Katadyn Hiker PRO Water Microfilter

I'm a Boy Scout leader and spend a lot of time in the outdoors camping and backpacking. For the past 20 years, I've only used iodine tablets for water filtration primarily due to the fact that I couldn't justify the added weight of a water filter when the iodine works just fine. I think alot of this was due to the fact that I always camped where there was plenty of fresh water. Well, this past summer's drought in the South opened my eyes to the necessity of having a filter. When it comes to having to drink out of muddy puddles, then it's time for more than just tablets.

I had tried out an MSR filter that our Boy Scout troop owns and didn't like it because it was so slow to use. Then, I went backpacking with a friend of mine who had a Katadyn Hiker filter. I loved it! It was very light. The pump action was very comfortable and the flow was fast. I also love the way it just connects to a Nalgene bottle via the hose adapter.

So, I spent a long time shopping around before I finally decided to go with the Hiker Pro. It's basically the same as the Hiker except that it has an additional screen around the filter element that permits you to service it in the field and extend the life of the main filter. If you already have a Hiker model, you can just buy the screen and you'll have the same filter.

I couldn't be happier with this filter. It's a very simple, but effective design that I feel that I can trust for any length of trip. The water that comes out of it tastes great too. I recently went on a trip that required filtering from a black spring hole. The water filter with the Hiker Pro came out crystal clear and tasted great.

I used my Hiker filter in a recent trip to the Boundary Waters and it worked flawlessly. The water was the best tasting water I have ever had through a filter. It tasted better than the bottled water that I buy. It was easy to pump and is small enough to keep in my fanny (survival) pack.

To my liberal-arts mind, the filtering ability of this pump is nothing short of a miracle; I am tempted to try a reverse Christ and turn wine into water. Dare me.

I have the Hiker, purchased a few years ago. It's essentially the same filter, just previous model. I've hiked over 200 miles with this little bad-boy. It's a little slow to pump, but I think all hand-held, lightweight filters are that way. The think I like the most is the filter is almost indestructable. I've dropped a bunch of times, and it's been thrown into my bag with no worries. HIGHLY recommended.

Only note of caution is to be sure to follow Katadyn's suggestion method of cleaning after use (which requires flush with bleach or other). If you don't do this, you risk microbies growing... which happened to me once... bad diarreah, you don't want it! So be sure to clean out the "proper" way after use.

Purchased the Katadyn Hiker PRO several weeks ago for use on the AT - Harper's Ferry to Caledonia State Park trip. The PRO quick connect feature makes the filter extremely easy to use. Pumps very fast and converted some other trip members who were using a MSR pump, which pumped much slower and required more effort. The unit pumped water from multiple sources for 5 days - no ill effects, supplied 6 people, lightweight, fast and easy to setup and breakdown. Need I say more?