Sawyer in-line filter, any good?

[SimpleSi]

So I usually just act sensible with where I grab water but after the WRT I think I picked up a little something one of the million or so sheep that had been p*@*£*ing in my water sources.

In the search for minimum faff I found this, main question is whats the resistance like when sucking through? I always ride with a small pack and camelback as Im on a full suss so no scope for bottles with my frame bag.

[jameso]

A guy I rode with a few weeks back used one in-line from his camelbag bladder, works fine. I've used it as a straw and you can fill a litre bottle in a minute or 2, the flow's pretty good, little resistance if it's not clogged (can be back-rinsed with a supplied tube). Really useful although need to check what you're aiming to filter out is within the filter range / particle sizes.

[SimpleSi]

Nothing super nasty, mainly sheep pee I suspect. Just for UK/european use

[Bearbonesnorm]

Sawyer will remove anything from UK water that'll make you ill. It won't remove heavy metal deposits but not much will and you'd need to drink an awful lot before deposits do you any (noticeable) harm.

[benp1]

Sawyer also doesn't remove viruses, I don't think

[Stevemorg]

Very happy with mine but seeing the new MSR one on the WRT I'd have a look at one of those as well

[Bearbonesnorm]

Very happy with mine but seeing the new MSR one on the WRT I'd have a look at one of those as well

A finely crafted intro to the new MSR filter can be read here: http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.co ... water.html

[whitestone]

Very happy with mine but seeing the new MSR one on the WRT I'd have a look at one of those as well

A finely crafted intro to the new MSR filter can be read here: http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.co ... water.html

I re-read your review shortly after hitting the "Add to basket" button. There's also a review here http://www.bikepacking.com/gear/msr-trailshot-review/

[BigdummySteve]

That was my shiny new MSR squeeze on the WRT, perfect, plonk it in river, squeeze several times, fill bottle. So much easier than the sawyer i that I carried but didn't use due to faff. I can't imagine anything thing much better, though that may be a lack of.....imagination

[Zippy]

hmm, I like that (MSR)

I have a sawyer - I like that too, but on the move like others say, it is a bit faffy (when stopped, it's not as big a deal IMHO).

The MSR is 142g, the sawyer is 60g, that's quite a weight penalty... (I can't believe this, but I am actually considering this weight penalty as a factor!)

EDIT: according to ultralightourdoors, full sawyer kit is as follows:

Filter unit weighs 43g
Water bottle 22g
Syringe 30g
Straw 2g

Yeah, so 65g for what i bring with me, so over double weight for the msr

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thinking about it, you can use the straw with the sawyer, so it has works in the same way as the msr when drinking directly thought the filter. If you add i a mini in line fluid transfer bellows thing onto the sawyer, that might be lighter still, and effectively the same.

[benp1]

If we're getting into weights, then I think you should also consider the Drinksafe Travel Tap

My spreadsheet says its 157g, but that's the old bottle, which I lost. The new bottle is slightly different (still the old filter), but I can't imagine it's significantly different

The big change here is the bottle is always usable, it's a cycling bottle (I daren't use the proper word for fear of hitting the swear filter), so the only extra bit for cycling is the filter which you screw in and out of the top. Unscrew the filter and it's a normal bottle you put in a bottle cage, screw it in and it's water purifier bottle. You can fill it and drink on the go, you don't have to filter it in one go

And the filter does more than a sawyer or the MSR as it does viruses and heavy metals etc

First use of filter in earnest (according to my spreadsheet) was in the Brecons in 2010

As you can tell, I'm a fan

[sean_iow]

The MSR looks good, but is the 2000 litre life of the filter correct? That doesn't sound like very much compared to the sawyer.

Sawyer quote 100,000 gallons, assuming these are US gallons which are smaller than ours that's 378,541 litres or about 189 times longer than the MSR.

Ultralight outdoor gear have the MSR at £39 and the sawyer at £29 so taking into account the expected lifespan you'd have to buy £7,381 worth of MSRs to get the same amount of water as one sawyer! I see that the MSR takes replacement filters so the cost would be less than this depending upon the cost of the filters but there not listed on the site at the moment. Even if they were only £1 each (which they wont be) it would still make the cost of the 100,000 gallons £227.

Obviously in the real world the 2000 litre lifespan will be enough for a very long time and years of use when out biking.

I admit that filling the squeeze bag can be a pain. I tend to blow mine up first to make it take the shape which seems to help. I have an idea on how to modify it to make it easier to use (which I might of seen somewhere but can't find it) so I'll try that and post up the results sometime soon.

[mountainbaker]

I found MSR replacement filters somewhere, around £28. So very pricey. Still, I have the MSR and the Sawyer, I much prefer the MSR for ease of use. The Sawyer is great until the bag splits (happened to me in New Mexico), but it is a slow and cumbersome process. The fact the MSR can be connected to your camelbak hose is great too (yet to try this).

[Bearbonesnorm]

admit that filling the squeeze bag can be a pain. I tend to blow mine up first to make it take the shape which seems to help. I have an idea on how to modify it to make it easier to use (which I might of seen somewhere but can't find it) so I'll try that and post up the results sometime soon.

My sawyer 'mod' is to simply cut the bottom of the bag off - makes filling much easier.

[sean_iow]

My sawyer 'mod' is to simply cut the bottom of the bag off - makes filling much easier.

That's where I've seen it I knew I couldn't of thought it up on my own. Do you then fold the bottom over and use one of those binding strip things to re-seal when squeezing?

These things https://presco.eu/products/slide-binder ... 7Qodk30Nkg

[Bearbonesnorm]

I don't bother with a clip Sean, just roll it over on itself a couple of times and squeeze

I've got a bladder that I've also fitted a cord to, so I can lower it into streams and use it like a bucket.

[sean_iow]

Now I know for sure it works I will be cutting my bottom off later today