Seeking thoughts on Katadyn’s BeFree

[John Vance]

I don’t always filter drinking water depending on the source and don’t filter cooking water other than straining out mineral or organic material – “floaters” and/or “sinkers” and sometimes “swimmers”.

[Jerry Adams]

same here.  About half the time I don’t bother to filter because it’s a mountain stream or spring.  Even though my Squeeze is just sitting there.

If I’m heating the water I don’t filter that either.  That is actually a more effective treatment than filtering.

I’ve never got sick, but that is bad reasoning.  The chance of getting sick is fairly small if you don’t treat your water.  Some people are asymptomatic.  Even if only 1 in 10 people eventually get seriously sick, it would still be wise to treat your water.  You would have to do a statistical experiment with many people to see the benefit of treating water, not just anecdotal stories of an individual.

[Brad W]

I filter all water, regardless of source. I have been tricked by springs before only to find them coming to the surface uphill a ways with animal scat in it’s flow.

@Dirtbag-how do you like the Sawyer Micro? I plan on making that adapter now that I have a Befree that failed the integrity test.

 

[Dan]

I do filter all of my drinking water. Occasionally I will fill a cooking pot from a creek if I’m going to boil it, but usually the clean water bag is just sitting there conveniently, so I just fill the pot with clean water.

[Rusty Beaver]

“I’m curious – who in this conversation filters 100% of the water they consume in the backcountry?”

I lived in a sheep camp in Idaho’s Pioneer mtns for the entire summer of 78. 100% of my water came from springs and streams…some of which ran through mine tailings (didn’t know any better). This was in a livestock grazing area with beaver ponds. We didn’t even carry water bottles. Instead, we just drank like wild animals. Probably drank 100s of gallons just like that in the previous years. Hadn’t heard of giardia…or any other water born nasties. Never got sick.

A few years later, I learned about giardia via some water filter or treatment advertisement. It scared me so started filtering. ~15 years ago, I began alternating between filtering and drinking like an animal again….but I was more selective of my sources. ~ 8 years ago, my Sawyer stopped working altogether at the beginning of a trip. I drank out of a small river, a creek, and a good sized lake with a scummy film on it. I wouldn’t have drank out of it had my filter been working. Two weeks ago, I drank out of a tiny stream with elk droppings littering the bank.

Point is, I’ve done what we’re taught not to do for years… drank an untold amount of surface water that wasn’t treated in any way. I’ve been razzed and called a fool for it. Never have I gotten sick from the practice.

I backpack in areas that do not see a lot of people. I sometimes filter and sometimes don’t. If my filter stops working, I won’t lose a bit of sleep over it.

[dirtbag]

The micro is ok. I used it as my backup to the BeFree.. . And if u have read this thread, well we know how that had been

[Rusty Beaver]

Another story: In ~2009, I was on a self-supported whitewater kayak trip…in a cow infested desert river. I camped at the put-in which was thick with willows. The closest source of water to filter from was where the crap littered cow trail went into the river. I had a filter I thought…..so went for it. Drank half a pint then filled my Kleen Kanteen. Seemed my Sweetwater filter was pumping easier…and it seemed the water was colder than normal. At the time, I didn’t give it much thought.

Later that day, while drinking my “filtered” water, I happened to see inside my Kanteen as I lifted it up for another drink…at the exact moment the sun shone in. To my horror, the water was full of fine sediment. I somehow hadn’t noticed. In total, I had drank a solid pint of this.

I had intestinal problems that night at camp. However, I started the trip with a stomach bug…so I don’t know if the water played any role. I was fine in the days after.

I later cut the filter in half only to find a large split all the way down its length. The water didn’t taste like cow shit because it ran through the carbon that the filter housing contained. So I am a believer in that stuff!

[Bob Shuff]

I filter or boil 100% of the time.  In all honesty, living in drought heavy SoCal, I’m often carrying all my water since many sources are seasonal and away from the PCT trail and seasonal updates can be unreliable.  With a La Nina being hinted at that will probably continue for most of the next year in my local stomping grounds.  I yearn for those trails where carrying a liter or less is typical.  Maybe I just need to get out of town more!

 

I’ve been using the BeFree lately, but have multiple Sawyers, a Steripen and the parts for a gravity system in my gear bins.  I also carry chlorine tablets in my FAK, but I think they might have expired.

 

I’m even intrigued by the Grayl, but then I ask myself how often am I going to carry that heavy bottle around when there may be no reliable water sources on the hike.  Given the healthy skepticism here on various brands, I wonder if anyone wants to weigh in on Grayl, who says: “Inside the purifier cartridge, non-woven ceramic fibers block and trap microorganisms and particulates with a very high electropositive charge, removing submicron contaminants through electroadsorption. Ultra-powdered activated carbon adsorbs chemicals, heavy metals, bad flavors and odors.”

Also from their Tech Specs online:

Effective against viruses: 99.99%
Effective against bacteria: 99.9999%
Effective against protozoan cysts: 99.9%
Effective against particulates: Yes
Effective against many chemicals: Yes
Effective against many heavy metals: Yes
Improves water flavor, odor & clarity: Yes
Chemical-free: Yes

Lifespan: replaceable purifier cartridge lasts 300 cycles (40 gal / 150 L)
Shelf life: stored under proper conditions, an unopened Purifier Cartridge has a shelf life of 10 years. After a cartridge has been used, it lasts at least three additional years.

Testing Standards: independently tested by a certified laboratory to meet or exceed NSF/ANSI protocol 42 and 53 for pathogen and chemical removal; meets the the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Guide Standard and Protocol for testing microbiological water purifiers
Origin: designed in USA, made in China; purifier media made in USA

 

[Jason McGrath]

After buying 2 I gave up on them. I can’t count on them for an extended hike. Most of my trips are high routes. One silty source and the flow is pretty bad (I try to avoid these sources but I guess sometimes it’s hard to tell). I’d tried religiously banging and swishing and even a modified backflush.

[jscott]

I filter unless I’m boiling water for a meal. Then I just scoop water out of a stream or lake.

It’s funny–we all base out thinking on our personal experience. I’ve been strict about filtering (steripenning) even clear, delicious sierra water and never been sick, over several decades. So I continue. Would I never had gotten sick if I didn’t filter, or only in obvious places? who knows. I have on occasion run into hikers coming down with giardia symptoms. And I most certainly have seen horse poop all along popular trails. giardia is out there.

[Rusty Beaver]

http://californiamountaineer.net/giardia.html

[Jerry Adams]

I’m not too worried about giardia, but sharks are a bigger concern to me :)

[Jerry Adams]

Hmmm… this could get political, worrying about sharks.  But don’t worry about electric boat batteries.

[Brad W]

Back to the Befree Integrity test-I reached out to Katadyn regarding the level of effort during an integrity test and got this response:

Filter Integrity Test

• The Filter must be well saturated – Soak it for 30 minutes
• Then, put it on the empty flask and blow into it.
• If the flask/bottle easily inflates like a balloon, then it no longer safe for use. (You should not have to put a lot of effort into blowing into the filter)
• If you can’t inflate it, then it is safe to use.

 

Problem is who can quantify the amount of effort being blown into the filter? It leaves much up to interpretation. Is my original filter still good? Not sure. I wish an engineer from Katadyn was available for input.

[Zero Flight]

@Bob

I have one of the Grayls, and I like it for taking an overnight dirt bike or ATV trip into the woods.  Also tried it on a dayhiking vacation in the Amazon.  But that sucker is too heavy for backpacking.  And at one point it spilled some of the dirty water out the sides as I was pushing down, which meant I had to be careful about cleanliness of the mouth spout.  I did a quick amateur microscope look at the filtered water it seems to do its job.  I’m not the best at judging taste except for outright bad/unsafe as iron well water doesn’t bother me any more than chlorinated city water.  My kidneys sure care though, lol.

I very much don’t recommend it for backpacking.  Basecamping or something, sure.

 

As for my habits… for longer trips, or trips where I need to go several hours between water sources, I tend to alternate between an old Sawyer Mini and the Survivor Filter Pro hand pump style (when I expect to be filtering for at least a couple of people).  For shorter trips with frequent water sources, I usually use a nalgene style LifeStraw GO bottle that has a replaceable LifeStraw built into the bottle itself.  Very convenient to dip & sip along the way though not as streamlined for weight efficiency.

But I always carry a small dropper bottle of partially diluted bleach for sources I’m particularly worried about.  Used to carry iodine tablets but switched to the bleach awhile back since I’ll just use any leftover in my laundry when I get home anyway and I can refill with fresh bleach just prior to the trip and.  So no shelf life to worry about.

[jscott]

Jerry, I also worry about sharks when I’m out in the Sierra high country. Card sharks. I’m hopeless at poker and games of chance. I worry about losing my dinner to a backpacking gangster. It’s never happened.

Apparently, card sharks don’t backpack. Another reason to explore the wilderness!

[Jerry Adams]

more card sharks near Tahoe?

[Fifty Weekends]

I had a BeFree and used for a few trips, then on a random day hike where I was providing water for 2 people, it completely stopped working and no amount of back-flushing would fix it. It went from high flow rate to basically no flow rate all at once which is pretty dangerous.

Before this, I had a Sawyer Mini for years which had a low flow rate but I could always count on it.

I now use a Quickdraw for a couple years and it’s been high flow rate and super reliable. So I would never use a BeFree again.

 

 

[Brad W]

@ Fifty so you had already filtered water the day is just stopped? I have never heard of that on any filter. Usually there is a slow down then clog, even in the worst waters.  Were you filtering glacial silt or very dirty water?

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