Can anyone recommed a water purifier, must be compact and cope with water in Africa and hopefully have good filter life.

Got puritabs etc but they are disgusting.

Thanks

Julio

Most good outdoor shops have a selection of excellent filters of various sizes - talk to them. I use a Pur hiking type which I've found very good. Once when cleaning it, I mislaid an essential piece and on contacting Pur in the USA via the net, they sent me a whole new part. Great service.
Tim
'91GSPD

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Tim ('91 R100GSPD)

The only baggage you carry should be in the panniers

Im currently using a Katadyn combi hand filter , which so far has been very good. The filter is in two stages,actvated carbon, which lasts up to 6 months/200lits, and is only really for chemical and taste filtration,and a ceramic filter that lasts almost indefinately.The filter comes with a gauze for scrubbing the ceramic clean. This is one of the filters best features-i have seen cheaper paper filters that have to be cleaned in bleach-rather a hassle.Ive been living off this filter for 2 months now with no probs at all. Hope this is of help. Olly. (Z1100).

Katadyn also have a water-filter water bottle - for approx £35 GBP, refils cost £15. Filters last 100 ltrs. Just fill up like a cycling bottle and drink straight from the bottle. Holds 600ml. Claimed to kill bacteria, viruses & water borne disease carriers.

I will use normal non-iodine (slow but no taste) tablets (Boots) / bottled water where possible. You can remove the filter and use as a normal bottle. I will insert filter where necessary.

HTH
James

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KTM LC4 640 Adventure-R 2001

Previous bikes...
KTM Duke II 2000
Kawazaki ZX-6R 1998
BMW F650 1996
+ others...
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Katadyn also have a water-filter water bottle - for approx £35 GBP, refils cost £15. Filters last 100 ltrs. Just fill up like a cycling bottle and drink straight from the bottle. Holds 600ml. Claimed to kill bacteria, viruses & water borne disease carriers.

I will use normal non-iodine (slow but no taste) tablets (Boots) / bottled water where possible. You can remove the filter and use as a normal bottle. I will insert filter where necessary.

HTH
James

__________________
KTM LC4 640 Adventure-R 2001

Previous bikes...
KTM Duke II 2000
Kawazaki ZX-6R 1998
BMW F650 1996
+ others...
------------------

Katadyn Combi - not small but for a duo or group excellent capacity and field maintainable. ceramic and carbon beats common fibreglass options.

Thank you for posting some information rather than - “do your own research”. So it is a very fine filter - they call it a water purifier but it is essentially just a water filter. What is the life of the filter like - they must eventually clog up which is confirmed by the info you posted up. Some idea of the life - particularly the life in heavily contaminated - water would be useful.

For myself I am also interested in the amount of chemical that the filter passes as bacterial and virus are not the only thing to worry about.

I don’t drink water unless it has been boiled and had some dried leaves added to it when hot and the hot water is allowed to burst the cells in the Leave sufficiently for the contents to infuse into the water. I also like to add a little bovine lactation product.

The last time I had a bout of the runs was when, I am pretty sure, I didn’t wash my hands after touching money and then had a meal. The amount of bugs on the cash is notoriously high. I suppose I should take up money laundering to stop that happening again.

Oddly, I had been following this thread since it started and no posts have disappeared as far as I can tell.

"problematic" posts have been deleted, posters notified as appropriate to keep it on track and impersonal, this IS an Equipment REVIEW forum, so everyone's OPINIONS are okay, and not to be denigrated.
Jay_Benson - correct, NO posts had been deleted to the time of your posting, two have now been.

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Two more posts removed which were responses to posts since removed by OP

@Jay_Benson: ha ha to money laundering

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
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Slightly off topic but blushing teeth in tap water is one cause of illness. I travelled India many years ago with my ex wife. I was fine while she was constantly ill and it was the only thing that we did differently. I always brush my teeth using bottled water

Slightly Back on topic. What do you guys think of inline filters like Sawyer

I need to stop posting on this thread as whenever I do it gets shorter - I suspect within a couple of days we will be back to the original post only. I knew tyres and oil were contentious subjects but water purifiers? Really?

I have used various filters and the in line is good but I like my Katydin water bottle. Just don't freeze it as it breaks the ceramic. Filter life depends upon the water being used. Dirty water clogs them up faster

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk

I was given a Lifestraw drinking bottle for Christmas by my son, who's in the army and has cause to look into products like this. It has a 2-stage filter that's good for something like 100 gallons. I'll road test it next year when I'm off to Siberia, Mongolia and the Silk Road.

www.vestergaard.com/our-products/lifestraw

www.facebook.com/motosunburn

I used a Lifestraw drinking exclusively local running/river water in Nepal for several weeks without problems, even when it got frozen overnight which is a big no-no according to the manufacturer. Still though that's just one man's report and I know nothing about African water.

I'd say it's an option worth researching though

I have life straw, cathadyn and Sawyer and never had to use any on a motorcycle ride. I've gone from Cape Town to Nairobi, as well as from morocco to guinea bissau. Been to egypt, Tunis, and more. I've never experienced problems buying bottled water. Wherever there is fuel where is water - just about allways I usually carry quite a bit just in case it would be a problem, it never has. I don't think I will carry a water filter again other than for hiking and I don't have a motorized mule to carry 5he water for me. Maybe I would bring be if I expected to linger for longer periods off the beaten track. But I get bored easily and hardly ever linger in one place more than a couple of days - which means riding and gas stations.

Maybe I will carry a small Sawyer for emergencies, but that's about it. Space and weight is a concern, and this is something I can shave off.

Oddly enough, Norway where tap water is awesome, a bottle of water at a gas station can cost $2. So in some places it might make sense money wise. Then again, places where bottled water is expensive, the tap water is usually fine. Strange but true.

The Cathadyn is good because it attached to a målene and purified a lot ow water quickly, but it is large and heavy

The life straw is primitive and quite large.

The Sawyer is tiny and has lots of accessories for different applications - wether to drink right from the source or wanting to purify unto a container.

They all purify well, though cathadyn and Sawyer are too of the line. Get a Sawyer, if any.

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