Joe of The Dude Abides sends greetings, and has a request for suggestions:
Hey Tom…
Question for you:
My First Need water filter bit the dust and I need to get another one. Can you point me in the right direction & recommend a replacement?
Money really isn’t an issue, and I would prefer if it filtered down to the virus level.
I usually just take my Katadyn HIker along, though I suspect it doesn’t catch viruses
If any of y’all have researched this in detail, leave a comment and pass it along.
You can’t really go wrong with the MSR Sweetwater Filter:
http://www.msrcorp.com/filters/sweet_microfilter.asp
If it ever has issues, they back it with a real warranty. Made in the US as well 🙂 I have had mine for 5 years at this point.
Sarah
Sarah knows a thing or three!
Another post at Scout’s Campfire discusses treatment options.
Joe, first see if you filter just needs a new cartridge. I hike with quite a few different people and usually end up with several filters in camp. The First Need filter is usually the one that people choose to use. It’s not the lightest but it is easy to pump water fairly quickly and it is a purifier – not just a filter.
Having said that, I usually take Aqua Mira – which is a water filter because it weighs 4 ounces rather than 1 pound.
I’m curious to see Crow’s new filter does. I like my MSR, but often I take the the Katadyn instead because I’m too lazy to keep cleaning the MSR.