I bought the Sawyer Just Drink Water Purifier. Someone on the Yahoo group, “PCT 2007”, was big on it. It was supposed to be lightweight and purify–not just filter, but purify– out all bacteria and viruses for 3000 gallons and then you backflush it and it’s good again. I liked the idea because sometimes I run out of Aqua Mira and it’s hard to find along the way.
Sawyer advertises this as something to not only camp with but to have on hand for emergency water purification in case of the municipal water source becoming polluted. Their big thing is all you do is “Just Drink.”
But the instructions call for you to have a safe source of tap water to prime it with. Why would someone who had a safe source of tap water, need a water purifier? They say not every faucet will work with it and if you can’t get it to work on one faucet find another. My only faucet is a gravity feed system from a 55 gallon barrel up in my loft; it didn’t work. I took it into town and tried the library’s faucet and that didn’t work either. Once it quits freezing, the town will have the community facet turned on; maybe I will try it there. I don’t know if once it is primed then it stays that way or if you need to keep finding faucets that work with it to prime it.
I do know that is heavy. With what water I have managed to get in it, it already weighs 9.5 ounces(269 grams), then you have to add a ring, a cap, some hose, and a big plastic bottle ( it won’t fit into a regular wide mouth Nalgene).
Also the instructions warn against it freezing and they say you need to drain the water out of it to store it… but I can’t get what water I have managed to get into it, to drain out, so I’m guessing mold will be a problem. Probably, I should just toss it.
Maybe I’m missing something here; there is a video on justdrink.com. If I find some high speed internet, I’ll watch it and then maybe it will all become clear to me. I see a problem with requiring a safe source of tap water and high speed internet to get a water purifier to work.
I would warn you not to buy this unless you hear from people who actually used it and had a good experience with it.
The biggest problem with Sawyer purifiers is not that you need a tap to prime them the first time, it’s that you need to prime them over and over again to get them to work in the backcountry. It’s really a problem when you try to suck on your purifier and nothing comes out. I’ve kept my first need. It’s a little heavy, but super reliable and effective.
The Sawyer Purifier uses a .02 micron hole, which makes it way too fussy and difficult to use on the trail. The Sawyer Filter, on the other hand, with a .2 hole ten time larger, works really well for me – screens everything except viruses at about 1 litre per minute and guaranteed for a million gallons of use. I have it in-line on a platy big-zip, which means I can “fill and go”, and drink without any waiting. I hike mostly Vancouver Island trails, so viruses are minimal threat for me. I know you prefer disposable bottles, perhaps a Sawyer filter (vs purifier) in your kit would work?
Really enjoy reading your stuff. Thanks for the site.
Rod.