Life Straw/Water Filtration

Trooper

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Hey all, was wondering if anyone has used this or owns one of these?
It seems like it could come in handy in an emergency or to simply drink out of a pond. For $15 it might be a good investment to prevent getting sick or worse. What are your thoughts on this? Is there anything on the market that works better?
 

kylethree8

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Hey all, was wondering if anyone has used this or owns one of these?
It seems like it could come in handy in an emergency or to simply drink out of a pond. For $15 it might be a good investment to prevent getting sick or worse. What are your thoughts on this? Is there anything on the market that works better?


I have the life straw and have used it a few times out while camping.. It's a good emergency type deal. Not practical for getting filtered water for transport. Sawyer makes some small portable filters that you can use to fill things up.
 
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bushhippie

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ive used the cheap walmart one in a creek, but i knew it was already a clean water source due to the plants growing there. maby you could look on amazon or ebay or somthing to see if theres a discounted one
 
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bushhippie

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now that im stuck at home, i keep my life straw water bottle in my car. that way when im out at a friends and wake up hung over, i can rehydrate myself
 
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TheWindAndRain

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Never a bad idea to include a water filter with you. I agree with @kylethree8. The small filters sawyer makes are more practical for storing your water as you find it and no more a burden than that little straw. I have survived for weeks at a time on nothing but filtered water from some pretty mucky sources; these filters are definitely safe for the short term and make most water taste pretty darn good to be honest, but they require a lot of cleaning which can be tough with only dirty water. Long term you are still intaking all the persistent artificial pollutants in the water--adding a charcoal element to the filtration helps somewhat for that.
 

bushhippie

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honestly while im redoing my travel bag this spring, im going to make sure i have my life straw bottle, and some water tablets or some other purification system. i think they have iodine drops at walmart.
 

James Meadowlark

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The small filters sawyer makes are more practical for storing your water as you find it and no more a burden than that little straw.

I cosign.. I have a Sawyer "squeeze" that's way better than the "straw" for most of the camping I do.. It's great for filling canteens etc, but you do have to carry extra shit like that syringe for backing out the crap-water before you put it away for the next use. It's like a water e-cig.

That being said, there's a place for the LS. I'm not a traveler, but thanks to all of the good info on this site, I'm way way way better prepared than I would have been if I'd never stumbled upon this site.... I'm a camping enthusiast, & usually have the luxury of preparing for my time out in the woods.

I go back and forth to Jacksonville from Gainesville two or three days a week*, and have put together a robust pack/gear set up that would allow me to walk home really comfortably over the three days it would take in the worst case scenario with tons of tips I picked up here- The LS is part of that kit. I would not depend on one as a reliable source of water, but in a pinch, I really think one could save your life...

I think the filtration is fine, but if you're trying to fill a pot to cook something, I think you'd have to suck then spit into your canteen cup or mess kit in the absence of accessories, and that's just sub-optimal, the Sawyer is better, but if you're just trying to get home after the zombies attack, I'd pack one.

*No one spanges the South bound lanes under the bridge in Baldwin to this day. If I see you there, we'll go to waffle house!
 
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Zaphod

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I carried the Sawyer one with me but didn't use it one time hahaha. Still, I'm an emergency I'd probably stay way better hydrated if I had a filter than if I had to boil all my water, so for the few ounces it weighs, I'd definitely pack it again
 

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