Originally Posted by
Jake2c
Not a dumb question at all. Hopefully I understand what you are asking. Typical configuration is the squeeze to be attached to a bag that comes with it. You fill up the bag and roll it down squeezing the water through the filter and into your clean water container (there is an inexpensive adapter you can get at REI that allows you to send water straight to your bladder without taking out of your pack). You can attach either the full size squeeze or the mini to a bladder (inline between the bladder and mouth piece), you just have to buy some inexpensive fittings which REI sells or you can get it from sawyer on line for the full size squeeze, the mini is basically already to go inline, just need to cut your hose. There are fittings you can get to make the inline installation one that can be removed if you want to use the bladder without the filter. Just remember to clean your bladder if you do that since it will have been storing dirty water if you go that way. Ok, hopefully that makes sense and did not confuse you. To leave it permanently on a drinking bladder, I may lean towards the mini, you just have to make sure you back flush it fairly often but not a big deal. Gravity configuration means I collect water in a dirty bag (like a platypus). I put the filter inline between the dirty and clean collection point, hang the dirty bag up higher than the clean collection point, and let gravity do the work. If this ended up causing more confusion than cleaning things up please ask any specific question you have and I will try to answer better, or someone else here I am sure could.
Which Sawyer Filter?
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But, as it often happens, answers beget more questions.<br>Does the gravity set up actually work well in practice? I mean, assuming proper physics (relative height of containers), is there enough pressure from the bladder to push the water through the filter when I open the valve (squeeze the mouth piece)? I assumed that when using the Sawyer filters (either the mini or the squeeze) inline, the filtering action would primarily depend on me sucking through the mouthpiece. This seemed somewhat inconvenient in terms of getting clean water for cooking (and no, I don't think boiling water for 5 seconds is enough to kill whatever may be in it). Obviously, I could take the squeeze bag or an extra water bottle or whatnot, but I was hoping to minimize the accessories and just have the bladder as the main water container (I can use my cooking pot to fill it). So, if the whole gravity set up is a real option, then I am definitely getting a Sawyer set up (to this point i've been using a life straw, nalgene bottles, and chem treatment tabs for cooking water, but it's too bulky and annoying and clearly not the optimal system).<br>Also, if you used both the mini and the Squeeze, would you say one can get away without backflushing a Squeeze for, say, 5 weeks using relatively clear (debris-free) water? I keep reading reports that the mini clogs up all the time, but the Squeeze is relatively problem-free in that regard.<br>And speaking of backflushing, do you know if there is a way to configure it to use the squeeze bag to do it instead of the syringe? Basically, is there a way to attach the squeeze bag to the out end of the filter (my guess is not because the threads there are male, but I can't quite tell from the pictures.)<br>Again, thank you so much for the info and the help 