4 ms·
Different purposes, really. The steripen is for refilling your bottles, the straw is for drinking directly from a suspect source. For camping I much prefer my
by JeremyNT 9y ago
Different purposes, really. The steripen is for refilling your bottles, the straw is for drinking directly from a suspect source.
For camping I much prefer my steripen, it's far more convenient especially with multiple people. But it does require batteries and it feels breakable to me (although mine has survived some abuse with no problems) so you have to be aware that you might need to boil as a plan B. The life straw requires no power and is somewhat more packable, making it ideal for true emergency situations where you want something with maximum reliability.
- germinalphrase 9y agoFor longer trips during which you set up a more substantial camp (canoe camping - for instance) I really can't recommend a gravity filter enough. It's pretty slick to simply dip a "dirty water" bag/hang it from a tree and end up with a few liters of clean water by the time camp is set.
- sixstringtheory 9y agoDitto on the gravity bag, we have a 5 liter that filters to micron level, so mechanically removes viruses. Still, I always bring unexpired tablets, their weight is essentially zero. I was taught to dissolve them, invert the water bottle, and unscrew the lid enough to let the solution flush out the water from the threads, as even that could be enough to get you. Not sure how this can work with a steripen.
- analog31 9y agoI tried to break one. I needed a mercury lamp for a project, and a Steripen seemed like an affordable way to get one. My impression was that the Steripen is actually quite rugged and well made.