I tried out my new Sawyer Squeeze filter while hiking in the 100 mile wilderness. I only brought my 1 liter squeeze bag and the 16 ounce bag for a back up. I squeezed water several times a day for me and my nephew. The filter worked great. It was pretty quick. On day 4 of the hike, much like the reviews, the 1 liter bag sprung a leak near the top where the bag meets the hard plastic opening. Knowing this was a weakness of the filter, I had the 16 ounce bag as a back up. I honestly felt I was babying the bags a little bit up to this point. I think I must have twisted or squeezed the bag too hard resulting in the leak. I tried to use one of my Platypus bags as my "squeeze" bag, but for some reason I could not get it to seal well enough to squeeze water without leaks. (I repeated this at home and made a seal fine, so I must have cross threaded or done something wrong in the woods). OK, so to the point of my post. I emailed Sawyer and to date have not heard any response from them. I went on their site and found the link to order 3 more 1 liter bags. I believe they have made improvements to the bags. When they arrived, I inspected them, and they look and feel almost like Platypus bags. I have not field tested them, but it looks like they knew their product had a weakness and they must have addressed it. The new bags look like they may last a lot longer and be more durable. I was curious if anyone else has tried them and found this to be the case.
Lastly, when I hiked, I left the caps to the bags at home, thinking, "Why would I need a cap if I am going to be just putting the filter on the water and squeezing it into another container." Well, I would recommend bringing the caps so you can carry extra water to camp. I found between cooking at night and rehydrating, I would drink all my water, and then have to walk back to the water source in the morning to fill up for the day. Had I brought the caps, I could have filtered two liters into my platypus bags for camp, and carried two more containers of unfiltered water that I could filter in the morning for breakfast or to start hiking. It would have been more convenient and a time saver. (Stupid gram weenie! Are you kidding me, you left the caps to save weight!? Yes I did--Inner dialogue)
All in all I give the Sawer Squeeze filter thumbs up. It was much faster than Aqua Mirra, which can be a treat on a hot day when you are low on water. If the new bags are more durable, as they appear, I don't see any reason to use aqua mirra again.