“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Heading out the door? Learn this text on the brand new Exterior+ app obtainable now on iOS gadgets for members!
>”,”identify”:”in-content-cta”,”kind”:”hyperlink”}}”>Obtain the app.
In the event you’ve gone purchasing for a brand new water filter just lately, you realize that attempting to distinguish between the varied choices isn’t a simple job. The market is saturated with straw-style filters—light-weight tubes that appear to be they’re jammed stuffed with vermicelli noodles and meant for squeezing or sucking water via. They arrive in barely totally different colours and lengths, however basically, they’re all the identical: hole fiber filters that use hundreds of hair-width tubes lined in microscopic pores to pressure out micro organism and sediment.
Ten years in the past, it was simpler to distinguish between gizmos. There was no mistaking a ceramic pump filter with a UV pen. Straw filters have been the minority, with Lifestraw and Sawyer making the 2 dominant variations. Not solely do as we speak’s most respected manufacturers make very comparable water filters, however the marketplace for copycat water filters is rampant on web sites like Amazon, the place you’ll find dozens of Lifestraw knock-offs for affordable.
Why do all water filters look the identical—and does it actually matter when you purchase a $5 no-name lookalike? We dove deep into the highly-competitive, incestuous, and more and more stagnant world of water filters to raised perceive the fashionable market.
The Design Bottleneck
The principle motive for the water filter design bottleneck is just {that a} three-inch tube of hole fibers is the magic ratio for weight, measurement, and move price. You may make straw-style filters shorter or skinnier, or fatter or longer, however they arrive with trade-offs by way of ergonomics and move price. In the event you’re a backpacker in the USA buying on your subsequent filter, you possibly can’t do significantly better. Till a brand new, game-changing medium for filtration comes alongside that does the job sooner, is lighter, or simpler to wash, the market has reached its plateau.
In some instances, manufacturers are actually utilizing the identical, rebadged water filter. Final summer season, Backpacker’s editors examined Hydrapak’s 42-millimeter hole fiber cap filter—it screws inside pouches and bottles as a substitute of onto the skin. Immediately, we acknowledged the design from the Salomon’s Gentle Flask XA filter. Apart from the chew valve on the finish and purple coloring, they’re an identical.
Jon Austen, Vice President of Product at Hydrapak, oversees the corporate’s analysis and improvement, together with product engineering and manufacturing: Austen confirmed that Hydrapak was certainly behind its manufacturing: “It’s the identical producer, course of, provide chain, hole fiber spec, and housing.” He additionally famous that creating the filters to be bought beneath Salomon’s branding allowed them to good their method earlier than releasing a cap filter beneath the Hydrapak flag.
In Quick: It’s cheaper for manufacturers to make use of the identical tried-and-true producer—why reinvent the provision chain when it already exists, particularly for such a easy piece of kit?
Knockoffs and Copycats
However what about off-brand, copycat filters? For each Katadyn, Lifestraw, or Platypus, there are a handful—if not dozens—of knockoffs. Kurt Avery, the founding father of Sawyer, says that protecting designs and know-how legally protected is difficult for this class.
“We didn’t do a utility patent,” he stated. Doing so would have necessitated a disclosure of their proprietary hole fiber know-how that would’ve enabled opponents to reverse-engineer the filter. When it comes to patenting design, Avery says there isn’t a lot level: “Individuals will get round it by including knobs or nozzles.”
On prime of patent points, Avery defined that chasing down counterfeit merchandise, for instance these produced in China en-masse, is a tough endeavor, and litigating in opposition to abroad corporations is a problem. Not often, as was the case with a Sawyer Mini counterfeit that used pretend Sawyer labeling, does Avery truly discover decision.
“We discovered them shortly, as a result of they didn’t work, and Amazon recalled them,” he stated. “We now have a transparency code on our filters so you possibly can scan them and know that they’re genuine.”
In keeping with Avery, it’s comparatively straightforward for counterfeit filters to go U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA) requirements, explaining that they have been established within the time of ceramic filters, lengthy earlier than hole fiber know-how emerged.
“The requirements are comfortable, a really low bar to recover from,” he says. For instance, Avery claims that there isn’t a single filter available on the market that would stand up to a backflushing strain check—essential for cleansing most hole fiber designs. Avery says that Sawyer’s proprietary tech permits for such strain and the model’s crazy-high 100,000-gallon lifespan.
Provided that it’s your well being on the road, it’s fairly clear that you must keep away from the no-name knock-off filters, regardless of how tempting the value tag could also be. However issues get murkier with extra established corporations. Hydroblu has a faithful following with thru-hikers. Their Versa Stream is an identical to the Sawyer Mini each aesthetically and by way of its 100,000 gallon declare. It’s additionally barely cheaper and has a sooner move price due to a fatter, longer design. Hydroblu, which has its headquarters in Utah, however has filters manufactured at a Guangzhou, China-based manufacturing facility, denied any intentional similarities between the 2 merchandise, though the VersaFlow postdates the Sawyer Mini by a number of years.
So, how must you go about shopping for your subsequent water filter on this mucky market? Right here’s what to search for:
Test for clear quality-control requirements.
Whereas the EPA has set sure requirements for water filters, it doesn’t truly test these merchandise—home or international—for compliance. You learn that proper: These requirements are merely tips. However the largest names in filtration are clear about their testing. Sawyer, for instance, checks to make sure that no pore measurement exceeds 0.01 microns, stating that “the filters are then checked 4 extra occasions at essential factors of meeting for filter integrity earlier than they make their method onto the shelf.” HydraPak performs “100-percent testing on its assembled filters to substantiate that the hole fiber filter media is absolutely intact and that there aren’t any leaks within the system.” HydroBlu acknowledged that it conducts point-of-manufacture high quality assurance after which samples random, accomplished filters for testing.
Take a look at third-party testing knowledge.
A number of main manufacturers, like Sawyer, truly add third-party testing knowledge to point out that its filters work somewhat than asking the patron to easily take their phrase for it. Like Sawyer, LifeStraw is among the many most clear we’ve discovered, offering detailed info on its efficiency and check outcomes, together with descriptions of high quality management and third-party laboratory reviews, stating the corporate “owns and operates its personal absolutely geared up ISO licensed water laboratory,” and “assessments all merchandise via exterior internationally acknowledged labs.” Katadyn supplies the names and places of the third-party laboratories who check its filters for a lot of merchandise, however doesn’t share the precise reviews. Others, like HydraPak and Hydroblu will solely present reviews on request. If a producer’s web site doesn’t present third-party testing knowledge, take into account making a request to see if they may share the reviews.
Learn real-world evaluations.
Whereas manufacturing processes and laboratory validation are essential, evaluations from trusted sources will inform you merely if it really works and the way effectively. Claims made on paper don’t all the time translate in real-world situations, like while you’re filtering chocolate milk-colored water from a recently-grazed part of the Continental Divide Path. Greater than as soon as, we’ve field-tested a filter with nice specs, solely to have it break on first use within the backcountry. Backpacker’s editorial crew rigorously evaluates filters yearly for its Gear Guides, processing a whole lot of liters of water in nearly each local weather you possibly can think about. Need to know which water filters we’d take into the backcountry? You will discover our prime picks for 2025 proper right here.
