SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier REVIEW

I have a Steripen adventurer(owned it since December) and like it a lot. As the article above mentioned, it does make you re-think your gear load-out because of the need for a container with a wide enough mouth for the unit to fit through. I was previously a filter user, and would fill my bladders through an adapter that fit on the end of my hydration tube. Instead I now carry a single 32oz Nalgene along with two 20oz plastic beverage bottles (which have a concave grip area that allow them to be bungied to the straps of my pack). I do all the purification inside the Nalgene and pour the water into the 20oz bottles. I don’t consider carrying a Nalgene to be ideal and am looking for a lower weight alternative.

I have only had the chance to take the Steripen on one 3 day trip (in which the temperature never broke 20F and went as low as 8F). I found that the battery performance did suffer, and it was necessary to warm the unit up inside my jacket before treating water to be able to run a full cycle. My thought is that at a low enough temperature the batteries have difficulty generating enough voltage to satisfy the Steripen.

To echo Eric's thoughts above – you can save a lot of money by purchasing the CR123 cells in bulk online. I was able to get them for $1.60 per cell by purchasing as few as 12 at a time. (Note: these are high quality Panasonic lithium cells) Unfortunately I don’t have enough data to report on the number of uses I get out of these cells.

In the instructions, there is a defined method for removing the cover(hold cover so angled part is away from you, then pull cover towards you). If you follow these, it snaps off easily, otherwise it is as challenging as the article says.

Great review , Roger. Thanks for putting this together.

I've been saving an REI gift card since my birthday waiting to combine it with the current REI 20% off coupon and dividend, so the review couldn't have been more timely.

A question. I noticed that you are using a pot to purify the water and discourage the use of deeper containers. My plan for well-watered mountains is to drink up as much as I can right at the source and carry very little between sources. I was going to use a Heineken can as a purifying container/drinking mug. The diameter of the opening is about 2.75" across and the depth is about 5.75". Is this a good size to use or should I go for something shallower? Thanks.

Unlike Brett, I didn't get the name-brand batteries – mine are a "store brand" (which I DO worry about, but so far everything's been fine). I got mine at batteryspace.com and paid roughly $1.00 each.

I have the Steripen Adventurer, but I have not had an opportunity to try it yet.

For batteries, try: https://www.all-battery.com/index.asp

Will a baggie (e.g. quart or half gallon) stop enough UV-C to be safe?

For me, I was really dissapointed with the prior version of this pen. It ate batteries like no tomorrow, and I found it very finicky in cold weather. Maybe they have improved this model, but I vowed after fussing with the pen on two prior backpack trips, and having the batteries drain where I had to keep my fingers crossed if the water had been purified, this product is not for me.

Can you folks review this product? I have it as part of my in-home emergency kit, and have been using it backpacking/daypacking for a few years. But I can never find any reviews of it! Either it really works or I have just been really lucky…

http://www.alloysafe.com/products.php?subcatid=13&catid=2

I think these things would pay for their own weight by reducing the amount of water you carried. If you can treat in 2 minutes total, that means you'll be able to drink an extra litre by the end of your rest or lunch stop. 1 litre is 35oz off your back when you get back on the trail.

With Aqua Mira, the product itself weighs almost nothing but you're walking for 15-30 minutes with 1-2L (=35-70 ounces) of extra weight before you even *start* drinking.

I also think that if a water stop only takes 2 minutes and doesn't involve removing your pack, you'll do it more often. Thus if you are in terrain that crosses a water source every hour or two, you will hardly have to carry any water at all. Everyone talks a lot about reducing their base weights, but the most cost-effective weight reduction possible is your water weight.

Reducing water weight is how I justify having a hydration tube: the first two swallows pay for the weight of the tube. After that, I can drink the first litre in 20 minutes and the next litre in 40, thus keeping myself nice and hydrated as well as nice and light.

Hi Dondo

> I was going to use a Heineken can as a purifying container/drinking mug. The diameter of the opening is about 2.75" across and the depth is about 5.75". Is this a good size to use or should I go for something shallower?
It would do, with a good bit of stirring, but wider and shallower would be a little better. The pot shown is our 1.5 L MSR Titan cooking pot.

Hi Brett

> have only had the chance to take the Steripen on one 3 day trip (in which the temperature never broke 20F and went as low as 8F). I found that the battery performance did suffer, and it was necessary to warm the unit up inside my jacket before treating water to be able to run a full cycle. My thought is that at a low enough temperature the batteries have difficulty generating enough voltage to satisfy the Steripen.

I believe the company does recommend warming everything up just as you said.

It may be very helpful to remember that, apart from the Energiser e2 lithiums, ALL the rest of the lithiums have a water-based electrolyte and, like alkalines, they all freeze up in the cold. They won't work below freezing!

(The e2 batteries don't use water and will work, with decreasing performance, down to -20 C or something like that.)