[pct-l] Aqua Mira water purifier tablets

[Thomas Jamrog]

I had and will continue to use it.  I have used my Steripen Adventurer model for my whole 2007 AT thru-hike and for plenty of outdoor action since then.  I love it.  You are drinking a quart of water in 90 seconds.   I encountered a problem with it this fall, after 2 and 1/2 years of heavy use,  sent if back to Steripen and they immediately replaced it, no questions asked. While the 2 CR123 batteries are expensive ($10)  if you buy them in a twin pack at the drug store or wherever, I was able to buy a couple cases of 12 for $20 each  at LLBean here in Maine.  I usually went 2 and one-half to three weeks of daily use before I had to replace them.  I even serviced other hikers who would occasionally hit on me to zap their water when they were impatient waiting for their Aqua Mira treatments to quick in.   Plus the weight is 3.6 ounces.  You must be using the  original 11 ounce model which takes 4 double AA's and is a bigger unit .  
Uncle Tom 

  "When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."  Alexander Graham Bell

On Feb 6, 2010, at 10:27 PM, Kate Drum wrote:

> Does anyone use the steripen? I'm not crazy about chlorine or iodine,  
> and impatient besides. I have had good luck with the magic lite,  
> though not at first, the batteries wore down pretty fast, so I added  
> the solar charger and extra batts. It still seems like magic -  
> stirring a small lite to kill all those nasty things swimming around  
> in your drink. It must work, I've used it for several years now with  
> no ill effects. It's about 11 ozs., so if weight is your only issue  
> then I guess the steripen is on the heavy side.
> 
> Dave
> 
> On Feb 6, 2010, at 6:38 PM, Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com wrote:
> 
>> Once you use the filter, it weighs a whole lot more because the paper
>> in the filter becomes saturated with water. I always pumped out the
>> leftover water, but it is still closer to a full pound when wet.
>> 
>> Still, I think where water is more plentiful, it might be worth it
>> since you are carrying less water overall. If you are still filtering/
>> purifying by that point.
>> 
>> I found the water in So Cal to be a lot cleaner than I expected. You
>> would think drinking out of cattle troughs would be disgusting, but
>> you actually get the water from the pipes dripping into the troughs.
>> So actually needing to filter visible particles out of the water is
>> infrequent.
>> 
>> Diane
>> 
>> On Feb 6, 2010, at 6:26 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>>> 
>>> If you carry more than 11 ounces of extra water (less than a pint)
>>> when using Aquamira then why not carry a water filter?  For example
>>> the Katadyn Hiker weighs in at 11 ounces (again just an example no
>>> endorsement here).
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Pct-l mailing list
>> Pct-l at backcountry.net
>> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>> 
>> List Archives:
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> 
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>