Do you filter your water whilst out in the hills?

Often when you are out in the hills there is plenty of water to be found in streams, lakes and ponds. In the higher mountains it’s usually safe to drink out of flowing streams but what about on the lower fells? Rather than take a risk it’s probably best to filter any water before drinking it. There’s plenty of choice when it comes to water filtering systems, a brand I’ve only just heard of is WakiWaki. Here I look at their Blue Purifier water bottle (also available in orange and purple)

photo of Waki Waki water purifier bottle

blue bottle with filter installed

Features

The system comprises of a rigid plastic bottle with a 600ml capacity (if using the filter the capacity is reduced slightly) The lid has a pop up mouthpiece which clicks down and locks in place when not in use.

photo of Waki Waki water purifier filter

flip top with filter attached

The lid unscrews completely allowing the wide mouthed bottle to be easily refilled. The bottle comes with a straw and a filter which are interchangeable meaning that it can be used in two ways; either as a standard bottle to drink water or juice using the straw, or as filtering device. Swapping between straw and filter is a very simple process that only takes a few seconds. The lid also houses a small compass although I wouldn’t rely on this for navigating!

flip top reveals compass

I tested the blue bottle, orange and purple are also available.

photo of three Waki Waki water purifiers

3 colours are available

Also supplied are a syringe to allow simple backwashing of the filter after use and a carabiner which can be used to attach the bottle to a rucksack. The filter is replaceable if you exceed its lifespan of filtering 1500 litres.

photo of Waki Waki water bottle purifier

bottle, straw, filter, syringe and karabiner

Technical specs.

Food grade BPA free plastic bottle.
4-stage filter: Coarse Filter, Activated Carbon, Hollow Fiber Ultra Membrane, PP Cotton Fiber
Filter Pore Size: 0.1μm ceramic membrane
Filter lifespan: 1500 litres
Flow Rate: 450ml/min (max)
Weight: 220g (empty bottle with filter)

RRP $22.99 (cheap shipping to UK)

Use

Personally I prefer to use soft-flask type filters when running or hiking and bladder systems when camping so I probably wouldn’t choose a rigid water bottle. However, for anyone who likes to use a rigid drinks bottle the WakiWaki offers good value. It is versatile in that it can be used simply as a drinks container or as a water filter. It will fit neatly into the side pocket of many walking rucksacks and is sturdy enough to cope with the usual knocks and scrapes that come with hill walking and camping.

easy to fill and can be used without the filter

For people simply wanting to drink from a source rather than carry and filter water then the WakiWaki Straw Filter would be a good option. https://www.gowakiwaki.com/product-category/outdoor-water-filter/straw-filter/

About WakiWaki

I must admit that I hadn’t heard about WakiWaki, this info is directly from the company:

Waki Waki is an innovative brand that strives to create quality and leading outdoor water filters, while providing relevant outdoor equipment as a whole. Our company Membrane Solutions was founded in 2006 in Texas USA. Since 2008, we have realized that many outdoor enthusiasts, explorers, adventurers, athletes, campers or friends & family travel have difficulty in clean and safe water, so we came up with the idea of establishing a characteristic brand to offer users suitable outdoor products and solutions for those who expect to enjoy a healthy and pleased outdoor life. We are the earlier brand to provide ultrafiltration screen technology up to 0.01 microns, it can remove 99.99999% of Bacteria, Parasites, and micro-plastics; Reduces Turbidity, and heavy metal; Adsorbs chlorine, VOCs, odours etc.) and improve the taste. Ensuring the safest water in the worst environments.

Our Water filter straw or water purifier bottle is generally small in size and lightweight to carry. We can filter water directly from natural sources such as lakes, rivers, and pools into clean and safe drinking water. Waki water filter bottles with a backwash design, easy to wash and keep, can be recycled. We admire healthy lifestyle. And we love spending time outdoors and encourage our users to go outside and enjoy all that our beautiful planet has to offer.

Conclusion

The Waki Waki Purifier Water Bottle is an affordable and versatile system for anyone wanting the flexibility of a rigid bottle that can also be used as a purifier / filter.

Waki Waki are a US based company but ship to the UK at low cost.

Link to the Purifier here:
https://www.gowakiwaki.com/product/purifier-water-bottle/
https://www.gowakiwaki.com/product/outdoor-water-filter-bottle/

If you found this review useful you can buy me a coffee to show your appreciation!

I’ve started to take a Sawyer Mini water filter on some of my runs. Here I look at how and when it can come in useful.

For most of my runs I don’t take any drink with me, I’m happy to hydrate before and immediately afterwards. However for longer runs (2 hours plus) or on very hot days I tend to take a soft flask or maybe two. In high upland areas such as Scotland and parts of Wales and the Lake District I’m happy to refill or drink straight out of flowing streams but I wouldn’t do this in the Peak District.

This summer I did quite a lot of running on the Pennine Way where there were plenty of water sources although not many that I’d be happy drinking from without first treating it. I also supported on a couple of Bob Graham rounds where I wasn’t 100% comfortable with the quality of the water that I could refill with on route. As a solution to this I bought a Sayer Mini water filter, a neat little filter that only weighs 65g and comes complete with a straw, 490ml pouch and a cleaning syringe. Larger pouches can also be purchased if needed.

photo of Sawyer Mini with pouch, straw and cleaning syringe

Sawyer Mini comes with pouch, straw and cleaning syringe

There are several alternative filters such as the Katadyn Be Free and Salomon XA where the filter is housed within the soft flask itself. These are great if all you want to use them for is drinking from the soft flask but they aren’t as versatile as the Sawyer which can be used in a range of different ways. With an “in flask filter” such as the Katadyn and Salomon if your flask springs a leak then your filter system stops working (unless you have a spare flask). These systems rely on the filter being used only in conjunction with the soft flask. Also, with the Salomon XA be aware that the filter cap doesn’t fit onto Salomon’s existing wide mouth flasks! The threads are slightly different so you can’t just buy the filter, you need the dedicated flask too. In comparison the Sawyer Mini is much more versatile.

The Sawyer Mini is very versatile:

If you want to just take a quick slurp as you go past a water source then the Sawyer with straw attached lets you do that. You could drink straight from a puddle or trickle of water if you were desperate! I can think of a situation on the 2018 OMM Mountain Marathon where I would have done just that had I had the filter!

drink straight from a source with the straw

For hill walking or mountain biking or where you prefer to use a conventional bladder system rather than a soft flask then the Sawyer mini can be used with your existing Platypus, Camelback or similar. Simply remove your bite valve and plug in the filter. You could even cut the tube and fix the filter “in line” if you still wanted to use the bite valve.

photo of rucksack and Sawyer Mini filter

using the Sawyer with a conventional bladder

swap the bite valve for the filter

using the filter “in line” with a bladder

For wild camping or similar where you wanted to filter a larger amount of water you could fill up a large bladder, attach the filter and drink from that as well as using it for cooking. The Sawyer Mini screws directly onto plastic bottles too so these can be used in place of a bladder. To filter water simply invert the bottle or bladder and gravity will do the rest. I haven’t used the Sawyer 490ml pouch yet as I prefer the methods mentioned here instead but it is very lightweight and rolls up easily so is handy to take along if needed.

photo of Sawyer filter with plastic bottle

filter screws onto standard plastic bottles

You can adapt the Sawyer to be used with soft flasks if you have flasks with straws – just remove the bite valve and plug the filter in. If you push the straw down into the flask then the filter will be positioned in an ideal position to drink from. Obviously this depends on your running pack / vest but I found that my Ultimate Direction vest holds the filter snugly in place with no bouncing as it has an elasticated loop that can be used to hold the filter against the shoulder strap (see photo).

photo of Sawyer Mini filter and soft flask for running

using the Sawyer with soft flask on Ultimate Direction vest

photo of Sawyer Mini filter on running pack

elastic loop fits over top of filter

Pros:

Versatility – the Sawyer Mini can be used in a wide range of scenarios.
Size and weight – easily fits into a small pocket and weighs only 65g.
Easy clean – comes supplied with a plunger to rinse the filter.

Cons:

Not as easy to use as a dedicated soft flask filter.
Doesn’t screw directly onto Platypus bladder or branded soft flasks.

RRP £35

Can be found cheaper here https://amzn.to/2HY7L9j

Verdict: A really lightweight and versatile piece of kit that is useful for a range of situations, not just fell running.

Full details of the Sawyer Mini here

Note affiliate links: I get a small payment if you purchase via these, it doesn’t affect the amount you pay.

Tag Archives: water filter

WakiWaki Water Purifier Bottle Review

Do you filter your water whilst out in the hills?

If you found this review useful you can buy me a coffee to show your appreciation!

Sawyer Mini Filter Review

I’ve started to take a Sawyer Mini water filter on some of my runs. Here I look at how and when it can come in useful.