Whether you’re struggling to live or out camping in the wilderness, you’ll be immediately conscious of the reality that hydration is paramount. Water is life, life is water. Clean accessible drinking water is not only essential for living but to essential to enjoy life. LifeStraw makes 3 products for personal use; the Personal, Steel & Go Bottle.
“The LifeStraw products remove 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria, including E. coli, and 99.9% of waterborne protozoa, including Giardia & Cryptosporidium. They will also reduce turbidity, filtering down to 0.2 microns. The activated carbon filter (for 2-stage devices) removes some chemicals like chlorine, some pesticides and fertilizers.”
LifeStraw Personal Water Filtration 2-Stage
LifeStraw’s 2-stage Go & Steel remove bacteria and protozoa from less than desirable bodies of water along your travels. A replaceable carbon capsule reduces organic chemical matter and chlorine as well as some of the bad taste you might run across.
The LifeStraw products meets US EPA drinking water standards, doesn’t require any batteries to operate and uses no iodine. You can boil it but sometimes it’s not practical to think you can bust out your camping stove and wait for it to boil and cool down.
Since each of the personal LifeStraw devices use the same primary membrane, the 2-stage Steel, Go bottle and single stage Personal will all filter up to 1,000 liters or 264 gallons of water.
LifeStraw Steel & Personal
The LifeStraw Steel water filtration device measures 9″ L x 1″ D and comes in a Food grade stainless steel that meets the FDA’s regulations and standards. The Steel adds a little bit of weight from the Personal and comes in a sleek metal design. The Steel version will dent with relatively little bumping but should not compromise the effectiveness unless it dents so severely that it cracks the membrane. The personal water filter also offers a replaceable carbon filter for 2-stage filter performance. The plastic elements are BPA and contain no chemicals. Filter up to 1,000 liters or 264 gallons of water. Weighs just 160g or 5.6 oz.
The LifeStraw Personal features single stage filtration performance without the carbon component and comes in a lightweight plastic housing.
LifeStraw 2-Stage Go Bottle
The new 2-stage Go bottle also integrates a carbon capsule to reduce bad taste, chlorine and and chemical matter from your water. The Go bottle is able to filter up to 1,000 liters or 264 gallons of water using it’s 0.2 micron advanced hollow fiber membrane technology. You’re able to replace both the primary Filter Membrane as well as the Carbon Filter on the Go Bottle. Available in Pink, Purple, Blue, Gray, Green.
Maintenance & Usage
While the LifeStraw products offer excellent filtration you still need to follow some guidelines for proper use. It is recommended to replace your carbon filter every 3 months. You can also replace the carbon filter on the Steel as well as the Go.
It’ll take a little bit of priming the water until the membranes are all wet and allow water to be pulled through the filter. When the filter needs to be replaced, pulling water through will become tuff to do so you’ll be able to tell when it’s time.
These filters will not remove chemicals from say a dump site, so don’t try and drink from just anywhere. You cannot use LifeStraw with sea/salt water or brackash water (where sea and fresh water meet) as this is not a desalinator.
You can’t always see pollutants but we usually try and grab the visually cleanest water available first and work from there. Try not to bring in soot and debris as much as possible. The Personal/Steel are great for their compact carry size while the Go offers you a container. You can simply use what nature provides and craft your own make-shift container, otherwise you can simply put your nose to the water.
The LifeStraw products will operate in freezing temps and can be frozen but the membrane should be purged of water prior to storage in such conditions. Freezing water can crack the inner membrane rendering the filter useless.
You can also extend the life of your LifeStraw filter products by purging the water out when you’re done with it for the day. Just backblow through the filter to purge out the water inside and let it dry. If you are planning to spend extended periods of time out in the field away from a clean water source or unexpectedly find yourself in a survival situation you may consider some of these off grid water filtration solutions that could just save your life.
Follow the Liters – For each LifeStraw you purchase, one school child in a developing community receives safe drinking water for an entire school year.
Wrap Up
The LifeStraw Personal single stage, Steel 2-Stage and Go 2-Stage Bottle offer reliable water filtration in compact and portable designs. The 2-stage filtration process adds in an active carbon filter to help reduce the yuckies when you don’t have clean drinking water nearby. LifeStraw’s Personal and 2-Stage Steel are perfect for hiking and camping, just toss em in your pack, while the 2-Stage Go bottle is great for recreational activities and trips so you’ll always have clean water to drink with you.
LifeStraw 2-Stage Go $44.95
LifeStraw 2-Stage Steel $54.95
LifeStraw Personal $19.95
