Water Purifiers and Filters

Reviews - Water Purifiers and Filters

It's always fun to see the brown truck driving up our little country road in the woods, but yesterday morning was special, and I had muffins and coffee ready for the driver.  That's because I knew what was headed for my hot little hands.  It's always nice to get new gear to review and share the information with others, but when you're having something delivered to you that's considered a revolution in technology for its sector, well, that creates just a bit more anticipation than normal.  So, I was extra nice to the delivery guy.  The product of which I'm speaking is the Lifesaver Bottle manufactured and distributed by Lifesaver Systems.  (Next Page For Entire Review)

Read more: Lifesaver Bottle Review

Reviews - Water Purifiers and Filters

Water is the only drink for a wise man---Henry David Thoreau

On the grand scheme of things, no matter the enviornment, water has to be the primary concern for man's survival.  I've done extensive research in the past years about survival in the outdoors.  There's a rule of thumb dealing with the "3's".  It goes something like, "You can survive without shelter for three hours, without water for three days, and without food for about three weeks."  That's a generalization and dependent on the survivor's surroundings.  For instance, if a person were caught in a blizzard, their primary concern would be to find shelter from the storm.  However, that concern would not be as great if it was a balmy eighty-three degrees outside.  But, no matter the temperature or conditions, man must have water.  Period.  Full end stop.  The general wisdom is that at least one gallon of water should be available for each person for each each day.  In hot conditions, even more might be required.  So, having the means to acquire and filter/purify water must be a component for the savvy outdoors person.  This topic came up recently in a group discussion while a few of us were having a weekend in the woods "roughing it".  The conversation encompassed short-term and long-term scenarios, the types of filters/purifiers that are available, and it covered the strengths and weaknesses of each system.  We talked about pre-filters, filters, purifiers, tablets, and even the newer ultra-violet devices.  One of the most prevailant of these is the Steri-Pen from Hydro-Photon, Inc. and it's a system that we tried while up in the hills of North Carolina this past weekend.

Read more: Hydro-Photon's Steri-Pen

Reviews - Water Purifiers and Filters

Growing us as a kid in Northwest Florida, I was quite accustomed to just dipping my hat into the swamp and having a drink of whatever water happened to be handy.  Although I heard of potential problems with doing this, it was a pretty common practice and I never got sick, or even heard of anybody that I knew of getting sick, so I pretty much figured that we must have built up a resistance pretty early in life, and therefore never really thought much about it.  Well that record held true right up until the day in my High School years when my Dad caught Spinal Meningitis, (quite possibly from the doing that very thing).  Even after that, though, I was still hardheaded enough to continue the practice on occasion when it suited me.  It was only later, in my service with the Marine Corps, when I got the opportunity to witness wide scale illnesses due to untreated water that caused me to change my view on the issue.

Read more: Katadyn Pocket Filter