[pct-l] steripen for water purification
Craig Rice
rice.craig at comcast.net
Sun Mar 9 11:52:01 CDT 2008
Hi Laura,
I've used the SteriPEN "Classic" the last two years as I did the
SoCal, Oregon and Washington sections of the PCT. I could purify water
daily for about a week and a half on a single set of Li batteries.
While the "PEN" is heavier than a bottle of AquaMira, which previously
was my purifier of choice, and has to be included in the "baseweight"
of the "gram weenies", it's effective pack weight is less than
AquaMire. Since water is ready in 90 sec for a liter, we ended up
carrying less water than normal and would "camel up" when we got to
water sources.
I wasn't a believer at first. My hiker buddy, Strider, showed up with
one at the beginning of our Oregon/Washington trip. I long stated that
I would never use a GPS versus a compass on the trail--"never trust
your life with something that requires batteries". And here he is with
a water purifier that needs batteries! Also being a scientist I was
skeptical about the performance of the unit. After watching Strider
use it for a week--he's drinking and I'm watching my watch to time the
AquaMira--and getting hold of the original validation studies, I was
willing to try. Two years later it's my purifier of choice. Note: just
in case.... I usually bring along a few purifier tablets should I
manage to break the PEN. It's actually pretty tough device with the
storage cap on it.
Anecdotal data: For the rest of the Oregon/Washington trip three of us
used the SteriPEN exclusively. The fourth member of the group used a
filter. He got giardia; we didn't!
Mr. Wizard
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