Miniworks Water Filter

This is a good filter for the price. It works well, although the filtering rate could be higher. It is simple to use and easy to clean. I do like how it attaches to the Nalgene water bottle directly. It never let me down in five or six trips to BWCA/Quetico. It IS plastic. It does work just fine. But I upgraded because I could--I was concerned about long-term reliability or breakage. I wanted the "last filter I would ever have to buy". I don't think this one fits in that category. But if you need a filter to get started on backcountry excursions or occasional use, you can't beat the price and the unit will serve you well. If you are the type of person who really enjoys top of the line gear, look elsewhere and be prepared to pay for it.

Whether in a survival situation, a lengthy solo wilderness adventure or a simple weekend fishing or camping trip the one thing you cannot do without is water. For the weekend fishing or camping trip it's easy enough to bring sufficient water with you. However, weather changes fast in the back country and for any number of reasons people often get stranded far from help and that simple trip to your favorite trout stream could very well turn into a solo wilderness adventure and survival situation. Because of that it's always a good idea to have a means of treating water, in sufficient quantity to sustain yourself, for far longer than the scheduled duration of your trip.

Last year I purchased the MSR (Mountain Safety Research) Miniworks EX. I'll say right from the beginning that the first one I bought failed on my very first trip resulting in me having to cut my outing short by two days. The pump pivot pin broke and though quite a drag, the good folks at REI replaced it, no questions asked, with a brand new filter unit. They said they'd had two others returned for similar failures. Likely a bad manufacturing run on the pins, things like that happen in production. They made it right. I'm happy. Since then I've used the filter on a number of trips and I feel that I can now offer an honest review of the product.

Read More at my blog: thedamntrueexperiment.blogspot.com

Great simple filter, easy to maintain, easy to clean.
Screws on directly to a wide mouth Nalgene or MSR Dromedary water bags which makes even more practical if you intend to use it while out on the water.
Treats everything except viruses (need to use iodine or other chemical to remedy this while in tropical areas).
Ceramic element will easily outlast any paper filter cartridge.