Sawyer Mini Water Filter

[Billy13426]

I bought mine on ebay for around $18. It is designed to filter 100,000 gallons of water and weighs only 2 ounces. Your can drink from it like a straw or screw it on to a bottle. It is an amazing filter for carrying it around. It easily fits in your pocket. I have tried it out and it works quite well. I really recommend it for the price.

There are a whole lot of pros for the filter.
-You do not have to start a fire to filter water.
-You do not need to have any replaceable cartridges, you just spray it with the plunger that comes with it

It is a really nice filter. I strongly recommend it.

[RangerXanatos]

I have one but haven't tried it.

[Billy13426]

it works pretty well

[Pennsylvania Mike]

Sawyer water filter sertup.jpgGuests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.
On January of 2011 I bought my first water, a Sawyer .02 micron Purifier which I tested for 7 months a year for 2 years. I had a big carbon pre-filter and ran it from a water faucet from the campground at 20 psi water pressure. As you can see in the picture above I stored the water in a glass gallon jug and used it to drink, and cook with. I also carry another Sawyer water filter in my "go home bag" with a pre-filter. the reason for using the filter at the campground was that they do not have a chlorinator in their water system which is well water, the water has to be tested once a month (I'm not sure, it may be every 3 months), but usually when we have bad weather the test comes back with bacteria in the water but by then it's too late to do anything. I keep about 12 gallons of filtered water on hand all the time. The filter has worked fine during the period of two and half years except for the second year, no mater how much I back washed it a bad taste remained in the water after been filtered. Finally after taking the problem with Sawyer they said to wash and backwash the filter with a solutions of Clorox and water, the same rate you used to disinfect a water container; it worked! now after I am done using the filter I sterilize it with Clorox solution, shake the water out of the filter, and let it dry several days before I store it in a Ziploc back for future use.

[Billy13426]

Thats good to know I will have to keep it in mind

[MrFixIt]

How packable is that set-up Mike?
I've seen the mini filters in Wally World, and read some of the reviews, looks like an addition to the gear inventory...but that is a whole 'nother thread...

[Pennsylvania Mike]

This is the biggest and better filter that Sawyer has; it is a .02 micron and considered a water purifier. I think it was the first in the market and It is big and bulky, I purchased this one as a kit: filter, 1 quart plus water bottle similar to the Nalgene water but the top is different, built with a straw on top and a vinyl hose at the bottom where you can attach the filter inside the bottle and drink pure water straight out of the bottle, and it also has the attachments to make a 5 gallon gravity water filter out of 2 five gallon buckets.
You have to be a real thirsty camel to suck the water out of the battle with the filter in, .02 microns is very fine and it works fine with gravity or out of a faucet. I also have the next size down, the .1 micron water filter as well as the Mini Water Filtration which you can drink out of a water bottle and its going to be the one I will be carrying all the time from now on with the water bottle like on the picture I posted above.

[Tokwan]

0.2 mac is the latest product.
I have the one with small bag and purge tool.
I called it ...Sawyer little thing.

[finallyME]

The Sawyer filters are definitely some of the best on the market right now, and some of the cheapest (go figure). I use one. But, they have their quirks. Looks like P Mike figured one out. It is better to know the quirks before you NEED to use one.

[hayshaker]

even though the filter will filter out protazoa and cysts ect.... youll still want to have a charcol filter to remove
all the other stuff pesticides and so on. just saying.

[Rick]

Activated charcoal will adsorb organic based impurities. It will not work on inorganic minerals, hydrocarbons or any of the alcohols.

[Pennsylvania Mike]

For many years, before the Sawyer filters were on the market I used a electric water distiller, 99.999% pure water, it has an upper opening to discharge gases, and still use distilled water for all my coffee pots and because there are no minerals in the water, the coffee pots last a very long time, also good car and deep cycle batteries and recommended for use on the sleep apnea machines. It will also distill sea water if it need be, no filter on the market can do that other than reverse osmosis and they are very expensive and you need a lot of water.

[Tokwan]

For me, all filtered water needs to be purified. Even with charcoal, you still need to boil them ..just to be sure...unless yiou are really dying of dehydration and no fire is available.

[Pennsylvania Mike]

For me, all filtered water needs to be purified. Even with charcoal, you still need to boil them ..just to be sure...unless yiou are really dying of dehydration and no fire is available.

Your right Tokwan on boiling all drinking water if possible, sometimes it is not possible, so a reliable filter to me is better than chemicals. By the way, charcoal does not remove any harmful bacteria from the water.

[Pennsylvania Mike]

Long term storage or filter sterilization instructions.
Went to the store yesterday and purchased a new Sawyer Mini “Squeeze” water filtration system, it is the one that comes with a 16 oz plastic bag so small that I can carry it while traveling back and forth from Virginia or while day hiking which is what I do anymore. On the back of the back are the instructions for long term storage of the filter, a lot of us have the older filters and at the end of the season just store them until the next spring, and like it happened to me the first gulp of water had a bad taste, so here are the instructions:
Backwash the filter
Fill the pouch (or the big syringe provided for backwashing) and add I capful of bleach or roughly 1 teaspoon. The plastic bag is 16 oz (almost 500 ml), the Sawyer cleaning plunger is 50 ml so I would add 10 to 20 drops of chlorine from an eye dropper if one is available, if not a squirt of chlorine would do for me.

[Rick]

Two things to be aware of on filters. Most do not filter viruses. Some do but I don't believe the Sawyers will. They still require the water to be boiled to kill viruses or the addition of something like bleach.

Also, look for absolute microns vs. nominal microns. A nominal rating of .02 microns is much different than an absolute rating of .02 microns. Nominal ratings will be anywhere from 60% - 98% efficient where absolute ratings will be 100% efficient. Sawyers are absolute.

[Pennsylvania Mike]

According to the Sawyer model SP128 water filter package, the water filter is 0.1 Micron absolute hollow filter membrane mini filter, exceeds EPA recommendations for removal rates. Removes 99.99999% of all harmful bacteria including E. coli, salmonella and bacteria which cause cholera and typhoid. Removes 99.9999% of protozoa such as cryptosporidium and giardia. I was never a believer of water filters until I met a friend of who used to camp in VA and worked at a lab, he tested this filter to his old one and was surprised at the difference, shortly after I bought my own on 1/2011. I guess for the common individual to test a water filter would be to send it to a lab the same you would for well water. My first filter was a .02 micron water purifier and is kind of an overkill to use it here in USA for we don’t have to content with the bacteria and viruses like in third world countries so I have been taking my chances with the .1 micron filter when I can’t or do not have the means to boil water.

[TXyakr]

IMO there is no ideal way to purify water especially in a wilderness situation or when traveling long distances by foot. But despite all the bad press the CDC received in the past year they do have some good and helpful guidelines on it. Sawyer mini and regular are far from perfect but if use within the recommended specifications they are economical and compact. Better to boil and add a recommended chemical agent when possible depending on your water source.

While traveling in remote parts of the USA I have contracted "crypto" and survived with some pain but I was OK after a few hours and the correct medication. (river water while diving, foolish me.) While overseas from a contaminated well I got infectious Hepatitis type A, that took months to recover from and my liver was damaged for years. I also got Giardiasis (Beaver Fever), tapeworms and several other parasites that were not fun to get rid of and caused a lot of discomfort but I survived.

So bottom line: It is best to use the best means possible to purify your water, but no need to obsess about it, you can alway post process your digestive system if your water purification system fails. Hopefully you will not have many days of walking to reach civilization, because that could require additional holes in your belt and many smooth stones to wipe with. LOL
A whole new skinny wardrobe once back home.

[Tokwan]

Your right Tokwan on boiling all drinking water if possible, sometimes it is not possible, so a reliable filter to me is better than chemicals. By the way, charcoal does not remove any harmful bacteria from the water.

If I can't boiul, I go the purifying tablets or iodine from my first aid kit.

[Pennsylvania Mike]

I carried iodine tablets at one time, now I use them as a last resort and this is why, for one thing they taste bad, you have a waiting period and the colder the water the more you have to wait, to improve the taste you have to add ascorbic acid or vitamin C before drinking the water. The following information was taken from Wikipedia under the title “Portable water purification” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portabl...r_purification according to the article under chemical disinfection: “The iodine kills many, but not all, of the most common pathogens present in natural fresh water sources. Carrying iodine for water purification is an imperfect but lightweight solution for those in need of field purification of drinking water.”
At home I use water from a well, even though you should check a well every year for bacteria, there are times when your well can become contaminated without you knowing it so for prevention I install a UV light, this prevents bacteria from reproducing and therefore they will not make you sick. There are many brands to choose from if you choose to go this way SteriPEN brand is the more common one in use for hikers, still you have to carry spare batteries or a rechargeable solar cell adding weight and bulk. There are many other types of filtration system on the market, one being the membrane type filtration system and this is what was written on the above article: “The Portable Aqua Unit for Lifesaving (short PAUL) is a portable ultrafiltration based membrane water filter for humanitarian aid. It allows the decentralized supply of clean water in emergency and disaster situations for about 400 persons per unit per day. The filter is designed to function with neither chemicals nor energy nor trained personnel.” And I’m not familiar with brand; the Sawyer water filter uses a dialysis membrane either 0.1 or 0.02 microns absolute, the Mini filter weights 2 oz, and you can use it like straw, with a squeeze pouch provided, as a gravity filter, in a water bottle or backpack water pouch, for less than $20.00 and it can filter up to 100,000 gallons of water from fresh lakes, rivers, or streams.
Granted, every way you try to purify water is a compromise, more so when you are out in the woods, so I prefer to use Chlorine Dioxide water purification tablets as my backup, you probably know them by the Potable Aqua or Micropur MP1 brands.
Mike