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Thought I'd ask you before I buy a Water UV purifier

G

gazaati

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I am looking at the MSR HyperFlow MicrofilterSteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging http://www.rei.com/product/761905

It looks like a nice gizmo that does not require allot of maintenance.

Is it a good method? or are filters better?
 
I have been wondering about these too. It seems like such an easy and convienient way to purify, but I am still skeptical I guess.
 
I have always preferred filters because of the taste and no floaties in the water and take iodine as a back up. The steripen sounds like a good idea, but when you are pulling water from the little lake next to the outhouses on the Whitney trail, I'd rather have the 2 stage filters. Also I've heard that they are somewhat fragile. I'm looking at the attached filter for overnighters, price and weither are just right.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/aquamira_frontier_pro_filter.html
 
I've been drawn to these for quite some time but have some concerns. First, you have no way to know if it is working or not. (I mean effectively purifying the water, not just lighting up.) Ancedotic evidence, that is, "I used it and didn't get sick." doesn't really prove that the water was purified. It may have been safe or the drinker may have been lucky.

Since you can't tell from looking whether it is accomplishing the task it is designed for, your next choice is to verify. This means to take a water sample from a suspect source and divide it in to two portions. Treat one with a SteriPEN and keep one as a control. Send both for analysis. Obviously this is a pretty inconvenient way for a user to test a piece of field gear, so hopefully you'll be able to rely on similar testing by others.

The US Army did such testing and the SteriPEN failed. There was some question about whether the water was too cloudy to be a valid test, so they pulled the test data from their website. Ron Hood had purchased a SteriPEN and was quite taken with it until he treated some water and had it tested. It failed, so he is back to using Iodine and filtration.

I REALLY want this device to work. SteriPEN has some commissioned tests on their website, although they were kind of buried. I haven't had the time to wade through these yet. I'm a gear junkie and think it would be quite useful. Nonetheless, I'll wait until there is reliable data as to its effectiveness in purifying water.

-- FLIX
 
They were demonstrating these at the SHOT Show last February, and they're very cool. whetehr they work or not, I can't say, but if they do, they are super easy, compact, and lightweight. They had three models they were demonstrating at the show, two currently available, and one due out soon. The one theat was yet to be released looked like the best combo of the other two for backpacking. You might want to call MSR and inquire about the new one.

Let us know if you get sick! ;)

ETA: Here's a link to the three models: http://www.steripen.com/steripen_products.html There is also a fair amount of test data on their site. I'm not sure how one could verify the data, or verify the effectiveness of any particular unit without sending out samples, but the test stuff is worth a look.
 
I talked to a rep from MSR back in November and he still recommended using a fliter to remove any small particals. He told me if the water even looked cloudy that the sterripen would not work effectivly.
 
I've used the Aquastar UV purifier in clear-water lakes and streams in the Sierra and other western mountains. I like it but, as noted above, I've never had the water tested so I can't totally vouch for it. I appreciate the fact that the Aquastar UV tube is mounted in a cap that fits Nalgene-style bottles so it is very easy to use.

DancesWithKnives
 
Great info guys, thanks.

I actually added the thing to my shopping cart. I am not so sure now. May need to think about it more since the only way I can test it is see if I got sick or not. :D

Don't need hepatitis :(
 
I've used it for the last few trip with no problems. The water I treated was suspect in my view. Apart from flowing from an area with housing a few km upstream (possible runoff issues) it was running through a campsite known to be used by novice campers (read bad hygeine).

I'm not sure how people can be satisfied by the effectiveness of the steripen. If the studies on their website don't cut it and anecdotal evidence isn't reliable, how do you prove it is effective?
Aren't these the same criteria applied to MSR water filters to prove they work? EPA approval and good user reviews?

I read with interest the Ron Hood link. He states that when he had the water tested, it was not fit for human consumption. But i gather from his post that it was due to other factors than viral and bacterial. Suspended particles or something? Aren't these an issue when boiling water too? Possibly even moreso as their concentration is increased when evaporation occurs?

My understanding is that water treatment/ bottling facilities use Uv to treat water. As do fishtanks and spas (though perhaps that isn't the best example to draw for drinking water).

My only concern with the steripen is cross contamination. I fill up a cut off water bottle with one litre of water, strained through a piece of netting. I then treat this water with my steripen and pour it into my water bottle. This avoids having untreated water on my bottle threads. But of course there would be some water (and possible nasties) on my collection container above the surface of the water which would not be treated when I dip in the steripen. I wonder if this is enough to worry about though? How much unsafe water does it take to bring someone down with Giardia? A drop? A mouthful?

End of long winded musings!
 
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