UKC

I was just wondering what the difference between iodine tablets and iodine droplets (obviously ones a tablet and another a liquid :P ).

I have only used the tablets as that is the type my mate brought on a hike that we did. The only thing I can think of is that the tablets are easier to use, but they can be rather fiddly especially with cold hands. The droplets work out cheaper as they can be used to purify more water.

Why would people prefer to use tablets?

I would appreciate anyone’s thoughts

In reply to shakeyjake:

off the top of my head...

for Tablets:
they don't mess up when/if the container breaks
easier to administer accurate dosage

for Droplets:
don't require waiting until they dissolve

In reply to Glyno:

And if the drops container leaks that is pretty messy as well...

In reply to shakeyjake:

Tablets don't leak away if you don't screw the top up tight or if the cold contracts the bottle more than the top. At night we put hot, boiled water into a Sig bottle and put the iodine tablets in and then put that in a sock or it's own neopreme jacket and used it as a hot water bottle. By morning the tablets were definitely dissolved. At first we used other tablets to neutralise the taste of the iodine but then realised it wasn't a strong enough taste to need to get rid of.

In reply to shakeyjake: With tablets its easy to get the dose exactly right whereas with droplets it is quite easy to overdose if you are not careful.

In reply to Knitting Norah:

???

I'm missing why you'd need to treat boiled water with iodine at all?

In reply to shakeyjake:
Can use iodine drops for antseptic.
Katy

In reply to The Crow: I think that some nastys survive unless boiled for 20 mins.

In reply to shakeyjake: 'Evian' works for me and is far more environmentally unfriendly!

In reply to shakeyjake:

Tincture of iodine is available in chemists and is very cheap. I put some in an old olbas oil bottle to make dropping easy.

Tablets are overpriced and leave a worse taste.

In reply to The Crow:

Kitchen boys brought the water in a kettle and we weren't sure how long it had been boiled for. If it wasn't long enough, not all of the bacteria would have been killed. Having picked one stomach upset up from a meal in Kathmandu I wasn't prepared to risk another!