Best backpacking water filter

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I own and used three different filters last weekend. I love my MSR miniworks. I've filtered water where I only got 1/2 qt before the the was clogged. A little cleaning and I got the rest of the Qt.

I love the bag systems. The Sawyer .2 bag systems work well and can be back flushed.

I also picked up another Sawyer .2 personal filter. Same membrane as the bag to bag.

I've tried the Steri-Pen. My problem is it's like hand sanitizer. just because you sterilized a turd doesn't mean you want to eat it. Fishy water is still going to taste fishy even though its dead fishy. It might be a good secondary to a nice filter.
 
I have the MSR mini works. I love it and would buy it again. It is easy to clean on the trail if needed. You can add droplets for extra protection. Hope this helps
 
If you are staying at phantom ranch they have potable water there, you can also buy beer there. I have a Pur filter and it works great. I'm not at home now so I can't tell you all of the fancy technical stuff about it.
 
I have used several different filters over the years, and have backpacked over 100 miles on Grand Canyon back country trails, and the MSR HyperFlow is by far my favorite filter. It is super light and super fast. The valves are reversible so you can use the pump to back flush it if you need to. From my experience with previous filters, I added a Sweetwater pre-filter to help prevent clogging of my main filter on extended trips. I don't know exactly how many gallons I have run through it, but I have used it enough to trust it and recommend it. The Colorado river runs clear and fast and has a gravel bed so you don't need to worry about silt. What trail are you taking?
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I was once put in a situation when solo backpacking that required me to filter from a much smaller and slower-moving stream than ideal using my MSR MiniWorks.

I got sick, really sick. I ended up making my way to the nearest road and waiting for someone to drive by. There's no guarantee that another filter would have prevented it, but it serves as a good reminder to only filter from faster moving and clear water.
 
The Katadyn is impregnated with silver in the filter, and the inhibits or kills any bacteria/ virus in the filter if im not mistaken , Msr I dont think has the silver. Correct me if Im wrong please but every little bit of protection helps.
 
Oh, one other thing. The two filters I've had in my group when backpacking have been the Katadyn membrane filters and the MSR MiniWorks ceramic filters. The water that came out of the ceramic filters tasted noticeably better, even if the membrane size was the same.
 
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