Question:
a buddy of mine recently purchased the msr miniworks and is trying toconvince me to buy one too. i have no idea as to what brands are better thanothers etc. can anyone recommend one they are happy with? i'd like the prosand cons if possible.

Answer: On a 10-day kayaking trip down the Escalante "river" (more like a creek)after a flash flood turned the main stream and side creeks soupy-silty,our MSR filter was the only one that continued working. Even with aSiltStopper, all the others clogged up and could not be cleaned to work.We had to scrub the MSR every half liter, but it continued working.

All filters have their place. The First Need is good if you are in anaread where you are concerned about viruses in the drinking water.The Pur Pioneer is small and light, although not the highest capacityor longest lasting. The Sweetwater Guardian is very flexible.

Whether you have the old MSR filter, the new one, First Need, or whatever, siltin the water is a continual problem that will clog up any good filter orprefilter.

The basic problem comes from trying to pump the raw water from the streamdirectly. The silt is still in solution, and it will always clog.

If this is at all possible, travel with an empty gallon plastic milk jug. Jugthe raw water out of the stream and let it stand for a while. Much of the siltwill settle to the bottom, and then you can pump the raw water off 90% of thetop. Granted, this takes more time, but it takes less time than if you have tofield strip your filters or prefilters at each clog.

If I go solo, then I do the same thing, but I take only a half-gallon jug. It'scheap and light.