Who’s tried a Steripen?

I've used them . they seem to work ok . 5 of us were back in Idaho . we were always able to find running water . we just got our water upstream from the mules . nobody got sick .
 
I used the steripen classic on a couple elk and coues deer hunts this years. I used it with prefilter kit on a nalgene. Worked great until I lost it in the desert somewhere.
 
I used mine for two seasons. First fall hunt, I used standard alkaline batteries. Big mistake. Steripen crapped right out and I had to boil water. This last season, I used lithium batteries and it worked great, or at least I didn't get sick and it appeared to function properly. Might not be a bad idea to put it in a something a little more protective. A couple times, I reached in my pack and the protective cover that goes over the glass had come off. Take a tuna can or something about that size to dip out water because I've found it very rare to actually find a place that you can dip a full quart sized container. I bought the pre-filter but have pretty much left it behind. It's bulky and clogs fast when you actually have enough debris to worry about. I just deal with the floaties.
 
I have used it on an 8 day trip in Eastern Oregon's Eagle Cap Wilderness area. I also used their pre filter and I used a zip lock bag to dip water out of the source before pouring it into the Nalgene bottle. Never dip the Nalgene bottle into the water source. Neither me or my hunting buddy got sick and my unit lasted the whole trip.
BTL
 
I have used them for several years now. I live /hunt in the Colorado Mountains . They work great . In the winter , it is really the only way to go . The filter element in a pump will freeze in cold weather, yet when you pump it , it will still pass water, this is because the pump bypasses the filter when frozen and just pumps contaminated water out .I would suggest getting the "classic" model that is run with AA batteries and also standardizing the use of AA batts with everything that you carry in your pack GPS, lights , head lamp, steri-pen . This way you can switch good batteries from one unit to another if needed during an emergency .
 
Had a steripen and also my sawyer squeeze this past year in Colorado on a backpack hunt. My buddy swears by the steripen and is all he uses and he stays on the mountain for up To 2 weeks if he kills and has to pack out. To me the steripen isheavier and more time consuming I personally think the squeeze is a better option. Don't get me wrong the steri pen worked fine but at time was finicky and took a couple minutes to sterilize also I can backflush into my reservoir with a QC adapter on my squeeze. Only thing is If water freezes in the squeeze filter then u have a problem but we were hunting archery season so wasn't an issue.
 
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