Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting What water filters are you using?

I'm in need of a water purifier to keep in my kayak. We're going on some four and five day trips this summer, some river and some in Voyageurs National Park/ BWCA.
I need one that will easily purify enough water for two people. It will be used in northern Minnesota mainly where the rivers are clear and the lakes make you want to drink right out of so filter clogging shouldn't be a problem. Size and weight can be more that you may want to carry in a backpack but it still matters. Thanks

Here ya go:

https://www.gearhungry.com/best-portable-water-filters/

Life Straw and the Life Straw Go water bottle!

Katadyn Hiker Pro

Katadyn Hiker Pro

That's what I keep coming up with. Lot's of positive reviews

I always carry a life straw in my backpack hunting or for fly fishing in the Rockies.

Katadyn Pro Hiker has been my go to for years. I carry a Life Straw for day hikes. I use the Steripen as a backup to the Katadyn just to make sure all of the little critters are dead. Just spent 2 weeks in the Andes with this setup as I have the prior 2 years. Works great for my needs for water that definitely needs filtration and is not clear..

With the quality of water you'll have being so clear, you could most likely do fine with just the Steripen and do away with filtering altogether.

Good luck, sounds like a great trip.

I have the Grayl and a Sawyer water filters. I got to use my buddy’s Grayl two years ago on a fly in fishing trip in Canada. I was impressed and bought one immediately upon returning home. I have used it in Colorado, Montana and Wyoming on hunting trips.
The Sawyer will filter nearly a gallon at a time. I used it often while camping and hiking in Montana this month. I would fill the Sawyer up with gray water and hang it up in camp. It would filter the water while I did chores or goofed off. The mountain water was fabulous.
The Grayl is quick so I keep it in my pack and grab a container full of stream water , press the filter down and then take off with a container full of mountain water.

Sawyer makes stupid simple systems. That work.

I love the taste of mountain water after it’s gone through my Sawyer.

Huh - I may need to look at different models. Grabbed the MSR years ago and have been using it ever since.

Looks like there are some decent alternatives...

Thanks!

My choice is an MSR hyper-flow. Works well for me. Fairly light, fairly small, does the job.

Tom

We used Sawyers last year but hated how slow they were. Switched to Katadyn Be Free's for this year, they are MUCH faster.

I recently got a MSR Trailshot- for one person it thus far has met all my expectations- it lets me carry less water in water rich environs; I can fill my 20 oz Gatorade bottle in about 45 seconds .

I still carry a few Micropur tabs as a backup

Msr Miniworks Ex

For incline bladder filters, I’ve been very happy with the Sawyer 3-Way and the RapidPure Scout.

For a base-camp style, the MSR Miniworks has been good.

I have an ancient MSR Sweetwater. I've been wanting to try a RapidPure setup. I'm tempted to pick up a Scout and one of the zip top water bladders for use as the dirty side of a gravity setup. I know RapidPure has their own gravity setup, but I think I could put something lighter together.

I’ve been using an MSR HyperFlow for the past 10 years and it has worked great. Easy to filter water for 2-3 people. I have had to use it in silty water, water colored tannins, and water full of algae. The filter cartridge definitely gets clogged up quickly in dirty water like this, but not sure how well other filters would handle the same conditions. This is the only filter I have ever used so I can’t compare to anything else. We did the scoop and drink method for many years on our mountain trips here in BC, until I got Giardia and almost sh*t myself to death for 2 weeks. I haven’t been without a filter ever since.

Sawyer dip and sip when water is abundant, AquaMira drops when it's not.

Life Straw

I have one of these, had it for ~7-8 years now. Works great, just used it last weekend in fact. Not sure if it is the pro model or not, but a great piece of gear either way.

MSR Miniworks

These days I carry a Lifestraw in my daypacks, A Sawyer Mini goes for anything over one day, An MSR Miniworks EX was my first good filter and I still have one in camp. A Sawyer Mini will do it all but a Lifestraw is so convenient it spoiled me. I first used it on an August-Sept sheep hunt. We were out of water so we went over to a spring and drank bunches, A great way o finish a day. Filled our containers, bibbied up and were good for heading out the next morning.

Survivor Filter and/or MSR WhisperLite Universal, DPower or SnowPeak GigaPower 2.0 stove.

Nothing here in Montana, but if I were in an area I needed something I'd use a Sawyer, or just pack some Aquamira tabs.

I filter or treat everything. Mixture of Sawyer or RapidPure inlines- big fan of the functionality of just scooping water into the Source bladder, and filter/drink as required. Aquamira for treating.

Man, I've treated water maybe 15 times in my life, all of it in the Eastern US. Never in Montana, going back to 1992.

Yessir, everyone has to make that call for themselves. I use to hate the hassle of filtering, but the inlines have changed that. I've only used tablets a handful of times- the taste ruins it for me.

I had a close friend get very sick from 'pristine Alberta water', a couple of years ago. He was months getting back to himself. In some ways I still don't think he has.

Fond memories of drinking from lakes in Northern Ontario canoe trips without treatment when young. Didn't get sick those times.

Yeah, have a climbing buddy that followed that school of thought...told me he was going to drink from a waterfall (true Wilderness area)...told him he should treat it first...he was sick from giardia (giardiasis) for oh...about six weeks.

Sez he'll NEVER do THAT again!

Just takes one round with the beaver fever to get a guy filtering...(grin)

I bought a Katadyn Hiker Pro. Works great.

I never used one in the BWCA until I started hearing story's of people getting sick from drinking out of the lakes.
The BWCA isn't as "pristine" as the tree huggers like to portray.

Things have changed in the last couple of decades. Giardia is now epidemic. It has spread nationwide and is now found even in water in the highest mountains and almost right out of springs. Drinking any unfiltered water anywhere is risky these days.

I use Iodine, Regular Sawyer, or MSR Guardian depending. Silty Rivers or lots of cattle or just not good water sources I'll take the guardian, a lot fo clear running streams, Iodine or regular sawyer

MSR Guardian or a clean sock

I've read that most people do not get giardia (they tested this unethically on a prison population in the 1950s) - 1 in 8 people carry giardia naturally. Hard to test for because maybe you carry giadia but it isn't what got you sick in the first place. Most people get giardia from day care or their fellow hunters rather than the water. In my opinion water filters are just an overblown 'scare'. I have always just drunk the available water- avoid the stuff with green scum and obvious contamination. And I've never gotten sick either. But then again maybe I'm a carrier!
Patrick

could be a bit overblown but what a few of my buddies have gone through with it makes me filter.

Giardia is not an "epidemic", it's "endemic" (native to certain areas). Giardia has been in the world for time immemorial...

Aside from 24hr Campfire speculation, incidences of Giardia are on the decrease according to the CDC:



https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6403a2.htm

"For the first time since 2002, giardiasis rates appear to be decreasing."

I've had waterborne diseases, but both occurrences happened when I knew better to drink the water. I got Giardia around 1989 drinking from a farm stream on a hot summer day when I knew better to do so, and in India (HEP-A) in 1984 when my Halazone tablets got separated from me on a long flight from the USA, and I gave in to drinking water on a hot August day from the tap in my hotel.

Aside from that, I've backpacked 1000's of miles, Georgia to Alaska, Maine to Montana, and never had an issue... but I also don't get sick.

Were I carrying a filter, which I would do in some areas, I'd use a Sawyer gravity system.

This^^^^^

As a professional hydrologist, I never drink raw unfiltered/untreated water. I've tested alot of pristine water and it all has varying amounts of bacteria, mostly coliform bacteria of some sort and concentration. Had a dose of Giardia a few years back. I never drank any raw water but did gut an elk on that trip. One round of Giardia is usually enough to 'encourage' filtering.

filters are a PITA, just take some potable aqua and some crystal light to throw in it. You get used to the iodine taste which mostly gets masked by the crystal light. I would probably carry a filter straw too just for the heck of it. but potable aqua is easier.

Not big on the RapidPure filter anymore?

Anymore I save the weight and hassle of filtering and just use aquamira.