I have a Katadyn Hiker and am very happy with it. I think the Pocket filter is ceramic. The advantages of ceramic is it’s good for something like 13,000 gal of water, the hiker is good for only a few hundred. The ceramic can be cleaned, the Hikers filter has to be thrown away and a new filter element cost $30.00 to $40.00. But a ceramic filter will not tolerate freezing temperatures, it will crack.

Another reason to filter water is to make it taste better, you can kill organisms by boiling, but it does nothing for the taste.