Survival & Backpacking Water Filter Tests
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 3 months ago
Via Uncle, this extensive testing from Widener’s.
To help navigate this frontier, we’ve put together all the information you need to find the best portable filter for your needs.
Our intention is that this guide will serve as a resource. Inside, you’ll find a ton of data and research from accredited health and water monitoring agencies. You’ll also find filter testing we commissioned through an independent accredited laboratory.
There is simple no way to summarize their findings. I intend to print this out for reference later.
On September 9, 2019 at 10:53 am, wes said:
One unit I was sad to see not included is the General Ecology First Need purifier. I won’t list the technical details because you can research it for yourself.
I have trusted my life, and family and friends lives, to their purifier for over twenty five years. My wife tells me it’s closer to thirty years now. I have sourced water from glacial melt, pristine high mountain streams and springs, desert seeps, and low land rivers to muddy tracks in a cow pasture.
The unit in my day bag has been with me for that entire twenty five plus years. It has been with me on day hikes, extended backpacking trips, more hunting and fishing trips than I can recount and gone through temperature ranges from desert heat to below zero cascade winters. You do need to protect the element from freezing so be aware of that. I usually carry the filter element next to my body in extreme cold conditions.
About the only comment General Ecology makes I disagree with is the longevity of their element. They only rate the cartridge for 150 gallons of use. With simple maintenance I garnered many, many times that amount of use from mine. I only replaced the original cartridge unit that came with the pump a few years ago for the first time. In all those years it met needs from a single person to entire boy scout troops and certainly exceeded the 150 gallon rating many times over. It never let me down once. Every member of my family has a complete unit and a backup cartridge in their go bags and we have several spare units in storage. Should anyone is interested in further details of my use and care procedures all they need to do is ask for more information.
It is not a foxy or sexy water filter. It isn’t super light and if you abuse it you can make it fail but give it proper care and it will provide you safe drinking water from just about anywhere you can source water.
Full Disclosure: I am not affiliated with this company in any manner and have not received anything nor any reimbursement for mentioning their product. If you told them about me they wouldn’t know me from Adam. I am just a satisfied user of their product.
wes
wtdb