[pct-l] Fwd: Camlbak All Clear

[be hope]

Been using the same SteriPEN Adventure unit since 2008. Logged over 4 K
trail miles ~~ including some wildernesses where I don't treat the water.
It's worked perfectly and flawlessly every time. At the end of each hiking
season, I remove the batteries (per the fine print in the Steripen user's
manual ) from the unit and ~~ depending on the time out on the trail ~~
might use those batteries the next hiking season for a spell before
replacing them with the extra batteries I always carry. Treating water when
the battery is cold will drain the battery faster. If I anticipate treating
water early in the morning, I'll keep the unit in my sleeping bag
overnight.

A UV treatment method will both filter and purify water. One time I asked a
doctor specializing in infectious diseases . . . ."why should hikers be
concerned with water purification?" It seemed that hikers only needed to
filter water and not have the purification capability in a water treatment
system in the backcounty. His answer: “yes, you really don't have to be
worried about water purification in the backcountry, BUT, one never knows.”

Since a UV treatment may be ineffective with non denuded water, I also
carry a Steripen Pre-filter ~~ that thing really does pre-filter all kinds
of stuff. And if the water is really bad, my small synthetic wash cloth
will serve as a pre-pre-filter.

If my water bottle lid gets wet before treatment, then that lid-water is
not gonna get the UV treatment. After treating a bottle of water, I'll
carefully swish a small amount of treated water from the bottle to rinse
the lid; the same infectious disease doctor above assure me that is
sufficient to remove any non treated water from the lid.

Never had giardia, but as we all know, personal hygiene is critical and may
be more important than the water treatment system one uses, UV or non UV.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all a Happy New Year and best wishes
for hiking this year !



be hope



On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 4:19 PM, marmot marmot <marmotwestvanc at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> My experience with a steripen is that they are unreliable.
> ​ . . . ​
>
>