[pct-l] Fwd: Camlbak All Clear

[Jay Bruins]

Does anyone care to elaborate on "unreliable"?

I've used a Steripen Freedom when traveling abroad (eg restaurants) as well as with a Nalgene in the backcountry. Haven't had an issue. What failure modes should I be wary of?

For two people, it's much nicer than the Sawyer (mini or otherwise). In Henry Coe last week I had to sleep with the mini I carried just to ensure it didn't freeze. I'd honestly consider bringing it on the PCT this year except I can't figure out how I'd use it with anything other than a Nalgene. (A Gatorade bottle is 20oz. Burning the power of two treatments for less than 32oz doesn't seem like a win to me.)

Jay

PS Burned through the three bags the Squeeze came with. Returned it to REI. When I replaced it with a Mini, I picked up an Evernew 900ml bag, which has held up twice as long as the Sawyer bags. I may pick up a few more bags and Evernew's hose to complete the hydration system and call it even.

> On Jan 5, 2015, at 6:22 PM, be hope <bh.csuchico at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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.
>> ​ . . . ​
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