Bushwalk Australia

I confess I find the Steripen a little temperamental, but I persevere with it. However, I usually use in 1 litre Nalgene bottles, but am about to get a folding 2.8 litre one. Anybody used a steripen with these. I assume 1 press for half a litre 2 for a litre means I just treat for a litre x 3 times to be safe?

The Katadyn pump days were the best, but every gram counts for my knees these days

There is a kit you can buy for it which has a large bladder with a special coating so the whole thing gets done in one go. I think it's four litres.
I got one second hand a while ago but I haven't used that part of it.

Might be worth checking out.

Ditch the steripen and look into a Befree, QuickDraw or Sawyer. They are lighter, cheaper and more reliable.

Zapruda wrote:Ditch the steripen and look into a Befree, QuickDraw or Sawyer. They are lighter, cheaper and more reliable.

I second the recommendation of the Katadyn BeFree. Lighter, cheaper, more reliable, and more convenient too - although I didn't get the promised 1000 litres lifespan before having to replace the filter.

Befree fan boy but the pouch isn't super durable. Excluding when the dog took a liking to one, I have had one spring a leak out walking.

BTW ribuck, how do you know when its reached its use by date?

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crollsurf wrote:BTW ribuck, how do you know when its reached its use by date?

I retired mine when the flow rate became too low, even with squeezing the pouch very hard, and wringing it. Of course I did the recommended rinsing and swooshing after each trip to stop it clogging up too quickly.

However, I will buy another one because it was great while it lasted.

Thanks all, How had I not seen these.

I love my old Katadyn pump, but the weight retired it. The Steripen and pre filter works, but is temperamental. This Be free in the 3 litre looks perfect for me and will shave weight off the Steripen too.

Thanks loads - shopping time

Disclosure, I don't like Sawyer as a company due to some of their practices and products, I have little experience with the rest. As for the steripen, when I use one I use it with either 0.5L nalgenes or 0.5 platypus bags, and so for my effort, I think that having a "treatment" bag and a larger storage bag would be more ideal. I have several bladders from 2-4L, and filters to suit the conditions, but if I'm going solo, I'd probably just take the steri-pen, an 0.5 and a 2L and that should do my "walk" stage in most cases though I could take more if needed. I wouldn't use a steri for more than 1L at a time just due to my own concerns about bugs not getting close enough to the bulb, but I may be over-concerned having grown up in major giardia territory.

In the bigger scale, the steri is also part of my "at home" plan as it would be a very user-friendly plan if home ends up having a boil water advisory. That said, I also have an MSR gravity and miniworks, though they count as group filters for me (should I ever get the chance to walk with a group again)