Gear

I have a Kataydn Mini, used it since 1995, its quick and i have used it in lots countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, All accross Europe and UK.  Never been ill touch wood.

It was only £60 if i remember right.

Just a note some of the Steripens come with it and if not it's available to buy, there is a pre-filter that attaches to a Nalgene type bottle and gets rid of large debris prior to treating. The filter unit is dual purpose as filter can be removed leaving an aperture just the right size for the Steripen to go in and seal water tight.

You can then invert the bottle and swirl away!!!

As a slight aside, regardless of personal preference/performance as a water treatment method, using the steripen looks good!!!!

Well I finally made a decision. I was in a outdoor store today speaking to one of the guys there, I asked him about water treatment and what he recommended. Came straight out with the steripen. He's got a adventurer himself but said if he was to choose again he would go with the classic because you can use the AA batteries. Managed to get a pretty good price (about what I would pay in England) but at least if it goes wrong I can take it back to a local store. Also got a widemouthed 1.5 litre Nalgene Cantene (weighs bugger all) to treat it in, and also managed to get the prefilter from another shop witha 25% discount.

 These things seem seriously rare here in Oz. A couple of stores didn't have any within the boundaries of New South Wales. Mines coming in Monday. Will try and do some sort of review when I get it. 

Also managed to find the independant test (with nice pics) I referred to:-

 http://www.angelfire.com/trek/vinandgwen/gear/steripen/home.html about the only lab test on the steripen I have found with laymans terms used. May be of use to someone.

Also found a discussion with reference to using Sanyo Eneloop with it

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=6582&startat=20

There doesn't seem to be any followup post saying they don't work. I will test and add to a review if I get a chance.

 About eneloop for those that don't know. I keep them in the camera bag for my flash. Normal rechargeables like Energizer are absolutely rubbish unless you have just charged them.

 http://www.eneloop.info/

Some reviews http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem.php?item_id=39463 

Thanks for all the responses

Never mind Number 6, you may well end up with a filter yet.

Has anyone checked wheter you can just keep using it over and over again to sterilise larger volumes of water? I just wonder whether it has been tested and approved for use with volumes above 1 litre. I know you swirl the water around when using it to allow the UV light to reach all the water and alter the rNA of the nasties, but if there is a limit to the volume people need to know. It is after all an application you need to have confidence in. Personally I would prefer to treat 1 litre at a time and transfer to another container or use it before treating another litre. I am sure my instructions said you can do 2 x 500ml cycles to treat 1 litre, but it does not mention 2 x 1litre cycles for 2 litres of treated water. It might be a case of having to increase the number of cycles as the volume increases, i.e. not a linear relationship between water volume and treatment cycle quantity or length of time.

Just a thought as UV water treatment for tap water has a different method of introducing the water to the light than steripen. I don;t know just wondered if anyone does. BTW I will still use my steripen 1 litre at a time.

One tip, you can get an accessory for nalgene wide mouthed bottles that partly covers the opening to make it easier to drink from. I am sure I am not the only one that prefers a narrower opening to drink from than the nalgenes. How many times have you poured water down your front having been used to Sigg bottles?

Yeah I saw those for under 2 quid seems like a worth while purchase if your using it to drink from. I will just use the nalgene cantene and decant using a light weight funnel.

It would be useful if there was a huge group test in controlled conditions, not likely to happen but if OM is bored one day

My mate had a Katadyn mini ceramic filter. It was clogged up a bit and worked very slowly, but he managed to give it a good wash with clean water and it started to wrok very quickly. I think I will get that for future use in UK or less polluted areas as it doesn;t do virus causatives.

I have also used one of those red pump type ones that screw onto the nalgene bottles. They make it very easy to use, fast too.

Agree about a group test, OM don;t really do group tests though. It is one gear type that cries out for a group test.