Hi friends,

I used to use a Katadyn hand pump filter while backpacking/BWCA for probably 5 years and it worked great, never even had to change out the filter. And then I got the Katadyn 6L gravity filter almost 10 years ago and it was truly a game changer. The first filter worked like a dream, but then something changed and now those filters plug WAY too often. I called an outfitter and he said that they know about this and would never recommend buying the Katadyn, only Platypus. Most recently, a brand new Katadyn filter that I brought into BWCA plugged within 1 day with 5 people using it. Now when I bring that system I have to bring 2 filters, and at $45 a pop (and apparently $45/day) that is not going to work.

Are others having this same issue? I like the size of the 6L and want to stick with the easiness of the gravity filter- any recommendations for one that will last longer?

I am sure many other folks have asked about this, so pardon me if there is already a thread or many other threads about this. I just cannot believe Katadyn makes such lousy filters and chargers so much for them!

WanderingWoodsmanMN: "Hi friends,

I used to use a Katadyn hand pump filter while backpacking/BWCA for probably 5 years and it worked great, never even had to change out the filter. And then I got the Katadyn 6L gravity filter almost 10 years ago and it was truly a game changer. The first filter worked like a dream, but then something changed and now those filters plug WAY too often. I called an outfitter and he said that they know about this and would never recommend buying the Katadyn, only Platypus. Most recently, a brand new Katadyn filter that I brought into BWCA plugged within 1 day with 5 people using it. Now when I bring that system I have to bring 2 filters, and at $45 a pop (and apparently $45/day) that is not going to work.

Are others having this same issue? I like the size of the 6L and want to stick with the easiness of the gravity filter- any recommendations for one that will last longer?

I am sure many other folks have asked about this, so pardon me if there is already a thread or many other threads about this. I just cannot believe Katadyn makes such lousy filters and chargers so much for them! "

Filters are made to remove things from the water. If you old on didn't plug but the new one does it indicates 2 possibilities. Either the water has more contaminants in it or the older filter wasn't taking everything out assuming that you are taking water from the same source. New filters that remove everything down to the 5 micron size will filter out bacteria but other things in the water will plug up the tiny pores faster.

Yes, there are many threads about it. The problem was that the Katadyn filter was not field-maintainable by backflushing. Sawyer and other companies began using a new technology employing hollow-fiber filtration, allowing backflushing, and are easily field maintained. you can generally replace it with any filter - Sawyer, Platypus, MSR, Hydroblu, etc. - that can be connected between the dirty water bag and the filter. This is usually just some standard tubing but sometimes will need an adaptor. Lots of threads here and youtube videos with various solutions. Just be sure to backflush it according to the instructions.

I have a lifestraw peak and when is slows down i back flush it. I found that holding the hose above the reservoir and letting the air out as it is lowered makes a big difference in performance. Also collecting water off shore helps quite a bit.

I have a BeFree 3L system that I like. It has mixed reviews online for the same reasons but when it clogs, a quick shake in the water and the debris is gone and it flows again.

I also have a Lifestraw Peak 8L which is very good, but also too big and bulky for when it's just me on solo trips.

I always bring a sawyer squeeze with me on every trip, solo or not, as a backup. I think next year I will switch to a platypus 1L setup or a Cnoc 2L bag combined with Sawyer filter, since I have found that even 3L for myself is unnecessary.

I have seen where folks carefully remove (break off?) the Katadyn filter to make use of the bag and hose. Then attach a Sawyer inline near the bottom of the line for max head pressure.
Many make their own from some water bags, tubes, and filter of choice.

butthead

Our groups started with Katydyn as well. Same issue. . .clogged in a few hours. We went to Platypus and never looked back. Simple back flush. I am using the same Platypus systems I bought over ten years ago still. Works as good as when we bought them. Don't know why anyone would use a system that can not be field backflushed

This video, and the series in general, is the best investigation of back country water safety that I am aware of.

Gearskeptic Microfilters (part 3 of water safety series)

I use a Sawyer Squeeze in a gravity filtration system and also carry a Sawyer Mini as a backup. I have purchased Katadyn filters in the past and was disappointed in their uselife/volume of filtered water. I don't want to buy a new filter if I can put in a few minutes of maintenance.

Heating water to pasteurization temp is always my second backup.

Platypus 4L .
Works great. Backflush every time. Really try to avoid sediment kicked up at the shoreline. Don't let the filters freeze in winter. They will die. New filters are almost $70 now! That's crazy .
The hanger straps are a bit amateurish but they work OK.

Blackdogyak: "Platypus 4L .
Works great. Backflush every time. Really try to avoid sediment kicked up at the shoreline. Don't let the filters freeze in winter. They will die. New filters are almost $70 now! That's crazy .
The hanger straps are a bit amateurish but they work OK. "

I agree with BDY re. the Platypus filter. I used mine on a trip in Manitoba earlier this month. Easy to use and durable as long as you learn to burp the system to remove air from it when you start filtering. And I am careful to get water as clear as possible. Before arriving at the campsite I always fill the dirty bag out in the lake. Setup the filter upon arrival and shorty after have 4 liters of clean water.

The last week of the trip we camped on Black Lake in the Atikaki area and I was careful to back flush the filter after each use since Black Lake gets its name from its dark colored water - seems to have a lot of tannins.

The replacement filers are very expensive but with care they last a long time. You can find them about $10 cheaper online but you may lose the savings when considering shipping. They list for $73.95. During REI’s Labor Day weekend sale all Platypus stuff is 25% off.

This is not a comment about the Platypus filter but the bags.

I would recommend a hanging system that prevents the bags from contact with the tree you are using - like a good bare branch the extends a foot or two away from the trunk. And if that's not available, string a piece of rope between two adjacent trees and hang the assembly from the middle. My dirty bag has suffered from a puncture from a small sharp breakoff at the trunk of the tree. These bags are robust but not infallible. And when it's windy, they can flap around a lot.

The bags also work better when they are not deformed by hanging them from one loop of their strap. This happens when you unbuckle the strap and re-buckle it on the other side of the branch (or rope in my case). I prefer to use carabiners for the straps and just take a bite of the strap from both sides of each bag and feed them into the biner. This exerts less force on the top sides of the bag and helps them hold their natural rectangular shape.

I also suffered a seam failure in my clean water bag where the plastic outlet is sealed into the bottom corner of the bag. This is a four-year-old bag and while age probably had something to do with it, I think I over-filled at home in the disinfecting process and stressed it unnecessarily.

The filter has worked like a charm throughout all this bag drama.

Argo:"


The bags also work better when they are not deformed by hanging them from one loop of their strap. This happens when you unbuckle the strap and re-buckle it on the other side of the branch (or rope in my case). I prefer to use carabiners for the straps and just take a bite of the strap from both sides of each bag and feed them into the biner. This exerts less force on the top sides of the bag and helps them hold their natural rectangular shape.


I also suffered a seam


The filter has worked ."

I can't quite picture that... Do you have a photo? I appreciate your word of caution about punctures. I will remember that

Blackdogyak: "

Argo:"



The bags also work better when they are not deformed by hanging them from one loop of their strap. This happens when you unbuckle the strap and re-buckle it on the other side of the branch (or rope in my case). I prefer to use carabiners for the straps and just take a bite of the strap from both sides of each bag and feed them into the biner. This exerts less force on the top sides of the bag and helps them hold their natural rectangular shape.



I also suffered a seam



The filter has worked ."

I can't quite picture that... Do you have a photo? I appreciate your word of caution about punctures. I will remember that "

I understand the caution about sharp points on some trees. Where we camped in Manitoba there were many spruce trees with sharp points where branches had been. I always made sure the bag hung without contacting any sharp points. My filter set is from about 2016 and is used several times per year. The REI Labor Day week sale would price the 4L Platypus set at a little over $100 with the 25% sale discount.

https://lifestraw.com/?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3JanBhCPARIsAJpXTx6043a0-RVMnYn7h13f9DHkgdaewyzIHRElXhdI8FjTwHVcTPL8pYoaAmgJEALw_wcB
Worth a look, always been happy with there stuff. Hope I did this right

I took a hacksaw to the katadyn filter inside the bag and added a sawyer mini to the hose on the outside. Works great.

Blackdogyak: "

Argo:"



The bags also work better when they are not deformed by hanging them from one loop of their strap. This happens when you unbuckle the strap and re-buckle it on the other side of the branch (or rope in my case). I prefer to use carabiners for the straps and just take a bite of the strap from both sides of each bag and feed them into the biner. This exerts less force on the top sides of the bag and helps them hold their natural rectangular shape.



I also suffered a seam



The filter has worked ."

I can't quite picture that... Do you have a photo? I appreciate your word of caution about punctures. I will remember that "

butthead: "I have seen where folks carefully remove (break off?) the Katadyn filter to make use of the bag and hose. Then attach a Sawyer inline near the bottom of the line for max head pressure.
Many make their own from some water bags, tubes, and filter of choice.


butthead"

+1 Been doing it this way for years. If memory serves correctly, Katadyn was fist to market with their gravity bag. I purchased mine 10 yrs ago or so. Once the original filter clogged, I cut it off and used an inline Sawyer filter that I can reverse and back flush. Works very well for us. I have not used my hand pump filter since.

Katadyn gravity bag system is IMHO a terrible design. Their intentional built in obsolescence should not be encouraged via purchasing. Outfitter had me try Katadyn's new gravity bag on a trip this year. Without question it is worse than than the one I purchased 10 years ago.

Ahahn366: "https://lifestraw.com/?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3JanBhCPARIsAJpXTx6043a0-RVMnYn7h13f9DHkgdaewyzIHRElXhdI8FjTwHVcTPL8pYoaAmgJEALw_wcB
Worth a look, always been happy with there stuff. Hope I did this right "

The are all on sale right now including a waterpurifier gravity system

Ahahn366: "https://lifestraw.com/?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3JanBhCPARIsAJpXTx6043a0-RVMnYn7h13f9DHkgdaewyzIHRElXhdI8FjTwHVcTPL8pYoaAmgJEALw_wcB
Worth a look, always been happy with there stuff. Hope I did this right "

lifestraw Sale

lundojam: "I took a hacksaw to the katadyn filter inside the bag and added a sawyer mini to the hose on the outside. Works great."

Our crew did the same and it has been working great the past three years. The Katadyn bag is great because of it's size for holding gallons of water and the sawyer mini works great for filtering and back flushing. A great fix at a reasonable price.

timatkn: "

Ahahn366: "https://lifestraw.com/?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3JanBhCPARIsAJpXTx6043a0-RVMnYn7h13f9DHkgdaewyzIHRElXhdI8FjTwHVcTPL8pYoaAmgJEALw_wcB
Worth a look, always been happy with there stuff. Hope I did this right "

lifestraw Sale "

Thanks for fixing this I got distracted and didn't come back to try again

I have been at a couple of campsites where getting water was not very easy. I wanted a bigger "dirty" water bag that I could fill less frequently. I got a 25 L SealLine Baja Bag (dry bag... But in this case, wet bag!)

I got an old CamelBak pack that had failed. Took the plastic bladder assembly. Cut out a portion of the plastic bladder that had the female hose connector so that I had the connector with about an inch of plastic bag all around. Then I cut about a 3/4" x 3/4" hole in the side of the Baja Bag, near the bottom. Then I took some AquaSeal FD + Accelerator, and cemented the CamelBak connector to the Baja Bag from the inside. Then I cut a heavy duty PVC patch and applied it over the outside of the connection point.

Now I had a big water bag, and the male connector from the Platypus hose! Same connectors! I got another male connector online and put it into some silicone hose. At the other end of the hose I put a kitchen sink sprayer. So I can connect the bag to the platypus or have a kitchen sprayer! Also, the bag is black so if I leave it in the sun, I get a hot shower! Pretty good system. Lost my phone last year so no photos of the project underway but I can post a couple of the completed setup. What I usually do is throw a bag of ice and a six pack or gin n tonic stuff in there for the first night... Use the fresh ice water as it melts and then the next day start using it as the water bag.

I also put some d-rings on it so it can function as a water reservoir for kayak trips, using a CamelBak bite"mouthpiece.

ALSO!.... I use it for a ballast bag in the bow of the canoe when I'm solo.

Very creative. I especially like the idea of using the large bag as a cooler early in the trip. Gin and tonic - my drink of choice in the summer.

opps

Blackdogyak: "I have been at a couple of campsites where getting water was not very easy. I wanted a bigger "dirty" water bag that I could fill less frequently. I got a 25 L SealLine Baja Bag (dry bag... But in this case, wet bag!)


[snip]

ALSO!.... I use it for a ballast bag in the bow of the canoe when I'm solo. "

Genius, thanks for sharing this! I have a big ol' seal line that needs re-purposing.

Ahahn366: "I have a lifestraw peak and when is slows down i back flush it. I found that holding the hose above the reservoir and letting the air out as it is lowered makes a big difference in performance. Also collecting water off shore helps quite a bit."

Plus 1 on keeping air out of the tubes. Also soak your filter overnight before you leave for your trip. If soaked a day or 2 ahead, you can test your water flowage.