On this planet of purifying ingesting water, there are lots of alternative ways of performing the bushwalker’s miracle of water into w… properly, water… and making it secure to drink. The hiker’s alchemy of having the ability to cut back your backpack weight by accumulating water alongside the best way and never find yourself with some type of gastro is a superb revelation – it’s additionally straightforward to do. I’ve been utilizing a Grayl UltraPress water purification filter for a few months earlier than scripting this gear evaluation and right here’s what I discovered:
The most typical methods of treating ingesting water for bushwalking and mountain climbing are:
What to search for in water therapy
Not all strategies are equal OR do the identical job(s). There are 4 most important bug sorts that ingesting water remedies can cope with:
- Micro organism
- Viruses
- Protozoa
- Microparticles
Doing all of your analysis to work out what explicit bugs are extra of a problem the place you intend on adventuring, could enable you make a smart alternative. Some filters or strategies solely cope with micro organism and protozoa, while others could solely do viruses. The satan is within the element… and within the spits at 2 am in a tent… within the rain… and, properly, you get the thought.
What else?
The previous triad of price vs. bulk vs. weight is all the time going to be a balancing act for us people who like to hold all the things on our backs. For those who’re a car-camper, day-hiker or slush-fund-recipient, then a few of these choices gained’t be as essential.
The factor that actually struck me by the Grayl UltraPress air purifier is just not solely how straightforward it’s to make use of however that it offers with all 4 of the nasties that might be in water. Merely scoop up water, push the filter down (it takes a little bit of effort) and bingo – 500 ml of water that’s good to drink. No tricksy attaching hoses, rigging issues as much as hold or ready half-hour for it to work.
It’s additionally the type of easy system that I’d need to take travelling wherever I didn’t belief the water from a faucet.
The Professionals
- Easy
- Prompt
- Slimline Design
- Offers with all 4 of the water gremlins + others = virus, micro organism, protozoa, microplastic, silt, sediment, chemical compounds, heavy metals + odour
The Cons
The primary draw back for me is the load of the bottle at 354 g (in addition they do an Ultralight at 309 g).
The filters will final for 350 x 500 ml presses and you have to to get rid of the filter cartridge (80 g). Grayl are within the technique of establishing a trade-in service with TerraCycle (as at March 2022), so fingers crossed that doesn’t take too lengthy to occur – I wouldn’t need to see the filters having to go to landfill.
At round $140 AUD, you’ll need to take excellent care of your filter bottle to get essentially the most out of it. There’s a wee little bit of stuff it’s essential know, just like the significance of drying out your filter and storing it (quick time period – on the monitor and long run – at residence)
Grayl UltraPress Specs
- 500 ml
- 354 grams
- 25 cm x 7.5 cm (suits properly in aspect pockets)
- Lifespan: 300 presses (ie. 150 litres)
- Filter technique: ion change, extremely powdered activated carbon
- Move fee: 3 litres per minute
- Removes: 99.99% of viruses, micro organism and protozoa, together with rotavirus, hepatitus A, norovirus, giardia, cryptosporidium, E.coli, cholera, salmonella, dysentery. Yech!
- Filters: particulates (sediment, microplastics) pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, flavour and odour
- Produced from BPA-free polypropylene, TPA and ABS food-grade plastic
Purchase a Grayl UltraPress or different Grayl bottles now.