I was turned on to this system from reading the PCT-O7 yahoo group. These purifiers quickly remove bacteria and virus. They treat 3000 gallons– more if you back flush it. You can filter three ways: inline gravity feed which yields 5 gallons in 30 minutes, or sit on the bag and get it even faster, hook it up to a faucet and get it at 40 psi, or fill up the bottle and just drink. It says that there is no hard sucking involved.
I’m having a hard time getting more information on these. The inline filter weighs 6 oz, I believe, but I don’t know about the bottle filter. Aqua Mira– what I use– weighs 3 oz but only treats 30 gallons and that’s if you don’t accidentally not get the cap on tight. The biggest problem I have with Aqua Mira is running out of it on the trail.
On the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and the Appalachian the water is usually good and I didn’t feel I needed to treat much of my water, except in the desert, but on the Florida trail and at least the New Mexico section of the CDT (Continental Divide Trail) I was finding I needed to treat most of the water and ran out of Aqua Mira in the middle of nowhere and had to drink the cow spit straight up; it would be nice to have a water treatment that would last the whole trail, as I don’t like being bound to mail drops for my supplies.
Here is a link with more information http://www.sawyerproducts.com/viral.htm They are sold through http://www.justdrink.net/
Update: I bought it and so far have not gotten it to work. Read my review here
