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Finding safe drinking water isn’t usually that hard but there are times when the only water you can find is a little ‘suspect’. Taking a gamble in these situations can is a bit like playing Russian Roulette with the contents of your stomach and believe me … when you make a bad call you will regret it!

The 3 main options for making sure your flapjack stays on the inside are, tablets, filters or UV treatment. Each has it’s own merits and inherent drawbacks. My own preference has always swung between filters and tablets and the choice has often depended on whether I’m on my own or with a group … usually a 3 litre gravity filter for groups and tablets for when I’m solo but the Swayer Mini filter has changed that.

Smaller than your average grip.
Most filters are either pumped or gravity fed. Both types are fairly heavy, quite expensive and require the filter elements to either be serviced or replaced at regular intervals, they can also be slow and a bit of an inconvenience to use mid-ride … meaning you might start taking a few too many risks. The Sawyer Mini seems to address all those issues with no real compromises. Using it couldn’t be easier, dirty water goes in the squeeze bag, the filter element screws on to the bag and you squeeze. It doesn’t take much effort or time, so you’re more likely to use it.
You don’t have to use the supplied bag, you could fit the filter in-line to a bladder hose, screw the filter to another bottle (it’s a common thread) or even use it as a straw to drink through. The supplied squeeze bag is 0.5l which obviously helps keep the weight down but is only just big enough, other sizes are available and for most people I suspect a 1l version would be ideal.
This is what you’ll get.
The ‘kit’ contains the following bits: (A) Some recycling (B) Cleaning plunger (C) Squeeze bag (D) Filter unit (E) Connection pipe
There’s no need to take the plunger or connection pipe out with you, all you need is the bag and filter unit. The 2 together weigh a whopping 80g and take up as much room as a packet of Xtra strong mints … if you stick it in your pocket you’ll hardly notice it.
Obviously the weight and size is impressive but I think the most remarkable thing is the fact it’ll safely filter up to 378 thousand litres!!! … just how long is it going to take you to drink three hundred and seventy eight thousand litres? … That’s impressive by anyones standards. Just back-flush the filter from time to time and try not to filter mud through it and it’ll probably see you out. 
Before and after.
I’m not going to go into the details of what the filter removes but I will say that it removes all the nasties that will ruin your day. As you can see from the above picture it’ll also remove the bits you can see as well of the stuff you can’t.
If you allie the above with a price of less than £30, then there really is no excuse to make yourself sick!

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