Greetings folks,

It seems that every time I do a search for anything survival related on the internet I end up being directed to this site or a place called "survival topics". I figured since I end up here so much anyway I may as well try it out as a member and pose a few questions of my own. Besides, that other place didn't have the same vibe. People who post here appear to be a little more down to earth.

Here goes...

I normally use 2.5 percent iodine and/or good old fashioned boiling to make safe drinking water on the trail. I recently received a MSR mini-works water filter and a whole bunch of cartridges as a gift from a friend. While I hate to fix what isn't broken I really want to give this new filter a fair shake.

I normally don't like things that are complicated and which have a lot of moving parts, but it appears to be a solid bit of gear and appears to be highly rated.

Does any one have any good or bad experiences with this brand of water filter they could share ? Since it says it filters everything except viruses I am a little bit skeptical I suppose. I have caught a waterborne illness twice in my life to date (both times while overseas) and it is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I have a bit of distrust for mechanical filters as a result but I do admit the ones I used before were of much lesser quality that the MSR. I will be doing a solo trip soon and while waterborne viruses are not common in northern Canada I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask all the same. I am feeling the need to boil or treat the water after being filtered, which obviously defeats the whole purpose of having the filter along.

Thoughts or experiences?

Thanks in advance.