SteriPEN Purification System

The product did perform as describe. I order two sets of the Lithium Ion battery from another source, one set worked and the other did not.
After a week of constant use, about 6 times a day, it needed a new set of battery. Rechargeable NiMH battery also worked in the unit.

I purchased the combination set with the bottle and pre-filter. The main advantage is the fileter adapter allows the SteriPEN to be inserted into the bottle and form a water tight connection. This makes it easier to shake or swire the bottle without worrying about spilled water.

It took me a while to figure out what was the sediment filter. I thought at first it was missing, but it was the funny thing sticking out the middle of the adapter. Removing the filter from the adapter allows the SteriPEN to be tightly inserted into the bottle. For most purposes, the filter serves no useful purpose, so I just put it away for safe keeping.

I used the unit to purified all my drinking water in Inner Mongolia and any water used to brush my teeth in any hotels in China. At the Beijing Airport, when leaving the country, it did raise some concern about what the device was, and added an extra step to the out processing when they attached a photo of me with a x-ray picture of the unit.

I will take the unit on my next back packing trip to truely purify my drinking water. I have never been sick from just using a water filter on previous trip, but this unit is convenient.

I am very satisfy with this product.

[Wednesday, August 27, 2008]

A must for wilderness camping

We used the Steripen for the first time on our wilderness canoe camping trip this past week. It was such a nice addition to our water treatments. We usually use a Sweetwater to filter water for use in camp, and we took the Steripen as backup. But after trying it while out paddling, it became our main filter for use during the day. We scooped up the water from the middle of the lake while we were traveling, poured it into a Nalgene bottle (1 liter) fitted with the prefilter, and used the pen. Voila! Drinking water in about 2 minutes. It is important to stay hydrated on a long travel day, and the Steripen made this so simple. I would definitely recommend getting the prefilter, it fit perfectly on the Nalgene bottle, and made me feel better about drinking "critters" that might have been in the water had we not used the 4 micron filter. So far, we're home and no GI problems. One caveat-be sure to get Lithium batteries, and take back ups. The unit uses a lot of power, and regular batteries just don't last very long. We filtered every day for 6 days and we're still on the initial set of lithiums. All in all, I would not go into the wilderness without the Steripen and filter.

[Sunday, August 03, 2008]

Bigger than it looks

The pen itself is little bigger than it 'looks' on display. Nevertheless it's an excellent piece of technology, affordable and easy to use.

[Saturday, May 31, 2008]