View Full Version : Steri Pen
gold bond
05-09-2007, 11:38
A friend of mine just bought a Steri-Pen UV water purifier. Has anyone ever used one and what is the best way to get maximum results? Likes and dislikes?
Cannibal
05-09-2007, 11:46
Get ready for hate mail! I have no idea why, but nobody seems to like or trust it. Personally, I love mine!
I've been testing it for a couple of months now and other than battery weight, I don't really have many dislikes. You do have to be careful with it! The "glass" is actually quartz or crystal (don't remember which) and if you drop it from more than about 6 feet IT WILL BREAK. That's my complaint.
The good: I get clean water in 45 seconds with no pumping or added "flavor". If you use a pre-filter (coffee filters work fine) you'll get rid of any chunks. It is far from complicated, in fact my neighbor's 4 year old helped me test it and figured it out in two trys!
As I said, they are somewhat fragile, but if you exercise just a tiny bit of common sense they are fantastic. IMO
SouthMark
05-09-2007, 12:33
I replaced my Sweetwater pump filter with the new Steri Pen Adventurer. Compact and only 6 oz. I have no complaints. I just prefilter any unclear water through a coffee filter and in 60 secs I have a liter of water ready to drink. My only complaint (and it is not really a complaint, just limitation) is that you must use a wide mouth container in order to insert the Steri Pen to the proper depth. I overcome this for my Gatoraide bottles by using a 1 liter platupus with the top cut off. Just treat in the platpus and then fill my Gatoraide bottles. Platpus works great also as a scoop in shallow water supplies.
orangebug
05-09-2007, 17:23
My daughter is taking one to India tonight. REI has sold her on the idea. I've suggested she bring some iodine anyway.
mweinstone
05-09-2007, 17:36
what do you think would happen if you used a steripen and liked it? nothing. if you like it . use it. if you hate it. pour maple syrup into it and put it in a potted plant. after 200 years it will be safe to eat.
orangebug
05-09-2007, 17:40
Bottom line, Steripen like AquaMira, PolarPure, filters, etc have been demonstrated to dramatically reduced biocontaminants when used in a laboratory environment. What actually happens in the real world is up to speculation.
muddy water. light penetration reduced. do the math. :(
http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/wpd/CompareDevices.aspx It doesn't stand up to the testing. Of course any contrary evidence is considered hate speech by some.
toddhiker
05-09-2007, 23:01
Well,
My Adventurer is easy to use (I also pour thru a coffee filter first). Haven't become sick yet! I like it.
JojoSmiley
05-10-2007, 16:28
My husband and I used it for 1000 miles on the North Country Trail in OH, PA and NY. No problems, loved it and traded our original model in for a lighter 8oz one. Being somewhat particular about my water I am more than pleased with its performance. Why use muddy water anyway? Coffee filter will take care of some of that anyway.
Battery life: The manufacturer states that on average batteries will last 50 liters, rechareable batteries will treat about 35 liters. If yo use three liters a day in 16 days you are looking for new batteries that are not easy to find and expensive, $12-$14 a pair. As mentioned the pen will not fir into small-mouthed bottles like the platypus, but it will fit wide-mouthed nalgenes, or pots. The base of the pen, not just the bulb has to enter the water.
iamscottym
05-20-2007, 12:43
I've got the first one, used it in the Shennies last fall. I liked it better than my Katadyn Hiker Pro, but the battery life is nowhere near what is advertised. I don't like carrying 2lbs in batteries, so I've switched to Aqua Mira.
Jim Adams
05-20-2007, 17:17
works GREAT. if your batteries aren't lasting long enough...steri more volume each time and then seperate it into seperate containers.
alot of municiple water systems are switching to this process because it does work and no chemicles are added to the water.
BTW if you don't know how it works, it can be slightly upsetting...it doesn't kill anything...it makes the "bugs" sterile so that they can't multiply in your system to make you sick.
been using one for about 15 months and no problems.
geek
sirbingo
05-21-2007, 10:56
it makes the "bugs" sterile so that they can't multiply in your system to make you sick.
Oh great! Now you tell me!!! :eek:
On my last thru, I did not have any room left in my pack for the steri-pen and so I resorted to carrying it in my hiking shorts! Yikes!
just kidding
;)
ofthearth
12-29-2007, 13:59
http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/wpd/CompareDevices.aspx It doesn't stand up to the testing. Of course any contrary evidence is considered hate speech by some.
Thanks for the site but could not find info on UV filters. Any suggestions?
ofthearth
Thanks for the site but could not find info on UV filters. Any suggestions?
ofthearth
When it was posted it had uv info. The site has been updated. There is UV info at that site but not on that page
http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/WPD/Disinfectants.aspx
CursedKarma
12-29-2007, 14:41
I have been using an adventurer with a solar charger for about a year now. If the water is murky then I use a coffee filter. I am by no means an ultralight backpacker. I am more like lightweight. I do like my comfort. I know some people are untrusting of this concept. Most bottled water manufacturers use this same UV treatment; any I know most of you drink store bottled water.
My two cents...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM8-7vhex54
works GREAT. if your batteries aren't lasting long enough...steri more volume each time and then seperate it into seperate containers.
alot of municiple water systems are switching to this process because it does work and no chemicles are added to the water.
BTW if you don't know how it works, it can be slightly upsetting...it doesn't kill anything...it makes the "bugs" sterile so that they can't multiply in your system to make you sick.
been using one for about 15 months and no problems.
geek
Sure, but then you're carrying all that water weight. No thanks.
85 bucks is the cheapest i have seen http://www.backcountryedge.com/steripen-adventurer.aspx?utm_source=ShoppingCom&utm_medium=cpc
Pedaling Fool
12-29-2007, 15:27
I don't know if this is true, but have heard it's possible.
STERI-PEN like devices can cause a super-bug of sorts. This is how I've heard it can happen (again don't know if true). Use of UV light to kill various living organisms is effective, unless the light source is weakened somehow or not enough time has elapsed allowing the organism to adapt by developing a way to protect itself (i.e. form a protective shell) during exposure. Much like organisms that adapt to various medications if not taken as prescribed. I know there are safe-guards designed in some of the newer models, but food for thought.
BTW, I don't treat water, drink straight from the source. Just getting my immune system ready for them superbugs:D
ARambler
12-29-2007, 15:59
How do people use coffee filters to prefilter? Fill a 1L Nalgene = 5.1 oz with water, pour through a coffee filter in a cone 2.1 oz, into another Nalgene= 5 oz, treat with steripen = 6.4 oz, pour into backup Platypus, and repeat. Pour from Platypus back into dirty Nalgene.
That's 18.7 oz compared to my hiker pro= 14.7 oz and 2 Gatorade= 3.6 or 18.3 oz. Maybe things are so close it doesn't matter much.
I just tried one holding a coffe filter on the side, and it broke after 1L. Was I unlucky?
Rambler
dessertrat
12-29-2007, 16:08
What type of batteries do they use? It seems to me that it might be the lightest and most convenient option out there besides going without, if you get the lightest one, and if you don't need to filter muddy water.
I don't have one of these doohickies (and often go without any sort of treatment for water) but it seems like the compact version would be very quick and easy to use. Filters tend to be heavy and it's pump-pump-pump for quite a while. With this, you just stick the thing in and wait a minute (or whatever it is) and you're set to go. And with purification tablets, what thirsty person wants to get to a nice running stream or spring, put drops in the water that make it taste bad, and then wait for half an hour or longer to drink it?
With this thing, it's no pumping and no ruining the taste. That sounds good to me. Maybe I'll get one.
(Then there are the complaints about it breaking. I think I would make a foam and plastic case of some sort for it if I had one).
4eyedbuzzard
12-29-2007, 16:49
I don't know if this is true, but have heard it's possible.
STERI-PEN like devices can cause a super-bug of sorts. This is how I've heard it can happen (again don't know if true). Use of UV light to kill various living organisms is effective, unless the light source is weakened somehow or not enough time has elapsed allowing the organism to adapt by developing a way to protect itself (i.e. form a protective shell) during exposure. Much like organisms that adapt to various medications if not taken as prescribed. I know there are safe-guards designed in some of the newer models, but food for thought.
BTW, I don't treat water, drink straight from the source. Just getting my immune system ready for them superbugs:D
IIRC, Organisms don't adapt by changing their genome, such as to consciously develop a protective shell in response to external stimuli. Rather, those mutations that already exist that possess a survival advantage in the changed environment(in this case high-intensity UV light) more readily survive to breed future generations. Yes, ultimately if there are such strains, they could become dominant, but only if exposure to sterlizing levels of UV light became the norm amongst the entire breeding population, which is exceedingly unlikely in water bourn pathogens over such a large geographic area.
Just like chemical treatment, UV light doesn't kill every single organism, rather it reduces the number left living and their viability, to the point where they do not cause illness in the host.
Just like chemical treatment, UV light doesn't kill every single organism...
That's the problem. If some survive the treatment and go on to reproduce... aye, there's the rub. This is exactly the same problem as with antibiotics -- and why doctors always insist that you take every last one of those antibiotic pills they've prescribed, even if your symptoms are gone before the pills run out.
dessertrat
12-29-2007, 16:59
That's the problem. If some survive the treatment and go on to reproduce... aye, there's the rub. This is exactly the same problem as with antibiotics -- and why doctors always insist that you take every last one of those antibiotic pills they've prescribed, even if your symptoms are gone before the pills run out.
While I can see this being a problem if applied on a large scale (maybe), it seems that we should be more concerned about a chlorine or iodine resistant bacteria springing up.
That's the problem. If some survive the treatment and go on to reproduce... aye, there's the rub. This is exactly the same problem as with antibiotics -- and why doctors always insist that you take every last one of those antibiotic pills they've prescribed, even if your symptoms are gone before the pills run out.
UV light does not "kill" microorganisms - it simply makes it impossible for them to reproduce, rendering them harmless to anybody that might ingest them in a drink of water
4eyedbuzzard
12-29-2007, 18:24
Just because some organisms survive does not mean they were necessarily genetically predisposed to do so, or were more resistant. Just as a mechanical device such as a filter only traps 99.9% of the organisms, so UV light only kills a certain pecentage, disables a certain percentage, etc. And, there is also both inherited and non-inherited resistance to be factored into any of these scenarios. In the case of UV sterilization, what survives is more luck of the draw than anything else, and most all of the surviving pathogens are not capable of replicating due to DNA/RNA damage, which is why you don't get sick from drinking the UV treated water - the pathogens can't successfully replicate.
I think there is room to worry about antibiotic resistant strains of pathogens. UV resistant ones? Pretty farfetched.
sheepdog
12-29-2007, 19:19
A steri pen works by killing the DNA in an organism. That is what stops it from reproducing. I used mine all this summer and had no problems. I used it on the AT and on trails in Northern Michigan were there were lot of beavers and critters that can pass on giardia. I have had no problems. I use a head lamp that also uses the 123 lithium batteries so I always have spares. Batteries are cheaper by the dozen and have a ten year shelf life. I work at a sporting goods store and the batteries are $23 a dozen. less than two bucks a piece.
I bought my SteriPen last spring and have done three hikes with it. I love it! No more pumpin' water when I'm dead tired at the end of the day. I read where several people in a group that went trekking in Nepal used them. They didn't get sick and everyone else in their group that didn't have them got very sick.
We have a Steri and love it. We haven't had any problems so far. I actually saw a program the other day where volunteers were going into places that had poor water quality and treating it with very large UV lights. I'm not sure if it was overseas or somewhere here, but I thought that was pretty cool.
4eyedbuzzard
12-30-2007, 00:17
There was a thread here recently and some data on the Steripen website that shows the regular Steripen that uses four AA lithiums is about twice as economical as the adventurer Steripen using the two 123 lithiums. Just FWIW.
ofthearth
12-30-2007, 09:36
I've got both systems and keep wondering which to carry. This forum has provided some useful info .......... so I'd like to add some more
what batteries steri pen suggests useing and I didn't see any product with smaller batteries (I did have a problem when I tried to do 3 liters at one time with alkaline batteries - had to wait) I think when people mention 3 lliters/ 16 days they must be using alkine
http://www.hydro-photon.com/batterytesting.html
and a page comparing batteries/life/price
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/electronics/batteries/
wrongway_08
12-30-2007, 10:34
I have never worried about germs in the water but what I hate is that awfull taste of unfiltered wated and bits of crap in my hot-coco!
I use a Hiker Pro filter and thats it. Water taste great, is clear and keeps my noodles from tatsing like rats ass. Steri-pen dont do that and if the water is dirty it dont work anyways.
But if you like it and carryn around two treatments to get clean water works for, do it. As long as your comfy day to day and feel safe with what your using, thats all that matters.
This link is to a product review, and the comments at the end of the review describe inexpensive sources for batteries.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/steripen_adventurer_review.html
hikermiker
12-30-2007, 19:01
I have been using a UV device for my home water for a good 20 years. It works fine. I got a Steripen & have been using it for hiking & backpacking ever since. It takes less time than chemicals. It kills all the cooties. It is breakable & must be protected, I use a big ziplock plastic container, which takes up a lot of space. Maybe awater bottle would take less space.
I am a happy camper.
Tipi Walter
12-30-2007, 19:06
How does the Steripen work at zero degrees? I almost got one recently but opted out at the last minute. Too much reliance on batteries . . . And I wonder about low temps and cold batts/cold water, etc.
dessertrat
12-30-2007, 20:30
How does the Steripen work at zero degrees? I almost got one recently but opted out at the last minute. Too much reliance on batteries . . . And I wonder about low temps and cold batts/cold water, etc.
I'm sure the batteries are less effective at zero degrees, but you can always keep it in an inside pocket when you're out in that temperature. And the water is only going to be 33 degrees, minimum, right? At that temperature, apparently it takes chlorine or iodine near forever to work, but the time for UV to work is the same.