This product is extremely impressive (watch the clip) and would be absolutley invaluble to wild campers. The £40.00 price tag seems steep, but for the sheer convenience and freedom it would provide, I think it could be the best 40 quid ever spent. What you do have to consider, however, is that replacement filters are £30 a throw.
Having said that, each filter will provide you with 350 litres of safe drinking water - imagine trying to hump that much water around with you.
I know this probably sounds like a commercial for the product, but one of my main concerns when I finally get out there in the hills is going to be a supply of safe drinking water. If I carried my own - along with all the rest of my gear - it would probably last me 3 days at the most - not to mention the extra weight. I don't want to have to pack up and leave for home just because I'm running low on water, especially if I'm not ready for home.
IMHO bottle-based filter system like this aren't that brilliant, cos they're not very adaptable, Not much good for filling a pan to have a quick brew, for instance, which means you would have to boil the water for a long time if you were unsure of its purity. Also, I don't think the price per litre is very good for what you get.
I gave up on filters after several years of pain -- just too much hard work at the end of a tiring day in the hills. I've switched to Aquamira drops, which are simple and leave no funny taste -- highly recommended!
Zubald, do the Aquamira drops make any water source safe to drink? With the Aquapure Traveller, you can (supposedly) fill it from lakes, rivers, streams and even ponds.
Also, what I don't quite understand from both posts, but particularly yours Zubald, is your comments about filter bottles being a pain and too much hard work. Surley if you're using drops, this indicates you're collecting water as you go, rather than taking your own. If this is the case, then how is it any more of a pain to fill the filter bottle instead of filling an ordinary bottle and using the drops? You still have to find the water source in the first place - that's the difficult part, not how you purify it.
If you're talking about costs, then sure, I can see your point.
I`ve got a Katadyn filter bottle, similar to the Aquapure. It`s handy enough just to fill and use for drinking water, but to get water out of it to use for cooking or hot drinks would be a pain. THe filter is fairly restrictive, it`s a bit like drinking a thick milkshake.
Also weight wise the filter cartridge of the bottle is probably equivalent to carrying a Steripen, which is a more versatile purification system and yields more litres/£.
Aquamira can be used, so I understand, to purify water in quite a nasty state. I believe that if needed you can roughly filter it through a bandana/shirt first to get rid of the floating stuff and silt, then purify -- I've never needed to do this. I've certainly used it with water from lakes and ponds.
The problem I found with filtering (using a small ceramic pump filter) is the physical effort needed to pump-filter enough water for a meal and (ideally) breakfast, when I'm tired, maybe wet, and just want to get the tent up and dinner on. If you haven't done it, you'd be amazed how much effort it takes. The rate of throughput is not very high.
Now, when I've found my campsite the first thing I do is fill a 2-litre water bag from the water source (stream/river ideally), stick the Aquamira in (need to wait 5 mins for activation before doing this), then get the tent up and my gear unpacked. By the time I'm ready to cook, the water is ready (15 mins).
In Sep 07 I did part of the PCT in Washington, USA, and many days got through several refills of the 2-litre bag (it was quite warm!). I dread to think how exhausting it would have been to have had to filter all that water!
Fair enough, Zubald, but the Aquapure Traveller is not a pump-type filter. You simply fill the bottle, shake and wait 15-minutes before drinking/using.
I wouldn't say it was the best £40 Ive ever spent, but I've used my Traveller quite a lot, it's light, easy to fill from streams as you go along, and I've never had a problem with it.
