Katadyn BeFree 1.0L Ultralight Collapsible Water Filter Bottle for Hiking, Camping, Backpacking

Excellent ultra light water filtering system. Threads on bladder/cap are different than a Smart water bottle/Platypus, so if bladder breaks you're in trouble. We typically carry a second set up on longer sections (more than 5 days) as a back up. Great flow; way better than Sawyer. In silty water, it does seem to block quicker than a Sawyer but the increased flow and sticking to clear water (if possible) makes this the filter of our choice.

Great lightweight easy to use water filter. I use this almost exclusively on hikes in the White Mountains and the AT thru Maine, NH, and Vt. Make sure you wet the filter before hiking. It filters slowly with the filter in a dry state.

You also can use for additional water storage!

I had a Kat. Pump water filter and I hated how complicated it was to use and clean. This is so dang simple and so much lighter to Carry. A great little hiking gadget especially for those who want to keep things light weight.

When you use this filter for the first time after a while, you will find the filter being painfully slow. The filter membrane has to fully soak which can take up to 30 minutes.When the membrane finally soaks, this filter is extremely fast. To avoid this, I highly reccomend "pre soaking", just put a little bit of tap water in the filter pouch, and it will be working at full speed by the time you need it! For most seasons, this is one of the best filters one can use!In the winter, this filter really struggles. Below freezing, the filter rate can be grueling, especially when starting dry. In some cases when the water begins to freeze in the bag, you cannot use this filter at all. The sawyer squeeze will outperform the katadyn in very cold temperatures.

We used these on a recent RV trip. We filtered the water from the area we were in just to be safe. The bag is small enough to stick in your day pack and take with you everywhere. I also used it to filter water into my yeti. I would squeeze a bag full into my yeti and stick that in my pack for immediate use and then filled the bag again for later. Love it.As a side note we did not filter any truly dirty water so I can't speak to that. I can say the water from our RV tanks (which can harbor viruses) and other sources like that were filtered and we were fine the whole trip.Water flow was great and there was no odd taste to the water like some filters leave.

Ditch your Sawyer and Be Free!. The large opening makes filling a breeze and MUCH better than filling a sawyer squeeze pouch or a smart water bottle. I only needed a scoop on the very shallowest of water sources. I tested this over a couple week section hike on the AT. I had a Sawyer squeeze set up for gravity feed with a CNOC bladder (My old go-to) and this Katadyn BeFree that I was deciding on. Since I was starting at Amicalola, I knew I would be at Mountain Crossing in a few days, so I left the Sawyer at home and just brought the BeFree. I figured I could replace it at Neil's Gap if it sucked. It does not suck. I could gather from 99% of water sources without scooping, and filter directly into my smart water bottles from the BeFree. The flow rate is incredible. I would be done filtering 2 liters and cameling up on the 3rd before folks with Sawyers were done filtering their first liter.The flow rate is high enough to drink directly from the BeFree if that's your style. I have tried this previously with the Sawyer filters and found it to be a less than satisfactory process. The mini has too little flow and, even when used in-line with a bladder, the flow rate is terrible and will leave you sy=ucking hard on your bite valve to just get something to drink. The Squeeze is also difficult to drink directly from for a couple reasons: You have to squeeze the bottle hard to get water into your mouth and the bottle crushes, leaving low pressure in the bottle forcing you to break the seal to allow the pressure to rebalance.Since the BeFree is collapsible, you don't have the same problem with the difference in pressure, should you choose to drink directly from it.I hike with 2 1L water bottles. I can fill 2 of these very quickly. I also usually will chug a 3rd liter at the water source AKA "Camel up", and if I knew I was going to be dry camping that night, I would fill the BeFree 1L bladder with an extra liter, so I would have extra water for cooking and in the AM. With a sawyer, you don't really have that option unless you carry an additional bladder.Bottom line: I could not recommend this more. I was a long time sawyer user, and still have them in my spare gear box for emergencies, but the BeFree, stays in my pack.

I'm a 25-year backpacker and I've always used bleach to treat my water. I've tried nearly every other method available for water treatment and for me, bleach is just so simple and available. However, I'm getting into Fastpacking and I don't want to wait the required 30-minutes for the bleach to kill everything so after a lot research, I landed on the BeFree. I've only used it on one backpacking trip and I loved it! It's so simple, lightweight, and fast flowing that I'll likely carry it on every hike from now on. It's easy to fill in a small trickling run-off and the flow rate is fantastic. I was able to easily and quickly fill my other bottles when stocking up. I'm excited to continue using the BeFree and when water is plenty along the trail, I can carry less in my backpack because as soon as I refill, I can drink instantly. So far, I highly recommend this filter and 1L soft flask system.