thoughts on frontier pro / frontier max water filters

wowee, no one uses/has used these filters?

Ben, I have been using a Frontier Pro filter almost exclusively for 7-8 years, in conjunction with Katadyn pills. I use it with my gravity filtering setup. You can indeed backflush those filters. I’ve only had to do that once in the field, when I came across a river that had a lot of fine sediment in it. All I had to do was remove the cotton pre-filter and squeeze the clean water bag hard to blast the gunk out of the filter element. Then rinse or replace the cotton (I carry a spare in my emergency kit) and put it back in and reassemble everything. Easy peasy…

I followed the crowd a few years ago and tried the Sawyer Mini, but I didn’t think it performed any better than the FP. Now I simply buy a new Frontier Pro every spring and it lasts well past one season. I switch it out every year just to be sure.

I like the fact that I can have some water in 20 minutes, after the pills kill the viruses and bacteria. Keep in mind that I carry what water I’ll need for the day, and treat a gallon or more when I get to camp. If you plan to drink from streams as you hike (to save weight carried), you might need a different setup.

hey gary, according to aquamira, the pro (i.e. the ‘green’ filter) removes bacteria, and the max (i.e. the ‘red’ filter) removes viruses as well. any reason you use the pills as well?

Hi Ben. I don’t know about red or green filters, so maybe I need to do some more research. I have been using the regular old Frontier Pro filters for several years, and maybe they are outdated, or at least have been upgraded. The filter pore size of the ones I’ve been using are too large to stop bacteria, and certainly viruses. The original FP filters were intended to filter protozoa, which are much larger than even the biggest bacteria. So I’ve been using chlorine dioxide tablets to quickly take care of the little guys (20 minute wait time in all but the coldest water). The other thing I like about those FP filters is they have a carbon component, which completely neutralizes any chlorine taste.

The original FrontierPro just removes large single cell organisms like Giardia and Crypto.  The Red and Green products came out last year I think.

If you search back in the archives, you will find multiple examples of folks using the FP just like Gary described.

Since the FP is not hollow fill filter, you can drop it or have it freeze and not worry about carrying around a useless piece of plastic.

hey bruce, yeah i read a bunch of those older posts but as you described, it seems they have a new generation of filters that appear to compete very favorably with sawyer. so i’m curious if anyone here has actually used them! :)