Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System

Used this on a backpacking trip this past weekend at Gem Lake in WA state. I was very try surprised how well this worked and how easy it was to use. It’s small and compact easy to fit in a small zipper, the water capacity I got is 16oz and worked will for me, the speed of it was depending on how your squeezed the water out, and I felt that the quality was pretty good for what I paid for. I would like to get a larger water bladder as it took me a good 15 min out es to fill up a 3L bladder. Also, I was worried about a weird taste from the filter and surprisingly I did t have an issue. If you do a little liquid iv or gatorlite can help with the taste if needed.

The Sawyer Mini is an excellent bit of kit for those occasions where one cannot carry enough drinking water, and where weight carried is a prime consideration. There’s not a lot that can be added to Sawyer’s technical overview of the unit, suffice to say, provided that it is used correctly, it works. – Competently, and with a minimum of fuss!A couple of points worth noting are: -1) Some reviewers suggest that Sawyer’s collapsible water bags are very difficult to fill, unless there is a strong flow of water. The simple way to ensure that the bottle fills easily, regardless of whether there is strong water flow or not, is to “inflate” the bottle before presenting it to the water supply - by blowing into it as if you were blowing up a balloon.Of course this advice comes with the caveat that your mouth will come into contact with the bottle’s outlet, which may carry contamination from previous fillings with unfiltered water. Only the user in the particular circumstance involved can decide whether there might be any riskinvolved.2) It has been suggested that the threads of the Sawyer filter are the same as those of other makes of collapsible bottle such as Platypus,and of various plastic drink bottles.I cannot comment on the use of plastic drink bottles, but I can say definitively, that the threads of Platypus collapsible bottles are NOT exactly the same as those of the Sawyer Mini.Although a Platypus will actually screw onto the Sawyer, it will only do so with a very slight “cross threading”. In the case of the Platypus bottles I’ve tried, this resulted in a slight seepage of water from around the unfiltered “neck” side of the Sawyer. Meaning that unfiltered watercould easily end up in whatever filtered water container was being used at the time. The seepage increases when squeezing the Platypus in order to speed up liquid flow through the filter.Personally I’ve not had any real problems in using Sawyer’s own bottles, although I find the 32oz. is much to be preferred over the 16oz.The one small gripe I do have, and the distinct advantage a Platypus bottle would have, (assuming a perfect connection to the Sawyer could be made), is that the Platypus range includes a fully transparent bottle, so its content can be seen and inspected for any obvious debris or other matter. It also makes it easy to see whether the inside of the bottle has been properly cleaned and dried before long term storage.EDIT (27 May 2016)One reviewer has given a one star rating which, on the basis of his comments, I think is inappropriate.I have made a comment on that particular review, but copy that comment here, as I think it has some general relevance: -The Sawyer Mini is designed to filter out bacteria and protozoa. It is not designed for, and will not, remove dissolved solids, (which consist of minerals, salts, metals, cations, and anions dissolved in the water), Neither will it filter out chemicals in general, nor any associated tastes or smells.Totally pure water is virtually electrically non-conductive, whereas any "non-pure" water will have some measureable degree of electrical conductivity. TDS meters use this conductivity in order to display the amount of dissolved solids present in the sample being tested.Since dissolved solids won't be filtered out by the Sawyer Mini, it is unsurprising that filtered/non-filtered TDS meter results would be the same. To give the product a one star rating based on an assumption that it should be doing something it was never designed for, is, in my opinion, not justifiable.There is plenty of information on the Mini's technical specification, along with numerous FAQ's as well, on the Sawyer website. Elsewhere, there is plenty of online information to be found on Total Dissolved Solids in drinking water.Reverse Osmosis, Activated Carbon type filters, Deionisation, and Distillation, are all options that will remove some, but not necessarily all, dissolved solids.

Best water filter I have ever used .Customer friendly,light weighteasy to uselong lastinghigh capacity

I am very happy with my purchase!

Ottimo. Filtra benissimo.

Never got diarrhea despite drinking from countless streams, including some sketchy ones near horse paths. It didn't last anywhere near its expected lifetime though, nowhere near 100k gallons. Lasted less than a year, about 500 gallons despite being exclusively used with tap water or mountain stream water from the Sierras and being flushed semi regularly.When I got it it was easily filtering water, i patched it in line with my water bladder and would filter for friends. Towards the end of its life, despite being aggressively flushed before the trip, it was struggling to put out a liter every 5-10 minutes with the water bladder being squeezed and required excessive force to get pressure just through the bite valve. For the price it's good though, about what was expected.

Wir haben viele YouTube Videos geschaut um das richtige für uns zu kaufen.Die Literzahl der Benutzungszeit und das Preis Leistungsverhältnis hat uns überzeugt.Aber Achtung er filtert natürlich weniger als der Kohlefilter heraus.Bitte nicht überstürzt am nächst liegenden Bach benutzen, das Wasser darf nicht vom Menschen verunreinigt sein.

I'm far from an experienced long range hiker or backpacker. I'm fairly comfortable out in the woods, do about 8-9 miles a day in about 2 hours, and have common sense, but I am not a backwoodswoman (unfortunately). A conveniently-sized filter has been on my "that'd be cool" list for years, and while planning a mountain day hike with my sister I went for it with the Sawyer Mini. This was a 2,500' elevation gain hike that was expected to clock in around 9 miles round-trip, trail reports said the average run time was about 4h 45m. No problem.I'm one of those who needs to hydrate excessively- I routinely go through about 2 liters of fluid on a 9 mile route. My hydration pack takes 2 liters, so I figured I probably wouldn't even need the filter but the trip made a good excuse. I even tossed in a lightweight disposable 28 oz bottled water before leaving our car, thinking "No way is that filter getting used!"Man am I glad I had the Sawyer. My hiking partner is not anywhere near as active as I am, which resulted in hours longer on the trail than expected, and surprise, the route clocked in closer to 15 miles than 9. So we were out there, including a break at the spectacular turn around location, for about 10 hours. The Sawyer performed beautifully. I didn't have to stress about trying to conserve water, which was a real relief on the way back, now knowing how long the route actually was and how fast my partner and I were likely to move. The available watersources were mountain streams on a *heavily* trafficked trail (it was like a traffic jam in sections), so the water looked, smelled, and felt clean and cold already, but I sure wouldn't have risked drinking it unfiltered (as we saw several other groups doing- just say no to unfiltered water folks, seriously, not worth it).Okay, the actual review stuff: I'm ashamed to admit I'd never actually used a filter before, though I've seen other people do so. I'm also *not* kinesthetically intelligent. But the Sawyer mini is super easy to understand and use, lightweight, and doesn't have a lot of tiny parts or really much you can do to screw up. I did a test run when it was delivered, found it easy and obvious, and left the flushing syringe in the cabin because we were on a day hike. On the trail it was 100% slick. The included 16 oz bag for untreated water is a little small, and can be challenging to fill in still water, but performed well despite those limitations. As mentioned, the water was already very clear- no visible particulates, and I was able to filter about 1.5 liters in around 8 minutes, including the water-gathering. I assume that dirtier water with more particulates would filter slower- for the water I was filtering, the flow rate was just as fast as my tap water test run, and it was easy to speed up with some gentle pressure on the bag. I should note that I found an actual water bottle *much* easier to filter into than my hydration pack bladder with its floppy body and wide mouth (the last minute extra tossed-in bottled water was useful on two fronts!), so I'd highly recommend carrying a lightweight bottle for filtering into even if you intend to eventually drink it out of an in-line system. The filter, straw, and backflow syringe fit easily into a clean ipsy-type zip case and were light and easy to pack and carry. I will invest in some screw covers or other capping solution so as to avoid water leakage in the future after use, but this wasn't a big deal for me. I'll likely also toss in some alcohol wipes for future trips to ensure clean surfaces after the parts have been jumbled together. Overall, while I imagine that folks who actually are backwoodspeople have better, higher-volume/higher-flow filtering systems and solutions, I'm 100% satisfied with my little Sawyer mini and its totally accessible price point and feel confident it will perform when needed.

The Sawyer MINI is a top pick for ultralight backpackers, travelers to remote destinations, or anyone building an emergency kit where weight and pack space matter. It hits a great balance of filtration performance, portability, and overall value.However, if you’ll be filtering large quantities of very silty water, or you need faster output, or you’re treating water with virus risk, then you might want to look at a bigger system or supplement it with another method.In short: lightweight, capable, versatile—just know its modest flow rate and application limits.

So, this is probably the best in this class of water filters. I have a LifeStraw, a LifeStraw water bottle, an MSR (I think) travel filter (awful). This Sawyer is the best of them.There is no messing about with it, it just works. It comes with a collapsible pouch, which is nice because it makes it easier to drink from if you squeeze the container. It will also connect to standard disposable water bottles, if you prefer that or happen to have one. It comes with a straw, which is nice, so you can drink directly without the pouch, but you are pretty much lying on the ground to make that happen.One thing about the pouch, because it's flexible, if you submerse it in water, it will collapse and push the air out without taking water in. So, you just have to inflate it with your mouth, and try to scoop water into it. Kind of a pain in the butt.Also, if there is any air in the container when you attach the filter, you can't just drink from it like a straw, because you will just get air. So, bottoms up!I also have a Platypus 2L bag which this does plug into. Not sure if I can use it in-line, but I can definitely use it as a gravity filter with this Sawyer, so that's a nice option.As for flavour, I haven't tried it with really dirty water yet, just clean flowing streams, here in Ontario, but it is delicious. This is the best for the price point.