UKC

I went into my local gear shop the other day and one of these new fangled water purification bottles caught my eye. Seems a great gadget for the mountains and I thought they were quite reasonably priced.

After a bit of research there seems to be plenty of choice out there but none without their fair share of negative reviews (leaking, slow flow).

Has anyone got any experience with these? Any one in particular stand out?

Afer having my Water To Go bottle replaced 3 times it was still leaking so I gave up and use a Sawyer mini filter attached to the top of a coke bottle. Works really well.

In reply to jmerrick21:

I use a Water to GO filter at the moment. It is a little on the heavy side (about 140g) and the filters - 2 for about £14 - last for a relatively short time/volume of water.

Once I have exhausted the filters I have, I will be replacing it with a Sawyer Mini Filter. These can be screwed onto a typical soft drinks bottle (about 45g for a 1 or 2 litre bottle) and filter a much larger volume of water.

In reply to jmerrick21:

What sort of filters are on the filter to go bottles? How small are the holes? Another vote here for the sawyer mini, although I'm having trouble back-flushing mine, so might need to send it back..

In reply to jmerrick21:

So long as you can see through the water, you just need to chlorinate to prevent faecal oral diseases. (Unless there are lots of animals, especially young cattle pooping in the water, in which case there is a chance of cryptosporidium or giardia.) The advantage of chlorinating water is that it provides residual treatment, to ensure the water stays clean, even after contact with contaminated hands or utensils. If you have trouble seeing through the water, filters like those discussed will get blocked quickly and limit the amount of water you can get from them.

Most streams in the hills can be drunk from without treatment.

In reply to andy.smythe:

I do the same! Trying to fill the drinking pouch from a stream is just a waste of time and energy!

In reply to jonnie3430:

"Most streams in the hills can be drunk from without treatment."

For a long time this is what I have done. However, if these bottles are as convenient as they look, as effective as they claim and are relatively cheep I was thinking about using one. Also, there are significantly more people using mountain areas but how many of them 'carry out'?

Water To Go was one of those which is getting lots of poor reviews.

In reply to jmerrick21:

Have a look at the Bobble bottles in Tesco - seem to be a cheapish version.

In reply to jmerrick21:

Sawyer Mini is the best version on the market at the moment, I think. I have one and it's superb: cheap, reliable, and with an excellent flow rate.

In reply to jmerrick21:

I've used Water to go for a while, and it leaks a lot, I didn't get on with the mouthpiece, and you can't get the last bit of water out.

Changed to Sawyer mini at the start of the year, and certainly haven't regretted it. The mini is a great water system. Really impressed.

In reply to Only a hill:

Another vote for the Sawyer mini. Light, efficient and easy to use - just remember to reverse-flush it regularly. Taking the syringe out with you for multi-day trips seems strange but it'll make the world of different to the filter's longevity.

In reply to london_huddy:

Absolutely – backflushing is important (but pretty trivial). One thing I have learned is that backflushing is far more effective if you tap the filter a few times (e.g. on a rock) before backflushing. This dislodges some of the gunk that builds up inside.

In reply to jmerrick21:


Think of the dilution though, and if it's of the stream, especially buried, there is loads of biological action to take care of the nasties.

In reply to jmerrick21:

I compiled some info on UK water sources last month, which may be of interest to some of you... http://goblog.co.uk/index.php/2015/10/13/safe-drinking-water-on-the-go/

In reply to ScottTalbot:

Thanks, very interesting.

In reply to ScottTalbot:

Where was the info on the water sources? Was it in the YouTube clip? (That I can't watch at work...)

Nothing is 100% safe, and if I was going to be drinking the water constantly if treat it more, but for the occasional water bottle fill it's fine.

In reply to jonnie3430:

Yep, in the videos. The only problem with your method of treatment is that it's not very effective against giardia.