I'm going to get one of these instead...

[opsec]

Hold the presses. I just found this mere minutes ago. Ignore everything I said in my last post about the lifesaver bottle [post removed due to updated information]. It seems that Sawyer Products has developed a system that is light years ahead of the competition. They have a million gallon guarantee. I'm getting one, possibly two of these instead: https://www.sawyersafetravel2.com/more.asp?pid=116

I say two, because it is very likely that I would somehow break one of these units before I exhausted it's usefull life, so I want to have a backup. This is in addition to the other means of water purification I have available as an option.

[darwinslair]

the link you included brings up an odd error screen for me.  Can you re-post it?

[opsec]

Oops...here you go: http://www.sawyersafetravel2.com/more.asp?pid=116

the https was a secure page.

I'm also looking at this one too: SP190 - Sawyer Point Zero Two™ Purifier Bucket Adapter Kit. If you go out to the main products page and scroll down you will find it.

I've looked at reviews from backpacking magazines and there have been complaints about the filter being hard to draw water through. The reason is that the filter has to be primed by forcing water under pressure from your sink to get it working. I see that as a serious drawback and I might just go with the 1 micron filter instead of the .02 micron purifier just for that reason. I have an idea though, I'll have to email the company and ask if it's viable. I'll make a decision after that.

[opsec]

I've talked to the people at Sawyer and they tell me that even if the .02 micron filter does not get primed before use, that it can still function as a drip filter. They also said that they don't know that freezing would necessarily damage the filter membrane, rather they simply don't have any information that guarantees that it wouldn't. I think that's still pretty good for the money. I'm going to bite the bullet and get one, and I'm comfortable recommending the same course of action to others as well.

[jmzeller]

I just got back from a week in Fiji where we went to install 400 of these filters in homes without any pure water.  They really are the easiest thing ever to install.  We used a drill to cut the hole with the spade bit they provided and it worked well.  The only problems we had were that the fitting on about 5% were overtightened at the factory and broken, but I think Sawyer said they realized their mistake and are tightening them by hand instead of machine now.  We really didn't notice any lag time in water flowing.  We poured about a gallon of water in the "dirty" water bucket and raised it about 3' over the clean bucket and we got clean water flowing as soon as water flowed down the tube.  I'd say the flow rate was approximately a liter per minute, maybe a little faster.  It was faster if there was more water in the dirty bucket, I guess that's obvious though.

[opsec]

How did you manage to prime the filter without a source of pressurized water (i.e. a faucet)?

p.s. welcome to the forums.

[Publius]

Opsec, I'm looking at Sawyer products too. Take a look at this. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5854374 Cheaper. I did a lot of research and it looks like the filter unit is the same as the one for the bucket kit. I found some videos, that showed How To's and the "Purifier" filter look alike. I'm going to order one of these from Wally World here real soon. Sawyer has this very one on the product link you posted for $139.00 another of their sites has at $122.00 BTW the SP135 above is the "viral" purifier.

Check these out.
http://www.justdrink.net/index.asp Has videos mentioned.
http://www.sawyerproducts.com/

[opsec]

The bucket unit comes with their "million gallon guarantee". The bottle unit at walmart only lists a useful life of 3000 gallons. I think both filters use the same technology but are not the same filter unit. It still looks handy though for portable use. Now I'm curious, I'm going to call Sawyer and ask about this.

[Publius]

Actually I read on one of the sites that the all have a Million gallon guarantee. They even lined out the 3000 in the add copy. The "viral" purifier has a .01 micron and the others have a .2 micron element.

[oscar615]

I looked at the one on the walmart site.  And then looked again at the same model on the Sawyer site.  They both say 3000 gals.  Even on the Sawyer site.  So I am guessing it really is 3000 gals. Now one caviot, on the Sawyer site it is priced at $139 and on the Walmart site $68.  So I think I would pick it up at Walmart. If that's the filter you want. It's half the price. 

However for about the same price as the above filter on the Sawyer site, $149-199, they also have their million gallon filters.  That seems much more cost effective to me.  And with a short google may even be able to find them cheaper.

[Publius]

Here is the warranty link. http://www.sawyer.com/warranty.htm They ALL of their filters have a 1 Million gallon guarantee. Well I just got off the phone with John and he verified they ALL are 1 Million gallon or like he said lifetime warranty. You get about 3,000 gallons in the viral purifier before you need to back flush with clean water, depending on turbidity. Prefiltering cloudy or turbid before running it through this thing  would be a good thing to extend you use before having to back flush. Opsec, I would save your money on the bucket kit thing. Buy two and get hoses, valves and the junk they have in that kit at the hardware store. You still will come out ahead dollar wise.  Watch the bucket kit video http://www.sawyerproducts.com/videos.htm#BucketFilterAssembly and glean what parts they have with it. A pool supply or good plumbing supply should have this stuff.

[oscar615]

Well, that's great news.  Thanks, Publis for calling and checking on this for all of us.  I think I need to get one myself.  I have a katydyn pocket filter but it is only good for 15000 gals.  And I thought that was good.  A million is much better.

[hancocs]

Found the 1 million gal Sawyer 4Lwater treatment System SP 183 for $82.00 at http://moontrail.com/sayer-sp183.phph

[hancocs]

http://www.moontrail.com/sawyer-sp183.php  Sorry forgot the "w" in the first post

[Publius]

Sweet. Thanks hancocs. This one is even cheaper, because it doesn't have the bottle. http://www.moontrail.com/sawyer-sp121.php I may just buy two of them and rig a bucket system like opsec wants with one and rig something else more portable with the other. Maybe my Camelback.