Anybody seen these?

Well, if they can drink safe water through it in a mud hole in Uganda, I guess I could trust it.
 
Water filters vary a lot on pore size. The easiest way to compare them is to check how small a particle they will stop. 0.3-0.2 microns is the size that the better pump style filters will pick up. Most of the straw and bottle-style rigs are more like 2 micons -- a hole 10 times larger. Better than nothing at all and will catch the big critters like amoebas, but not the cysts. In North America wilderness, giardia and cryptosporidium are the main culprits. Go 3rd world and lovely stuff like hepatitis and cholera (and more) are the things to worry about. Chemical treament with full waiting time is the way to go. Some coarse filtering will make it look better and allow the chemicals to work better. The locals may have enough immunity to suck water from a mud puddle with one of those straws, but not me!
 
The link caused my computer to crash. Wierd.

Purifier straws have been around a long time. I bought my first one back in the 70s. Better than nothing I suppose.
 
DaleW said:
Water filters vary a lot on pore size. The easiest way to compare them is to check how small a particle they will stop. 0.3-0.2 microns is the size that the better pump style filters will pick up. Most of the straw and bottle-style rigs are more like 2 micons -- a hole 10 times larger. Better than nothing at all and will catch the big critters like amoebas, but not the cysts. In North America wilderness, giardia and cryptosporidium are the main culprits. Go 3rd world and lovely stuff like hepatitis and cholera (and more) are the things to worry about. Chemical treament with full waiting time is the way to go. Some coarse filtering will make it look better and allow the chemicals to work better. The locals may have enough immunity to suck water from a mud puddle with one of those straws, but not me!
Click to expand...

"The LifeStraw currently does not filter out Giardia lamblia, a common parasite (making it a bad choice for U.S. backpackers looking for a way around boiling their camp water)"

Quoted from the article.


It also says that they're working on making a version that will protect against Giardia. If they do, then I wouldn't mind having a few around at that price.
 
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