Backpacking Water Filter Awards Announced by OutdoorGearLab.com

Sept. 7, 2012 - PRLog -- CHEYENNE, WY – OutdoorGearLab.com announced today the results of its 2012 Editors’ Choice awards for backpacking water filters. Fifteen top filters and purification systems were compared in extensive side-by side Testing. The systems were evaluated in the following categories: reliability, weight, treating larger volumes, time before drinking, ease of use, and taste.

The testing involved a year of backpacking and camping around the Sierra Nevada and the desert Southwest. View the complete backpacking water filter reviews http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacking-Water-Filter-Reviews

The winners:
Platypus GravityWorks http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacking-Water-Filter-Reviews/Platypus-GravityWorks-Water-Filter  – Winner of the Editors’ Choice award for 2012. According to Gear Editor McKenzie Long, "After some surprising results in our tests, the Platypus GravityWorks took the lead in our comparison, winning the Editors' Choice award. We initially thought this system would be bulky and time-consuming, but the opposite was true. In fact, this is the fastest system for filtering water, particularly large quantities, is one of our lightest filter systems, and requires little to no maintenance.”

Sawyer Squeeze http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacking-Water-Filter-Re...  – Winner of the Best Buy award for 2012. This award is given to a product that balances a high score in our tests and a reasonable price. According to Long, “The Sawyer Squeeze is an innovative water filter that differs from the typical pump models. Rather than pumping water through hoses like most other filters, the Squeeze is a compact filter that screws right on to a small mouth bottle and allows you to drink right through it, giving it one of the fastest treatment times of any option we evaluated."

MSR Sweetwater  http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacking-Water-Filter-Re...  – Winner of a Top Pick award for 2012. This award goes to a product that is the best at a specific application. In this case, the Sweetwater was the top pump filter. According to Gear Editor Long, " A dependable and popular water filter with average weight and pump speed, the MSR Sweetwater Microfilter is easy to use, has a comfortable leveraged pumping handle, and is effective against bacteria and protozoa, but not viruses. The Sweetwater provides excellent value, dependability, and ease of use for the price, and can treat as much or as little water as needed, which is why it wins our Top Pick award."

Aquamira Water Treatment Drops http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacking-Water-Filter-Re... - Winner of a Top Pick award for 2012. According to Long, chlorine dioxide treatments like the Aquamira Water Treatment Drops are the lightest and smallest water treatment method, making this system perfect for an emergency water treatment method or for weight-conscious hikers. We considered giving this treatment method a Best Buy award because it is so economical, but overall it is such an effective and simple method that we decided it was worthy of our Top Pick award for being light AND inexpensive."