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View Full Version : UV H2O purification

Colin
May 31st, 2008, 03:12 AM
Your opinion on them? I'm getting into backpacking pretty heavy but it's getting old lugging water around. You can pickup a nalgene mounted UV unit pretty cheap. Just wondering what yall thought of them.
Ooompa Loompa
June 2nd, 2008, 02:04 PM
I just use the iodine tablets personally. Taste doesn't bother me at all, and if it does you can get the neutralizer tablets to get rid of the taste. Super compact. One tiny bottle holds enough tablets to neutralize around 10 gallons of water.
Trango
June 2nd, 2008, 04:59 PM
Go save yourself the chemistry experiment on both sides and go buy an $80 MSR pump. Nothing beats the taste of fresh mountain water (I'll pump extra just so I have some on the drive home) and it's quicker than some UV-type solution.

Also, and I admit I've never even *heard* of the UV thing, the water in the threads of bottles can also be an issue, which is why, when using iodine tabs, after dropping the cap, you need to open the cap slightly and shake some water through. I wonder how the UV thing handles that "stray" water.

Anyway, filter FTW.
Steve
June 2nd, 2008, 05:28 PM
Anyway, filter FTW.

Quoted for truth.
bsaunder
June 2nd, 2008, 11:17 PM
I use a PUR hiker purifier (now classified as a filter due to stricter epa standards for a purifier)..

Works quite well, but I have thought about a steripen or other UV purifier for some of the mtn streams that I go to. I've also thought about it for some of the lower elevation streams to use in conjunction with my filter... Especially since they have changed the replacement cartridges to a ceramic cartridge rather than a pleated paper with iodine one...
Yota
June 3rd, 2008, 01:23 PM
UV won't clean up muddy water either. I believe that if you can't remove the turbidity then you can't guarantee purified water with UV because microorganisms can hide in the dirt.

So I agree with "filter FTW." You can scoop up some heinous-looking water and filter it and be safe. If you wanted to use a steripen or the like on the resulting filtered water then cool.

I just think the filters open up more options.
Colin
June 19th, 2008, 03:59 AM
Ended up with a Sweetwater, now by MSR. Very pleased.