Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System

The Sawyer Mini is an excellent bit of kit for those occasions where one cannot carry enough drinking water, and where weight carried is a prime consideration. There’s not a lot that can be added to Sawyer’s technical overview of the unit, suffice to say, provided that it is used correctly, it works. – Competently, and with a minimum of fuss! A couple of points worth noting are: - 1) Some reviewers suggest that Sawyer’s collapsible water bags are very difficult to fill, unless there is a strong flow of water. The simple way to ensure that the bottle fills easily, regardless of whether there is strong water flow or not, is to “inflate” the bottle before presenting it to the water supply - by blowing into it as if you were blowing up a balloon. Of course this advice comes with the caveat that your mouth will come into contact with the bottle’s outlet, which may carry contamination from previous fillings with unfiltered water. Only the user in the particular circumstance involved can decide whether there might be any risk involved. 2) It has been suggested that the threads of the Sawyer filter are the same as those of other makes of collapsible bottle such as Platypus, and of various plastic drink bottles. I cannot comment on the use of plastic drink bottles, but I can say definitively, that the threads of Platypus collapsible bottles are NOT exactly the same as those of the Sawyer Mini. Although a Platypus will actually screw onto the Sawyer, it will only do so with a very slight “cross threading”. In the case of the Platypus bottles I’ve tried, this resulted in a slight seepage of water from around the unfiltered “neck” side of the Sawyer. Meaning that unfiltered water could easily end up in whatever filtered water container was being used at the time. The seepage increases when squeezing the Platypus in order to speed up liquid flow through the filter. Personally I’ve not had any real problems in using Sawyer’s own bottles, although I find the 32oz. is much to be preferred over the 16oz. The one small gripe I do have, and the distinct advantage a Platypus bottle would have, (assuming a perfect connection to the Sawyer could be made), is that the Platypus range includes a fully transparent bottle, so its content can be seen and inspected for any obvious debris or other matter. It also makes it easy to see whether the inside of the bottle has been properly cleaned and dried before long term storage. EDIT (27 May 2016) One reviewer has given a one star rating which, on the basis of his comments, I think is inappropriate. I have made a comment on that particular review, but copy that comment here, as I think it has some general relevance: - The Sawyer Mini is designed to filter out bacteria and protozoa. It is not designed for, and will not, remove dissolved solids, (which consist of minerals, salts, metals, cations, and anions dissolved in the water), Neither will it filter out chemicals in general, nor any associated tastes or smells. Totally pure water is virtually electrically non-conductive, whereas any "non-pure" water will have some measureable degree of electrical conductivity. TDS meters use this conductivity in order to display the amount of dissolved solids present in the sample being tested. Since dissolved solids won't be filtered out by the Sawyer Mini, it is unsurprising that filtered/non-filtered TDS meter results would be the same. To give the product a one star rating based on an assumption that it should be doing something it was never designed for, is, in my opinion, not justifiable. There is plenty of information on the Mini's technical specification, along with numerous FAQ's as well, on the Sawyer website. Elsewhere, there is plenty of online information to be found on Total Dissolved Solids in drinking water. Reverse Osmosis, Activated Carbon type filters, Deionisation, and Distillation, are all options that will remove some, but not necessarily all, dissolved solids.

It's smaller than my Katadyne Hiker Pro. It filters better (Katadyne 0.03 microns - Sawyer 0.01 microns). It will last waaaaay longer than the Katadyne. It's less than half the price, and it fits in my pocket. All these reasons the Sawyer wins, or otherwise outdoes my Kat. Yet. I still really don't like using it. Trying to get water into those silly, fiddly little bags is a ballache. Then trying to squeeze it into your mug, or whatever is also awkward. God help you if you've injured a hand. Also, while you're farting around getting water into your bottle, there's water dripping everywhere, which makes it very difficult, in my opinion, to keep potentially unhealthy water out of your drinking water. I carry it when on the moors with the dog. I have used it under such conditions, and I wasn't ill. But I treat it as an absolute last ditch survival item. Which is what I think it is. I am going to try it with a squeezy bottle instead of the bag. And also, use it as a drip filter to see if I get on with that method better. But, I think, if I want water at the riverside, whilst on the move, I'm sticking with my Kat. Bigger, heavier, not as efficient at filtering (though more than adequate for the UK). But simple, easy, quick and keeps both ends of the supply seperate from each other, and doesn't need any bags. To be honest, some of my most pleasant memories include sitting on a rock by the river, dangling my Kat hose in the water and pumping a few litres whilst looking at the scenery around me. (Rather than bent double, cursing and more likely to fall in the scenery than to appreciate it. All this is a matter of personal preference, at the end of the day, but for me, it all comes down to those stupid bags. I love that the filter fits coke bottles and radiators and all that, but, you know. Try one. They work. It does exactly what it claims to do. It may be perfect for you. But if I'm carrying both, I know which one will get used.

I have considered buying this filter for over a year. Having recently treated myself I have certainly not been disappointed. My plan was to use it on walking trips to reduce the weight of my bag. However, I have found it so good at improving the taste of the tap water in my house that I use it to fill my water bottle for the day. I have conducted a taste test on my wife who wouldn't usually approve of such purchases. However, she picked the filter water as tasting better and commented on the crispness of the taste. It is very simple to use, simply fill the pouch from any water source, attach the filter and squeeze. The flow rate is pretty quick considering what it is achieving. It is also very light but appears to be very sturdy. 27th April Update - You must be careful to ensure this product doesn't experience freezing temperatures. I had left mine in the back of the car over the xmas period. When using it in Feb I started to doubt its filtering ability as it appeared to let small visible bits through. This might have been in my head as it made me stress out a little. However there was an element of doubt that prevented me being able to use it. I have binned it and since brought another. From now on it will be stored indoors! I am currently looking to find a bottle that it attaches to and understand that a smart water bottle is what I should be looking for. I very much recommend this product for anyone going abroad wishing to make their water safer and to use on day and multiday hikes. It is difficult to go wrong considering the relatively low price.

The Sawyer Mini is a pretty great product. I was expecting flow through rate of the filter to be really slow, but it's actually decent. Although I didn't measure it, it was relatively easy and quick to fill up our bottles. Where we hike there is a good supply of very clear water, so sediment build-up on the filter never occurred over 3 days of use, or at least I didn't notice any slowing in the flow. I don't know how fast this filter will clog under different circumstances, but the cleaning plunger is available to sort that out. The system is very small and light, the filter fits easily into a pocket (after it's wet you don't want to expose it to freezing temperatures) and overall the system is quite easy to use. Issues: - The bag is small - I needed to fill it up several times to fill my 1 litre water bottle. It's a bag so doesn't take up much room and you can fill it up as much as you want, they should just make it bigger. Or rather, longer. Plus the design of the bag makes it a bit tricky to get it to really fill up. - It would be really nice if you could actually attach the cleaning plunger to the nozzle on the filter. I found it pretty tricky to get it to stay on the nozzle while at the same time trying to depress the plunger with a good amount of force, as instructed in the manual. They should design the plunger and filter nozzle to actually attach - for example, add threads. It is important to use enough force the first time around so that you efficiently clean out the filter (or so it says in the instructions). They could also add screw threads to the straw/tube that's included - I didn't use it at all, but I can't see that thing staying on the filter nozzle by itself. I'm not really sure how the tube is even intended to be used - surely, you couldn't just pop it on and expect it to stay there. Overall, this is a good lightweight product that worked. It supplied enough water for 2 people over 3 days easily without needing cleaning (although, the water sources were very clear), and I'm certain it would have worked for longer. I'm pleased with the system, although it could use a few minor design improvements.

Good little units. Bought a number of them.

I relied on this filter on a recent walking trip to Skye, and it did not let me down. I mainly used it with two short sections of silicon tubing as this allowed me to drink from burns without the fiddle of squeezing the bag or having to bend over too far (useful if you are carrying 12kg on your back with old knees. When I needed to fill a bottle I tended to use the syringe, which is fiddly but it saved having to lug the bag as well. Very handy and I seem to be alive still! Importantly, I have not picked up any intestinal worms or parasites (a risk from the highland deer). I generally drank from flowing streams (I think I would trust this to drink from a puddle, but I have not needed to so far, there is plenty of water in Scotland!) and it worked very well. As others have noted, you need to suck like drinking a think milkshake and there is generally some air from the filter in the water, but it works very well. I always set off with 500ml of water 'just in case', but I never needed it. I kept this in my pocket (just make sure you use the capon the end to keep it clean and stop any dribbles). This tiny little filter meant I could keep myself well hydrated in the warmth without carrying kilos of water. I had a 'cheap' ebay pump (which cost about the same as this) but the water is much clearer coming from this Sawyer filter and was a bit murky from the ebay one. I am not confident enough to trust in the cheap one now that I have seen the difference. If you go where you need clean water but have access to natural sources, this will be just what you need. If you found this helpful, please click on the 'Helpful' button. See my other reviews for similar good value hiking and camping products.

Had it for 2 weeks so far and my verdict - Great Ultimately I have been waiting for this product to along for the best part of 20 years. Older ceramic devices were expensive and required pumping, more modern devices were large/bulky and had poor flow rate (and easily clogged). This device has fixed all the issues every other water filter has- Its light/compact/field maintainable with good flow rate/ doesn't require pumping and can be used inline with a hydration system. Oh - and it actually works. I've used it on 3 occasions on questionable water sources and the water came out tasting clean and I had no ill effects. I have 2 other friends who also sing this devices praises - they have been using this device for over a year and both regularly draw stream water(weekly whist canoeing) and have had no ill effects in all their use. Highly recommended

I had a Sawyer Mini filter for a while but was attracted by the DrinkSafe WaterStraw's promise of better filtering than the Sawyer Mini. The DrinkSafe promises to remove chemicals, viruses and foul tastes - whereas the Sawyer Mini just removes bacteria, cysts and sediment from water. When the DrinkSafe WaterStraw arrived I was impressed - seemed very professional and easy to use. Excited to find out how much better it was than my Sawyer mini I nipped down to my pond in the garden with its slightly green cloudy water. Put some in a bottle, added a bit of mud and shook it to mix it up. End result a rather greeny mud brown water - yuk! Now to filter it. First I tried the Sawyer Mini - expecting poor results. But hey presto from rather muddly green water it produced crystal clear water - wow! Ok on to the much better Waterstraw. Much harder to test without taking the water in my mouth first - so I rigged up the backflush adapter to a syringe and after a bit of effort got a glass worth. Now it was clearer than the original unfiltered water - but not crystal clear - compared to the clear water of the sawyer mini it was a little bit murky. I was rather disappointed. I thought I must have messed up somewhere and tried a second time. Same result. Maybe its broken? As I happened I had bought two - one for me, one for my partner. I tried hers - same result - slightly cloudy water with a hint of brown. To demonstrate the difference I put the water in 3 identical glasses and took a photo ( see images with review ) The very obviously muddy brown is the original unfiltered pond water with added mud! The slightly murky glass in the middle of the photos is muddy pond water filtered using the Drinksafe Waterstraw The crystal clear water in the glass is from the same pond but filtered by the Sawyer Mini. The differences are as clear as mud ( or clearer! ) Anyway this has left me a bit concerned about how good the Waterstraw is. Perhaps it can filter bacteria and viruses but not green algae and mud. I'm not an expert on filtration and this is just simple unsophisticated testing. The DrinkSafe WaterStraw's failure to produce clear water leaves me with a loss of trust. And lets face it when you use any water filter you have no easy way of testing if the bad stuff really has been removed - you take it on trust it has. But I won't personally be trusting the DrinkSafe WaterStraw and I'll be sticking to the Sawyer Mini from now on!