round plastic opening against the rock and fill the flask after about 2 minutes (ok, that was the one time near the end of my hike that I was really low on water).

Materials:  The flask fabric seems pretty bomber – it’s not going to burst from a face plant and going to need a major impaling to puncture (one where I would be thankful that the flask took one for the team rather than impaling my chest).  Threads on the top plastic are good – maybe once or twice I screwed the filter on askew and had to readjust.  The flip-top worked fine, sometimes it didn’t seat correctly over the drink nozzle and I had to fiddle with it a bit – I can see that being one piece I might want to replace with a different top at some point.

Cleaning: When I got back, just in case, I backflushed the filter under the faucet for a few seconds with low flow so that the water to didn’t overflow over the top – not sure I needed to.  Just rinsed out the flask with tap water.  You can’t really pull the flask inside out, but the wide opening makes it easy to clean and it’s dishwasher-safe, but since I’m not putting drink mix into dirty water, it’s not really going to get funky.

All in all, this is now my go-to filter.  For anyone already using a shoulder-strap water bottle, I think it is by far the best option, giving you a great filter and soft flask in one.

[Bill Wang]

Thanks for the review, Ryan.  I purchased a BeFree and 3L seeker at REI and just used it on a quick 2-day trip near Tahoe.  I agree with everything Ryan reported.  I actually like that the filter sits ‘inside’ the flask because it doesn’t flop around like the sawyer (esp full size) does.  Flow is way better than any of my sawyers.  The 0.6 L is just a little too small for me – 1L would be ideal for me.  For some reason the 3L Seeker cap does NOT seal well with the 0.6L flask.  Although the threads seem to match perfectly, I suspect the seeker cap is slightly too tall for the 0.6L flask.

I’m not so happy with the 3L seeker.  It seemed quite floppy compared to my 2L platys, and cannot stand up by itself.  I also found the 3L seeker difficult to store in my pack side pocket and would fall out especially when partially empty.  Being so long and floppy I found it sometimes hard to pour water from it into the 0.6L flask since you need to hold the flask with one hand by its top.  I did found both the flask and seeker very easy to fill up from small springs, still water, etc.  I think an ideal system for me would be a 1L sized flask and a 1L or  2L platy for extra storage.

[Nick D]

William – I agree with you about the 3L Seeker; I like the materials but the dimensions are lousy. It does look like they’ll be selling the 1L and 2L versions soon though.

2L Seeker – Tornado Tube – Evernew 1500 bladder …. will most likely be my setup.

 

 

 

[jimmy b]

I could not find any of the seekers on the hydrapack web sight so I inquired with them about the 1 and 2 liter flasks and to my surprise they already have them. They will be updating their web sight soon and will email me.  I will get back to you all then. REI is still only carrying the 3.

[Lester Moore]

Does anyone know if the Befree needs to be kept above freezing like the Sawyer filters so? The Katadyn website does not list any specifications for temperature range. If the Befree can go below freezing without damage, then that’s a big benefit over Sawyer filters.

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