Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had seen any credible reviews/reports on whether the Steri Pen is as effective for all kinds of bacteria/viruses/cysts/protozoa as boiling or the Katadyn Micropur tablets (my current preferred methods of water purification). How about in cold water/dirty water (I'd strain it as best I could through a cloth, but still...)? It seems like one of those "too good to be true" items...what's the catch? I know that it could run out of batteries, break, is heavy, costs a lot, etc., but I'm concerned with its efficacy foremost. I see that it "exceeds EPA standards"...does the EPA agree?

Thanks,

K.

I have the Steripen adventure and have had no problems with it. The only complaint with mine is that if you leave batteries in it when not using it, it will drain them. I use it and pull the batteries out, I have 4- 5 watt solar chargers (20 watts) to recharge the batteries (4 sets) if needed. They are working on a LED version but it's a long ways out, the Marine Corp is working with them to develop a field unit. UV has been around for a while and is used commercially and also is used through Nasa, the only thing the pen does is allow you to use the same benefits in a smaller package. Steripen has been around for a little bit of time and the earlier models had problems (lamp breakage) but since then they've come along way. I boil my water as a backup if the pen dies but I haven't had to do that yet and you can drink the water immediately unlike the Miox and you don't have to carry around salt or strips like the Miox.
When we also fill our 5 gallon jugs at Wallyworld at 50 cents a gallon, it uses a Culligan system with a UV filter at the final stage as well, we have backups for all our water needs since we have our hurricanes which includes Carbon filters for pesticides, UV for viruses, desalination for salt water and a portable back up distiller. We figure we can hold out for awhile as long as we have water and shelter, then we start hunting for food if it gets really bad.

steri pen solar case , just something I saw while site seeing on the net.

I was looking at the Steri Pen earlier today at REI. They work better with clear water so it would be best to filter the water first. They make a prefilter that fits on nalgene bottles. With turbid water, you need to double the treatment.

Hi Katie,

The Steripen is actually one of the lightest water sterilisation products on the market taking into account the total capacity of water the steripen can deal with.

For some background information on the effectiveness;
http://www.hydro-photon.com/testing.html

The Steripen system is superior to the Katadyn Micropur tablets for longer term use.

Advantages.......

The steripen is not effected by cold water unlike the Micropur tablets (a function of the time taken for the micropur tablets to take effect).

The steripen does not rely on chemicals additions. Long term use of residual chemicals based on chlorine dioxide, iodine etc is undesirable.

The steripen will sterilise 100-150 litres of water on a single set of 4 AA NiMh cells.

The steripen is very fast in treating water compared to all other water purification systems.

The steripen is simple and easy to operate.

The steripen can deal with water borne viruses. (most water filtering systems cannot deal with viruses)

Disadvantages........

The Steripen is an electronic battery powered optical device and therefore is not as robust as other water sterilisation methods in the field.

It runs on Batteries.

The water to be sterilised must be reasonably clear, therefore prefiltering of dirty water is required. i.e. something like a lightweight Millbank Bag maybe required. Micropur tablets are also not recommended with dirty water. Pre filtering would be useful with the micropur tablets aswell.

It cannot deal with chemical contamination.. but then again most water sterilisation systems cannot either including the firm favourite called the rolling boil.




For a good long term solution for water purification and sterilisation a combination of a steripen and Katadyn Pocket Microfilter would be useful.

Katadyn Micropur tablets are excellent in PSKs for short term emergencies where longer term solutions are not available.

Don’t know if you saw these reports on the SteriPEN web site, but they may answer your question a bit:

• EPA Protocol Test (University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ)
• EPA Challenge Water Test (A&L Laboratory, Auburn, ME)

The second report above (which is also the second listed on their site) and Some of the other test reports indicate its effectiveness even in turbid (muck-filled) water.

Frostbite, I wouldn't waste your time on the case, you'll have better results with a 20W solar charger. It will take days to recharge with the case, I have one and it sux, the way to go is 20W of solar cells and recharge in a few hours.

Katie, read some of the field reviews here:
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/Water%20Treatment/Ultraviolet/

morph, the prefilter will not work on the adventure, it will work on the steripen (original), you can get the same results with a head bandanna. There was a guy came back from India on a different forum and used it in very dirty water, almost sewage type and he said he had no other options at the time and treated the very murky water several dosages and said it tasted very bad but never got sick. The Steripen will not change the taste, it only kills the critters.

I was at REI (again) today and gave it another look. The floor model was broken to little bits (not a great sign), but it sure would be nice to drink some mountain stream water that tasted like it had come from a mountain stream, not a swimming pool. I'm pretty sure it would never be cost effective for me given the amount of water that I expect to purify, but it might be worth it anyway from the taste/smell standpoint.