The Katadyn Hiker is the best selling micro filter in the US outdoor market. Lightweight and easy to use design is the best choice for all around use. Unique, pleated cartridge design provides fast and easy pumping. Convenient and handy for 1-2 people. Compatible with hydration bladders. Includes pre-filter, bottle adapter and carry bag.
The Katadyn Hiker is the best selling microfilter in the US. The lightweight and easy-to-use design make the Hiker the best choice for all-around use. The unique, pleated cartridge design provides fast and easy pumping, and it’s convenient and handy for 1-2 persons while hiking or trekking.
Key Features:
Activated carbon is used for its ability to reduce harmful organic and inorganic substances in the water. It removes unpleasant tastes, odors, chlorine, pesticides (lindane, DDT) and trihalomethanes (THMs). These substances adhere to the large surface area of the activated carbon. Activated carbon granulate cannot be regenerated.
Feature Detail:
Why Treat Water?
A crystal-clear stream or lake usually contains microorganisms that can make you sick. Water contaminants like protozoa, bacteria and viruses, can cause serious illness. Optimize your travel preparation and use a portable drinking water system from Katadyn.
About Katadyn
Katadyn of Switzerland has been producing high quality portable water systems since 1928. Their history has been one of innovation and durability. Katadyn products are used by militaries, health organizations and outdoor adventurers world-wide. No other water system provides higher quality or longer lasting performance. Katadyn is the global leader in portable water treatment. With subsidiaries in the United States, Germany, France, and Singapore; Katadyn develops, produces and distributes high quality products which are used whenever safe drinking water isn’t available–for travel, camping and humanitarian operations.
No pumping required – water container with built-in ceramic filters. Used and trusted by relief agencies around the globe for many years.The Katadyn TRK Drip Gravidyn free-standing gravity filter features a 10 liter water container for large quantities of water. It’s ideal for the water supply for camps, cabins and homes without running water. This Gravidyn version comes with three combined ceramic and activated carbon filter elements.
Ceramic filters have a micro porous structure with impregnated silver which delays the growth of bacteria. The pore-size of Katadyn ceramic filters is 0.2 micron (0.0002 mm). Bacteria range in size from 0.2 to 5 micron and, like protozoa (1 to 15 micron), are efficiently filtered out. Ceramic filters can be mechanically regenerated and the filter capacity is measurable.
Activated carbon is used for its ability to reduce harmful organic and inorganic substances in the water. It removes unpleasant tastes, odors, chlorine, pesticides (lindane, DDT) and trihalomethanes (THMs). These substances adhere to the large surface area of the activated carbon. Activated carbon granulate cannot be regenerated.
Specifications:
Why Treat Water?
A crystal-clear stream or lake usually contains microorganisms that can make you sick. Water contaminants like protozoa, bacteria and viruses, can cause serious illness. Optimize your travel preparation and use a portable drinking water system from Katadyn.
About Katadyn
Katadyn of Switzerland has been producing high quality portable water systems since 1928. Their history has been one of innovation and durability. Katadyn products are used by militaries, health organizations and outdoor adventurers world-wide. No other water system provides higher quality or longer lasting performance. Katadyn is the global leader in portable water treatment. With subsidiaries in the United States, Germany, France, and Singapore; Katadyn develops, produces and distributes high quality products which are used whenever safe drinking water isn’t available–for travel, camping and humanitarian operations.
Find More Portable Water Filtration Products
New high performance version of the Katadyn Hiker. Combines both light, fast and easy to use with field cleability. Very lightweight at only 11oz!The best-selling Katadyn Hiker just got better with the Hiker Pro Microfilter. The lightweight and easy-to-use design make the Hiker/Hiker Pro the best choice for all-around use. The unique, pleated cartridge design provides fast and easy pumping, and it’s convenient and handy for 1-2 persons while hiking or trekking. The Hiker Pro adds the following features to the original Hiker:
Key Features:
Activated carbon is used for its ability to reduce harmful organic and inorganic substances in the water. It removes unpleasant tastes, odors, chlorine, pesticides (lindane, DDT) and trihalomethanes (THMs). These substances adhere to the large surface area of the activated carbon. Activated carbon granulate cannot be regenerated.
Feature Detail:
Why Treat Water?
A crystal-clear stream or lake usually contains microorganisms that can make you sick. Water contaminants like protozoa, bacteria and viruses, can cause serious illness. Optimize your travel preparation and use a portable drinking water system from Katadyn.
About Katadyn
Katadyn of Switzerland has been producing high quality portable water systems since 1928. Their history has been one of innovation and durability. Katadyn products are used by militaries, health organizations and outdoor adventurers world-wide. No other water system provides higher quality or longer lasting performance. Katadyn is the global leader in portable water treatment. With subsidiaries in the United States, Germany, France, and Singapore; Katadyn develops, produces and distributes high quality products which are used whenever safe drinking water isn’t available–for travel, camping and humanitarian operations.
LIFESAVER bottle is the world�s first all in one ultra filtration water bottle. It will remove bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and all other microbiological waterborne pathogens without using chemicals like iodine or chlorine which leave a distinctive foul taste. LIFESAVER bottle produces filtered sterile drinking water quickly and easily. It incorporates LIFESAVER systems� unique FAILSAFE technology (another world first) which shuts off the bottle�s cartridge upon expiry, preventing contaminated water from being drunk. With LIFESAVER bottle there is no need for tablets, boiling, chemicals, tubes, shaking, scrubbing, waiting or effort. LIFESAVER bottle produces clean, sterile drinking water with no foul taste – fast! Simply Scoop and Go, give it a few pumps and that’s it, as soon as you open the teat clean drinking water begins to flow.Developed in response to natural disasters such as 2004’s tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, and in response to the world’s increasingly threatened supply of clean, drinkable water, the Lifesaver 4000 Ultra Filtration Water Bottle is a simple-to-use, chemical-free water purification system that removes water-borne pathogens and reduces chemical residues from the water making it safe to drink anywhere. The world’s first all-in-one ultra filtration water bottle, the Lifesaver Bottle makes easy-to-use, portable water filtration a reality for travelers and outdoors people everywhere.
The Lifesaver bottle eliminates the need for iodine tablets, tedious boiling, chemicals, tubes, shaking, scrubbing, waiting, and effort from the water purification process. The bottle uses a long-term use replaceable filter, which can treat about 4,000 liters of water, 5.5 years of usage if you drank two liters of water every day. The bottle has a unique feature, which shuts the filter off when the cartridge has expired so you can get the maximum life out of your filter without the risk of drinking contaminated water.
The Lifesaver Bottle filters out all water-borne pathogens using a filter with holes 15 nanometers across to prevent even the smallest viruses, 25 nanometers across, to cross the filter, eliminating the need for chemicals to treat the water. The Lifesaver Bottle is fitted with a 4000UF replaceable purification cartridge that removes bacteria, viruses, cysts, parasites, fungi, and all other microbiological water-borne pathogens from your water.
The Lifesaver bottle also comes with an activated carbon filter made of a high specification activated carbon block, which reduces a broad spectrum of chemical residues including: pesticides, endocrine disrupting compounds, medical residues, and heavy metals such as lead and copper. The Carbon filter also eliminates bad tastes and odors from contaminates such as chlorine and sulphur. The carbon filter is designed to last for approximately 250 liters.
In addition to the purification cartridge and carbon filter, the Lifesaver Bottle is supplied with a pre-filter disc. The pre-filter disc protects the membranes of the purification cartridge from objects such as gravel, sand, sticks, and mud, prolonging the overall life of the cartridge. Your pre-filter disc may also be used as a sponge to soak up water from those hard to reach areas like cracks in rocks or shallow puddles.
Exceptionally easy to use, the Lifesaver Bottle filters water on demand at the time of collection. Simply unscrew the base, dip the bottle in the nearest water source, and pump the water through the filter to a teat at the other end, purifying up to 750 milliliters of water in just under a minute. The clean water can be drank immediately, directly from the Lifesaver bottle or poured into a separate container for storage. Designed to work at any angle and in any axis, not only are you able to drink from the bottle in any position, but you can also fill mugs, water bottles, pans, and other water storage vessels from any position.
The Lifesaver Bottle utilizes failsafe technology to protect you from drinking contaminated water toward the end of the filter cartridge’s life. As the cartridge approaches the end of its life, the bottle requires a greater number of pumps to induce water to flow. When no more water can be induced to flow despite continuous pumping, the cartridge has expired and it is time to replace it.
The Lifesaver Bottle is designed not to over-pressurize as a safety feature to prevent injury. Over-pumping the bottle will cause the flip lid to bulge. If pumping continues, then the teat will open and release the water and the pressure.
Due to its unique pneumatic action, the Lifesaver Bottle can be used to direct a jet of sanitized water directly onto a wound, cleaning away any other contaminants, allowing for levels of wound irrigation never before possible in the field.
Winner of the “Best Technological Development for Future Soldier System Enhancement” at Soldier Technology 2007, the Lifesaver bottle has earned the trust of the armed forces in delivering safe water anywhere in the world. Tested and approved for use by the United States EPA, the UK Water Compliance Guidelines, and the European Drinking Water Directive Council, the Lifesaver 4000 Ultra Filtration Water Bottle is a portable water purification system that you can rely on.
Filter Specifications:
Bottle Specifications:
Operating Specifications:
Compliance and Testing Specifications:
Manufacturer Warranty
Two-year international limited warranty
The best water system for base camps, family and group camping. Perfect when large volumes of water are needed.From Backpackgeartest.org
The Katadyn Base Camp filter is a gravity feed filter system that utilizes a bag that is filled with unfiltered water, hung, and allows gravity to feed the water through the filter media into a water container. It is one of Katadyn’s Backcountry Series of filters.
Initial Impressions
The Katadyn Base Camp filter arrived at my home packaged in an attractive display box. The box contained the filter bag, filter cartridge, lock ring for filter cartridge, hose, hose valve, and a small plastic bag containing the instruction book, a small tube of silicone lubricant, and a sponge.
My initial impression of the product, based solely on its appearance and packaging, was that it seemed to be an attractive and well-designed unit. The bag is similar in construction to a dry bag (a nylon material coated on the inside, with a top that rolls down and buckles to close). The bag has a plastic insert at the bottom to accept the filter. I find the bright blue color to be attractive, and feel it strikes a good balance between being unobtrusive during an outdoor experience, yet still bright enough that I’m unlikely to lose it by not noticing I left it in camp. A close examination of the bag revealed what appears to me to be soundly welded seams in the bag, good stitching where the straps and buckles are located, and a well-constructed unit.
The filter itself is a pleated material (much like an air filter in a car) mounted in an otherwise plastic cylinder. The manufacturer’s website describes this filter material as a glass fiber. Over the pleated surface was wrapped what the manufacturer refers to as a filter protector (a very fine mesh screen) that is held on by a cylinder of plastic mesh. The filter and filter protector seem to be constructed in keeping with the simple design of the unit as a whole.
The shutoff valve is a simple plastic clip that slides over the discharge hose, and can be pinched to stop the flow, or released to allow filtration.
Reading the Instructions
The instruction manual was very straightforward, with good line drawings and text explanations. There are two omissions I noticed. First was the lack of an explanation surrounding the installation and operation of the hose valve, though I found this to be self-explanatory. The second omission was any explanation of the purpose of the sponge provided, though I have been told it is for cleaning the filter protector. Instructions were included in English and French, and covered product set-up, normal operation, field performance tips, long-term storage, cartridge capacity, replacement cartridge installation, product registration, and warranty information (along with basic information on water filtration).
In the field performance tips section the manual describes how to temporarily clean the filter cartridge in the field should it become clogged, a process I hope to try out while testing this product.
In addition to the manual, there is a label titled “Important Field Tips” sewn to the top of the bag that provides 6 line drawings that explain how to assemble and use the filter.
At the manufacturer’s website additional information is found in the Frequently Asked Questions section. In this section I found several helpful tips, including allowing sediment to settle out of water in another container prior to filtering it, and wrapping a bandana or similar item around the filter cartridge to extend its life when filtering very dirty water.
Trying it out
I found assembly of the filter to be fairly straightforward. While at first I didn’t think I would need to use the silicone lubricant to insert the cartridge into the plastic insert in the bag, I quickly realized I would need to. After lubricating the o-ring, the cartridge slid in with moderate effort. Insertion of the hose onto the filter barb took a couple of tries, as the filter barb is recessed into the base of the filter between four flanges, and I have big fingers. I found the silicone lubricant to be helpful here as well. Once these tasks were completed, I simply threaded the plastic lock ring (that prevents the filter from simply falling out) onto the flange and slipped on the hose valve and the filter was ready for use.
One note on assembly is that there is a warning in the instructions not to grasp the cartridge around the pleated surface or it could become damaged. This warning made me wonder how much caution will be required in my pack, as the filter cartridge is essentially unprotected from crushing. This is something I will monitor during field testing. Once the filter was assembled, I decided to try it out in my kitchen. The first thing I realized was that filling the bag isn’t as easy as I thought it would be with one person. Even at my sink, trying to hold the bag with one hand and fill with the other was a challenge. The bag flipped closed at one point, causing the water to flow down the front of my pants. Once I figured out how to hold it to prevent that from happening, I realized the bag gets pretty heavy as it fills. I plan to try filling the filter on the ground during field testing to see if that is easier. I also wonder how realistic it will be to fill the bag directly from, for example, a lake while keeping the discharge hose out of the unfiltered water, at least by myself.
The next challenge became finding a place to hang the filter, for which I chose the back of a chair. Due to the bag being barely above the outlet end of the hose the flow was very slow, but it did confirm the operation of the filter and confirmed there were no leaks. The flow valve was easy to close and seemed to lock very securely. The valve released okay, but my big fingers made releasing a little more difficult.
I followed the instructions to filter 2 L (2.1 qt) of water to flush the filter of carbon. While the instructions noted that this water might be discolored, I wasn’t expecting the first flow to be black. The carbon quickly cleared, however.
The water filtered after this initial flush was clear. I conducted a side-by-side taste test between my unfiltered tap water and the filtered tap water. There was a slight, but detectable, improvement in the filtered water’s taste, which I suspect was the result of the carbon in the filter absorbing residual chlorine from my tap water.
Testing Strategy
I plan to test the filter by using it to filter all my water for the trips I take during the test period, save what I carry in at the trailhead. I am a heavy consumer of water while backpacking. Since I will be providing water for up to four people on many of my trips, this filter will see a great deal of use during the test period, likely filtering in excess of 50 gallons (189 L) of water from a broad variety of sources.
Throughout the testing I will work to evaluate the following areas:
Summary
Overall the Katadyn Base Camp filter appears to be a well-constructed, well-designed filter. I look forward to evaluating its performance under real-world conditions.
Related Water Storage Products
The most rugged, longest lasting microfilter available. Chosen by the U.S. military and expeditions due to it’s extreme durability and dependability. For those who want the best.Water treatment products are in high demand for outdoor enthusiasts, international travelers, and relief agencies. Few are better for long-lasting continuous use, however, than the Katadyn Pocket water microfilter. Made of heavy-duty materials, the Pocket features a silver-impregnated ceramic element that’s effective against bacteria and protozoa even in extreme conditions. Unlike disposable filters, the ceramic element can be cleaned several times, even in the field. More importantly, the element filters all microorganisms larger than 0.2 microns (0.0002mm), producing clear, drinkable water no matter where in the world you are. The pump also includes an improved, round pump handle for better ergonomics and an outlet hose that attaches to water containers with a single clip.
The Pocket hails from Katadyn’s Endurance series, a high-quality line of filters that produce up to 100 times more water than standard water filters. The Pocket is so tough, in fact, that it’s the first choice for extreme adventurers like Mike Horn. Plus, it’s the only water filter with a 20-year warranty. Other features include a measuring gauge that indicates when you should change the filtering element, a cushioned base that makes it easy to pump on all surfaces, a prefilter, and a carrying bag.
Why Water Filtration Is Important
The World Health Organization (WHO) attributes 80 percent of all travel diseases to contaminated drinking water. Drinking water contains three groups of pathogenic microorganisms: viruses, such as hepatitis A, Norwalk virus, or poliovirus; bacteria, like e-coli, salmonella, and cholera; and protozoans, such as giardia and cryptosporidium. Tap water and ice cubes are usually the culprits when traveling, but even bottled water can be questionable. The backcountry is also a source of waterborne illness. A pristine stream may be safe one day and contaminated the next, as microorganisms stemming from human and animal waste are typically spread by rain and runoff. As a result, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends treating water from every source in the backcountry.
Specifications:
About Katadyn
The Switzerland-based Katadyn has been producing high-quality portable water systems since 1928. Katadyn products are used by militaries, health organizations, and outdoor adventurers worldwide, making it the global leader in portable water treatment. With subsidiaries in the U.S., Germany, France, and Singapore, Katadyn products are used wherever safe drinking water isn’t available, whether for travel, camping, or humanitarian applications.
The Vario combines individual efficiency with the simplest possible handling. The technology it uses consists of three filter levels: a high-performance glass fiber filter, a ceramic pre-filter that can be adjusted indiv A member of Katadyn’s Backcountry Series of water filters, the Vario Multi Flow Water Microfilter is the first water filter that is adjustable for different conditions. It combines two leading technologies into one high-performance pump: ceramic for a longer life and pleated glass fiber for easy operation. The Vario offers a high output and also contains a replaceable carbon core to keep the water tasting fresh.
Key Details:
About Katadyn
Katadyn of Switzerland has been producing high quality portable water systems since 1928. Their history has been one of innovation and durability. Katadyn products are used by militaries, health organizations and outdoor adventurers world-wide. No other water system provides higher quality or longer lasting performance. Katadyn is the global leader in portable water treatment. With subsidiaries in the United States, Germany, France, and Singapore; Katadyn develops, produces, and distributes high quality products which are used whenever safe drinking water isn’t available–for travel, camping and humanitarian operations.
From Backpackgeartest.org
The Katadyn Vario Microfilter is part of the backcountry series filter line. The manufacturer indicates this filter line is good for all round use. The manufacturer claims that this filter meets the industry standards for reduction of bacteria (99.9999% Klebsiella terrigena) and protozoan cysts (99.9 % Giardia and Cryptosporidium)…read the entire review