SteriPEN

“Has anyone used the SteriPEN or know anything about it?”

“I own the Adventurer. It works very well. I use it very often. I recommend it. What would you like to know?”

“I have one and like it. I recommend keeping a small cup to scoop water out of shallow water sources since you don't pump water into your bottle. If you can't get water into your bottle you can't sterilize it. That was the main problem for me. BTW, I would use your drinking cup ;)”

“BTW, I would use your drinking cup ;)”
hyway
7:26:36 AM
7/16/07

hyway... is that a typo? I tend to keep my drinking cup isolated from untreated water sources. Cross-contamination would concern me.”

“if you have an issue with the steripen be aware that it is a non-chemical method that ONLY treats the water inside the bottle and ONLY the water under the waterline. Water on the outside of the bottle (like the bottle threads) or on the inside of the bottle (moisture on the inside of the container from the fill-line on up) will NOT be treated. i emailed the steripen people about this and the claim is that the level of contamination this represents is so small as to not be relevant. i know there are some here (crazy mike specifically) that claim they have gotten sick from contaminated threads and of course i won't doubt their story. i am only conveying what research i did into this topic and what my final decision was... like i said, i use the thing all the time now.”

“There is another thread http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/36032,-1.php already started on this. I should have pointed it out first, but didn't think about it. The water on the threads issue reminded me.

Rmblinrev, it was a tongue in cheek comment. :)”

“I've used mine pretty much exclusively for the last 3 years...”

“How long do the batteries last?
How many treatment?
How many or how long of a trip?”

“well... i use "surefire" lithium batteries. you must use good quality batteries but this is true with anything that uses batteries. i am still working on my first set this season. i don't see any reason why the claims of the manufacturere would be innacurate. they claim 10-20 32 ounce treatments but i am easily leaning on the 20 side and more with the surefire batteries.”

“Good info JS, thanks.”

“I was in Damascus last weekend talking to several AT through hikers and the topic steripen came up. Several through hikers are telling me they had problems with the durability of this product. I went into Mt Rogers outfitters and Dave tells me that they have taken in several broken and sold other filters to many through hikers.

I am not saying do not buy this product, I am getting one quite soon for myself. I was just wondering if anyone has had or herd of problems for the long haul.........”

“I gotta figure that four months of thru hiking equal a few years worth of weekend bp trips for most of us.

Hard to make a good comparison with the thru hikers.”

“I saw the demo at REI. I want one!!”

“well it's perhaps not as durable as a pump i guess but so far i have had no problems. did they give specifics about what problems there were? there aren't that many parts... i mean it can hardly be blamed if it's dropped on a rock/etc. the bulb is quartz (so uv can get through it)... it DOES require some care.”

“I guess the 'Aquastar' would have the same, plus some, chance of problems. This unit does have the lifetime $30.00 replacement,as long as they're around.”

“I have the orig Steripen, along with the Steripen prefilter. I like how the prefilter, bottle, and orig Steripen fit together. If the Adventure model had such a set-up I would have gotten it.

I have used the Steripen on just one trip......and survived the event. It was nice to just be able to go to the stream, fill up the bottle, zap it, and drink it. Unlike waiting for chemicals to do there thing or the efforts of filtering.

I plan on using it on trips where I know the water supply will be fairly clear. If I know that the water will not be clear I will be taking my filter, as I did before.

As always, I carry some Micropur tabs as a backup in case I break either the Steripen or filter.”

“this is early gen of this technology. as uv LEDs start to be avaliable i am thinking this is where it's gonna be at in water treatment. we'll see.”

“Bulb Breakage. Is what they are telling me, or it just stopped working even with new batteries. I plan on buying one just to add to my collections........”

“Thru hiker in Damascus, probably started around the end of March, or first of April, it's now mid July. So thats...... say three months, or 90 days. 90 Bag Nights - how many liters of water.... call it 150 on the low side.

Thats a LOT of chances to drop the thing on a rock and break the bulb.

How many weekend trips would it take you to use that much water?

It'd take me - well, a while lets just say.

:)”

“just for curiosity - how delicate is the bulb - i mean its not like a light bulb is it. I've never looked at one in 'real life'.”

“10-20 32 ounce treatments...

I mean, I use that when I hike with a partner on one trip (3-5 liters of water per person per day).

Seems pretty energy consumptive...”

“it's made of quartz and is fairly tough... not like a light bulb. if you drop it onto a rock then it might break. i don't have a sense of where the breaking point is but it can easily withstand bumps and thumps. you'll just have to look at it to judge it for yourself.

i think the whole concept is silly. i have glasses we drink from stored in our kitchen cabinets. my wife and three kids and i use them every day. we have been using the same set for years and i am sure we drink far more than 150 l of liquid from them in 6 months. yet we somehow manage to not break them left and right. in fact, the steripen is better protected than the glasses in my kitchen.

hey, it has a quartz bulb... be careful with it.
last edited: 7/17/07 3:40:14 PM”

“that makes sense jimmy - i'm just thinkin that thru hiker abuses his gear way more than the 'regular' weekend- warrior type hiker. So something that doesn't last him his whole trip would probably be pretty ok for my purposes.”

“here is another way to look at it. polar pure (a popular iodine treatment for thru hikers) is stored in a glass bottle that would break if you dropped it. you don't hear people complaining that this is a problem with polar pure... haha... i don't mean to be getting so into this. sorry.”

“lol, good point though. probably costs a lot less though (i've never used it - don't know the cost) But Steripen is over 100 bucks isn't it?”

“I hiked with a guy, Trampas, on my thru hike in '05. He used a steripen and was very pleased with it. He was an ER doc, so I figure he researched it pretty well.”

“I started drinking untreated water on the AT last year(was filtering). Used aquamira a couple of times on the LT. I haven't been carrying any treatment since. Haven't gotten sick.

I usually drink a liter and fill up a couple at good sources. In a pinch I'll bandana filter and/or boil the water.

I'm not advocating this, just my two cents.

BTW, I read a couple of studies where the concentration of Giardia was higher in the tap water than in the nearby natural water sources.


p.s. I've only seen one steripen on the trail . An AT thru had been using his for about a month.
last edited: 7/17/07 5:24:49 PM”

“How many tablets are in the Katadin purification tablets that sell for $13? I think it is 20. That would be $0.65 each for a quart of water. If the steripen cost $100, then that would equal 153 tabs or about 8 packages of the katadin tabs. I have already used three packages this year. The Steripen may be cheaper in the log run, but you have to figure the cost of batteries in also.”

“I did not treat water in '05 until my bout with Giardia just north of Kent, Ct. Cost me 8 days and essentially finishing the hike. The doc said it was a mild case. I don't want to see severe. I was running out the butt so bad that I considered changing my trail name to XL.”

“Check out purification tablets at wal-mart cost about $6.00 do not remember how many are in the bottle they also come wit neutralizing tablets”

“Sorry to hear that, Nimblefoot.

How about X-pell”

“re batteries: get surefire lithiums if you get the adventurer. they are superior batteries (can buy them from the surefire web site) and they are quite reasonable in price, esp if you buy them by the box. they have a LONG shelf life so there is no reason not to buy bulk and save.”

“I think Jimmy has a good point about it breaking... I currently hike with a ceramic filter. That could break too. You just have to us a little common sense.”

“Aqua mira weights about 5oz less then pen and batteries. Treats h2o at about <12 cents per liter. 30 gals per kit.”

“"I was running out the butt so bad that I considered changing my trail name to XL" - NF

RIM shot!





(pun intended)”

“As posted on the other steripen thread, this thing produces the same oxidants (sterilizers) that Aqua Mira does. The treat times are the same. And like I pointed out on that thread and landscaper has on this, its much cheaper. Save your money.”

“aquamira weighs a LOT less than 5oz if you don't carry the entire bottle, which treats a lot more water than most weekend backpackers need.

heck, ClO2 tablets are lighter still (and easier to use) than AquaMira but are more expensive. still, since when have ultralight fanatics cared about what the cost of something is. we’ll spend big bucks on gear that gets less and less substantial every year.

for the record, the steripen actually is more effective against many pathogens (crypto and viruses specifically). it works in one minute which is faster than both a pump filter –and- aquamira. in one minute it kills pathogens that it takes aquamira 4 hours to kill.

this is all a matter of personal preference, in the end.”

“don't the aquamira tablets also depend on the temperature of the water? Does the Steri Pen??”

“Steripen use is NOT affected by water temperature.

That said, it is not predictable if ice is present. It is not predictable if the water is cloudy.

The water must be reasonably clear and no ice present.”

“I find it hard to believe the steripen claims on time, effectiveness and no temp problems since it uses the same oxidants. Unless it produces far more of them and then I would worry about ingesting so much.”

“What oxidants? Steripen uses UV light.

The UV light "scrambles" the DNA of any pathogens and renders them inert.

It is NOT temperature sensitive (above freezing).”

“steripen works by creating uv radiation that damages the DNA of pathogens (just like the sun does to your skin). this deactivates the pathogen. things that block uv or present a significant change in the index of refraction (like air/water boundary or water/ice boundary) inhibit the uv effectiveness just like wearing a t-shirt will prevent a sunburn. the steripen adds NOTHING to the water. hence there is no taste nor residual chemicals... period.”

“My bad, I was thinking of the MIOX. My brain is fried.”