I'm surprised that the instructions that came with the Katadyn Hiker didn't mention that the two tubes should be kept separately. The Katadyn Pocket Filter's instructions mentioned it. The kit also included a ziploc to store the outlet tube in to keep it away from the inlet tube.

Sounds like a great trip though. Mostly anyway.

That might has something to do, with the fact that katadyn took PUR over. The company might not have intergrated enough for certain details.

Your lucky you have the new katadyn pocket with outlet nipple and hose. I have the old version, with a output nozzle, made is such a way that could not mount a tube on it. To prevent cross contamination or something. Which has a rather interesting result, when your holding holding a bottle between your legs, standing close to the water, while trying to pump. I followed a tip i found on a review of the pocket and used a file to modify mine to accept output hoses.

We purchased 5 Hiker Pros for the Scout Troop a couple of months ago and used them heavily in South Dakota in July. Personally, my wife and I use a Guide. All came with a separate ziplock bag for all clean side parts (hose, bottle adaptor, bladder adapter, etc). All instructions are quite clear about keeping the clean side stuff away from the dirty side stuff. No faults with any of that.

Our current scouts have never had any water that didn't come out of a spigot or faucet before this trip. I'm happy to report that they broke nothing, lost nothing, and cross-contaminated nothing. We did have to tear down two of the Hiker Pro filters after the trip to address clogs from sucking in to much junk - simple cleaning per the instructions and both working fine now. Flushed all with bleach water after the trip, again per instructions.

On our Guide, we went with the CamelBak hydration pack adapter (requires a parts change on the bladder hose) - that is THE way to go! One of the Hiker Pros was temporarily set-up for that as well (simply pulled off the part on the filter hose after the trip) - that particular crew all used Camelbak bladders and invested in the parts.

The Guide WILL screw directly onto a water bottle a la MSR, using a supplied replacement part. All 6 of the filters came with a non-screw-in water bottle gizmo that works very well.

Although it was nice to have help, no one had any trouble managing either model alone.

General fund: The First Need filter is US EPA certified to get viruses out as well - by filtration. There are bottle-based filters that still use post-filtration viricide cartridges (probably iodine based). For the rest, post - filtration chemical treatment (chlorine, iodine, chlorine dioxide, etc) will nuke viral contaminents if they are a concern, (Pre-treatment does as well, but my preference would be for post treatment).

We were extremely pleased with the performancce of the filters AND the close attention the inexperienced scouts paid to their proper use. We took a re-build kit and spare filter with us but did not need either. Probably will add an MSR Sweetwater pre-filter to the input hoses of these before the next major trip to make them a little more resistant to accidental ingestion of mass quantities of algae and/or mud and will possibly come up with a modified nipple cover for the output nipple - we didn't lose any this trip, but with the boys it is likely we will unless we tether the cover - and we want to keep that sanitary for obvious reasons.

Ouch. That sounds like a pain in the backside.

I'm glad you were able to find a fix for it though. Good work!

I seem to remember that one needs to dry the filter when in storage. How do you store your filter after you used it? Would it be harmful if I leave it "wet"?
thanks

If you do not have silver parts in the filter, you use light bleach solution to sanitize the filter. Than airdry it.

If you leave it wet, it will start to smell weird and bacteria will grow (unless it has silver in it)

As per the instructions: We pump them "dry" after each use. After a trip, a liter of bleach-based disinfectant pumped thru, then pumped "dry" and stored. So far no problems.

Don't mean to be abnoxious, but how many drops of bleach/liter of water? My instructions that came with Hiker mention nothing about this.

thanks

Excerpt follows:

How do I store my Hiker/ Guide water treatment system?

Between trips, run a liter of water with two teaspoons of household bleach through the pump. Pump the unit dry and store (removing the cartridge from the housing and allowing to dry before storage is optional). Before next use, pump a liter of fresh water through the system to flush. See use-and-care manual for field tips and detailed instructions.

Thanks <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
I read my entire istructions and nothing was there about bleach!