On this planet of purifying ingesting water, there are various other ways of performing the bushwalker’s miracle of water into w… effectively, water… and making it protected to drink. The hiker’s alchemy of with the ability to scale back your backpack weight by amassing water alongside the way in which and never find yourself with some type of gastro is a good revelation – it’s additionally simple to do. I’ve been utilizing a Grayl UltraPress water purification filter for a few months earlier than penning this gear evaluation and right here’s what I discovered:
The commonest methods of treating ingesting water for bushwalking and mountaineering are:
What to search for in water therapy
Not all strategies are equal OR do the identical job(s). There are 4 foremost bug sorts that ingesting water therapies can take care of:
- Micro organism
- Viruses
- Protozoa
- Microparticles
Doing all of your analysis to work out what explicit bugs are extra of a difficulty the place you propose on adventuring, might assist you to make a smart selection. Some filters or strategies solely take care of micro organism and protozoa, while others might solely do viruses. The satan is within the element… and within the spits at 2 am in a tent… within the rain… and, effectively, you get the thought.
What else?
The outdated triad of price vs. bulk vs. weight is all the time going to be a balancing act for us folks who like to hold every part on our backs. When you’re a car-camper, day-hiker or slush-fund-recipient, then a few of these selections gained’t be as vital.
The factor that actually struck me by the Grayl UltraPress air purifier shouldn’t be solely how simple it’s to make use of however that it offers with all 4 of the nasties that might be in water. Merely scoop up water, push the filter down (it takes a little bit of effort) and bingo – 500 ml of water that’s good to drink. No tricksy attaching hoses, rigging issues as much as dangle or ready half-hour for it to work.
It’s additionally the form of easy system that I’d need to take travelling anyplace I didn’t belief the water from a faucet.
The Execs
- Easy
- On the spot
- Slimline Design
- Offers with all 4 of the water gremlins + others = virus, micro organism, protozoa, microplastic, silt, sediment, chemical substances, heavy metals + odour
The Cons
The principle draw back for me is the burden of the bottle at 354 g (additionally they do an Ultralight at 309 g).
The filters will final for 350 x 500 ml presses and you will want to eliminate the filter cartridge (80 g). Grayl are within the means of establishing a trade-in service with TerraCycle (as at March 2022), so fingers crossed that doesn’t take too lengthy to occur – I wouldn’t need to see the filters having to go to landfill.
At round $140 AUD, you’ll need to take excellent care of your filter bottle to get probably the most out of it. There’s a wee little bit of stuff that you must know, just like the significance of drying out your filter and storing it (quick time period – on the monitor and long run – at dwelling)
Grayl UltraPress Specs
- 500 ml
- 354 grams
- 25 cm x 7.5 cm (matches effectively in aspect pockets)
- Lifespan: 300 presses (ie. 150 litres)
- Filter methodology: ion trade, extremely powdered activated carbon
- Circulate fee: 3 litres per minute
- Removes: 99.99% of viruses, micro organism and protozoa, together with rotavirus, hepatitus A, norovirus, giardia, cryptosporidium, E.coli, cholera, salmonella, dysentery. Yech!
- Filters: particulates (sediment, microplastics) pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, flavour and odour
- Created from BPA-free polypropylene, TPA and ABS food-grade plastic
Purchase a Grayl UltraPress or different Grayl bottles now.