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  1. #1
    GAME 06
    Join Date
    10-15-2004
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    Prescott, Arizona
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    Default Swayer vs MSR real world comparison

    HI,

    Wanted to present this as it was a surprise to me and it might be of interest to others.

    My hiking partner and I just covered 400+ miles of the AZT here in Arizona. During parts of this hike one has no choice but to filter water from heavily used stock tanks (these are dirt dams in gullys which catch water and are used by the cows, elk, etc for water). Some of these tanks are VERY dirty with both the waste of the cows and the mud they churn up when walking and peeing/pooping in the water. Yikes! you say? Well... yes. But the interesting part is below.

    I carried one of the standard MSR pump filters (about 13 ozs) as I figured that the extreme filtering pumping requirements of the stock tanks absolutely required one. My hiking partner carried the regular Sawyer filtering system (a few ozs).

    In actual use sitting right next to each other it turns out that in our real world worst case conditions that the Sawyer would filter water about 50% FASTER than the MSR would. The basic reason for this is that the very fine particulates would pass right through the MSR and my bandana prefilters and hit the main filter. Thus I got 2 full pumps of water was all before the MRS relief port started ejecting water due to over pressure. I would have to take it apart and scrub, reassemble and repeat. It took me 90 mins once to filter 3 liters.

    The Sawyer on the other hand filtered a lot more water before clogging and needed to be backflushed. Thus its better performance.

    I acknowledge that in other circumstances the MSR will easily outperform the Sawyer but in really bad conditions it does not as found above. Given its weight advantage and its advantage in horrible conditions I would have to say that I now think the Sawyer best overall choice of the two for almost all long distance trips.

    Wyo

  2. #2
    Peakbagger Extraordinaire The Solemates's Avatar
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    10-30-2003
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    Appalachian Ohio
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    4,406

    Default

    just went this past weekend and used a buddy's "brand new out of the box never been used before" MSR hyperflow. I have been thinking about purchasing one of these so was glad to be able to test drive it. It was terrible. No dice for me. I'll stick with the traditional PUR/Hiker filter, sawyer filter, aquamira, or iodine depending on my trip. the hyperflow was extremely difficult to pump after about 5 liters. so much so that we were afraid we were going to break something if we kept going. we were filtering from a relatively clean lake, and held the filter off the muddy bottom. there was no mud stirred up - the lake looked pristine. so, per the manufacturer's directions we disassembled to backflush it (they recommend this every 8 liters). this was a hassle in itself, but it did alleviate it to some extent...just not back to its original form. but guess what? a few liters later...same thing. it took forever to get water. i will not be getting the MSR hyperflow.
    The only thing better than mountains, is mountains where you haven't been.

    amongnature.blogspot.com

  3. #3
    Registered User
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    11-01-2014
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    Anchorage, AK
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wyoming View Post
    . . . I acknowledge that in other circumstances the MSR will easily outperform the Sawyer . . .
    Other circumstances like what? I can't think of any examples.

    Also, you didn't mention the price difference between an MSR and Sawyer filter system.
    And, you didn't mention which MSR filter you were using.
    There are some MSR filters than include filter elements that do more than just remove particles larger than a given nominal pore size.
    I'm not lost. I'm exploring.

  4. #4
    GAME 06
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    10-15-2004
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    Prescott, Arizona
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by nsherry61 View Post
    Other circumstances like what? I can't think of any examples.

    Also, you didn't mention the price difference between an MSR and Sawyer filter system.
    And, you didn't mention which MSR filter you were using.
    There are some MSR filters than include filter elements that do more than just remove particles larger than a given nominal pore size.
    I was talking about the MSR Sweetwater microfilter.

    I don't consider cost per say a factor, just performance. My filter cost about $90 and I do not know what a Sawyer costs.

    Like I said I used a bandana and a prefilter and the above were the results.

    Where a MSR does outperform the Sawyer is when there is not the presence of the super fine particulate which caused the problems mentioned above. In those circumstances I was able to filter water far faster than my hiking companion with his Sawyer. Probably double the speed.

  5. #5
    Registered User Vegan Packer's Avatar
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    05-22-2015
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    Miami Beach, Florida
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    64
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    Default

    I have use the Hyperflow for about 14 days in the field, so far. I have had zero problems.

    I did make one modification to the unit. The floating pre-filter that comes with it had a variety of complaints that I read, all dealing with it flipping over and needing a rock to sink, so I swapped it out for the Sweetwater pre-filter. I only used the stock pre-filter on one test, so I can't really comment about that, but it has been 100 percent since the switch to the Sweetwater pre-filter.

    Here is a video of me using it on my recent trip to Enchanted Valley, in Olympic National Park. (Fast forward to 19:39 to see me using it.) It fills super fast!





    BTW, since making the video, I have decided to switch back to regular Aquafina water bottles. As much as I love the great plug and play proprietary cap from MSR that comes with the filter, the combination of that plus even the lighter Nalgene HDPE bottles was just too much weight.

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