High Sierra Topix

This was interesting to me, as my gravity filter is pretty well toast, and I'm looking at lightweight replacements that are not a Sawyer based version.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C6 ... 2204506011

The fact that it takes no batteries and no fragile moving parts, or even unfragile parts (pump handles break off sometimes) is nice. That it cleans out many chemicals is nice. That it handles viruses is nice. For sixty bucks buy in, and 24.50 for another cartridge, hmmm.

Still - unsure about the 40 gallon lifespan. The Hiker Pro has a lifespan up to 1150 liters depending on water quality - most Sierra water is pretty clear. The Platypus Cleanstream has a similar claim, up to 1500 liters depending on water quality. Meanwhile, the cheapest and lightest of them all, the Sawyer Mini, claims 100,000 gallon lifespan...

Of course none of these is a purifier, as this thing is.

At the end of my thought process, I consider the capacity -- I don't just filter and drink on the spot, I need to carry a couple liters or more if we are dry camping somewhere. The backcountry I hike in doesn't usually have virus issues. Nor do I tend to hang out in areas where there are lots of foreign chemicals in the water.... So I'm more likely to just use the Sawyer I already have and put up with backflushing as needed, and slow throughput.

Still, it's an interesting option for travel. Taking chlorine out of tap water is a nice thing UV treatment doesn't do.

I recently purchased a water filter and looked at the Grayl, but went with the BeFree product because it was lighter and packed smaller. Traditionally I have never filtered my Sierra water, but the BeFree is so easy to use, no reason not to now.

I second the Befree recommendation. Lightweight and with excellent flow. The YouTube videos showing the flow rate fit with my experience. One caveat - the first time you use it after dry storage it can be slow, but once the membrane wets it's as fast as I can drink.

Dave

I've hiked with someone using the BeFree, but it does not thrill me again due to the lack of any way of backflushing it. It has a limited lifespan and I filter a lot of water.

Why not "Sawyer-based"? How can you beat that lifespan and the pore diameter? Everybody wants all these chemistry sets with multiple bags, tubes and cartridges, but for gravity-flow systems, I've never been able to beat an MSR Aqua flow with a Sawyer mini thrown into the line in place of the stock cartridge. 4 liters (more if you push it), pre-filter at the bottom of the bag for crud, roll-top, out of the bag and effortlessly into a Nalgene clean in just a few minutes. Reverse it, blow it out or squeeze the bag to force the water through when backflushing...keeps going, weighs next to nothing, virtually nothing to break, more water than I can drink, and then I can also use the tubing and Mini for quick sips from the trailside when pumping is the last thing I feel like doing.