LifeStraw Family 1.0 Water Purifier - opinions

[caseyc]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FM9OBQS/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Anyone have opinions on this water purifier? I have the smaller LifeStraw product, and now noticed they also have this larger model.

I would consider myself an amateur "prepper". Nothing radical, but would like to be prepared for small natural disasters that might go on for a number of weeks.

I figure clean drinking water is always high on the priority list. I also have some various water purifier tablets. I hope to never have to use this stuff. Buuuuuuut, ya never know.

 

[Unchained]

No personal experience with that model, but I'd buy it if I had the extra $$. I already have the smaller one in my bag.
Tell you what- buy it, have them send it to me and I'll test it for ya. :angel:

Good on you for thinking ahead, though. A friend of mine's Mom won't even keep an extra few gallons of water, because 'Nothing bad ever happens here.'

 

[caseyc]

Have you ever tried the smaller LifeStraw model? I have one, but I'm keeping it new in the same enclosed plastic waiting for the inevitable apocalypse!

 

[Unchained]

Haven't needed it yet. Since I have Amazon Prime, I may get another for testing purposes.

 

[Willy]

Well, I already have the Sawyer (just in case).. how many water purifiers does one need? If I'd known about the Lifestraw Family I most likely woulda bought it, though it doesn't filter the same amount of water. ..Willy.

 

[caseyc]

Silly question: can you use these purifiers for ocean water to make into drinking water?? I'm guessing not.

 

[Lostinspace]

Ya need desalination machines. They run in the 3500$ range for a small one. But it makes a lot of water. Grat for boats in the islands.

 

[Duck]

Ya need desalination machines. They run in the 3500$ range for a small one. But it makes a lot of water. Grat for boats in the islands.

Manual ones are available used for 400$ ish. The size up from the smallest is the one to get, looks like a large tube. Expect 400+ 400-500$
To get it serviced.
12v ones are available too using the same membrane output is low but enough to live on and shower occasionally
For decent output closer to 10k is more likely (spectra, village etc). Diy is possible too but still requires a few thousand.

Not a fan of life straw drinking straws. Prefer saving for a miox pen or decent filter. One of the more interesting was a katadyn that had nearly double the output of the msr ones. It was great until i needed spare parts. Then the msr would have been nice, never did get the special seals i needed. Msr has good spare availably. Better than nothing though of course. That filter is interesting. There are good gravity filters if you aren't moving a lot.

 

[Unchained]

Silly question: can you use these purifiers for ocean water to make into drinking water?? I'm guessing not.

Good guess, cause the answer is a rather resounding 'no'.

If you need to make ocean water into drinking water without special equipment (ie in a disaster situation), distillation is pretty much the way to go. As with everything, it is a trade off, because distilling takes a lot of fuel. That said, drinking water isn't optional, and the more ways you know to make available water safe for drinking, the better off you are.

 

[Willy]

But.. you can COOK with seawater! ..Willy.

 

[thebiggestfan]

The LifeStraw Family is a great water filter! I bought it two weeks ago from Amazon and received it a couple of days ago.

Very happy with the filter. Very easy to set up and the flow rate is great! They say that it filters 4755 gals of water, so if I am using it daily, it would be close to 5 years before the filter reaches capacity. (We are a family of 3)

It's also great to know that my purchase is helping children in Kenya. (Their donation model is that every LifeStraw product sold, one school child in Kenya gets clean drinking water for an entire school year).

I'll keep you posted if I come across any problems with the water filter.

 

[MrNoodly]

Will you be going places where potable water is hard to get?

I ask, because I think in this van dwelling life it's possible to overprepare. We can end up carrying around stuff we never use. In my first three months I got rid of about two cubic feet of things I used to think were essential. Unless you're going to do a McCandless and try to live in the wilderness, or unless you're anxious about the imminent collapse of infrastructure, I'd suggest starting with the bare minimum and adding things as the need arises.

Some people are just into gear and gadgets. But that stuff takes up room. Next thing you know you're towing a 12' utility trailer of cool stuff you never use.

 

[Willy]

Some people are just into gear and gadgets. But that stuff takes up room. Next thing you know you're towing a 12' utility trailer of cool stuff you never use.

HEYYY! I resemble that comment! ..Willy.

 

[Unchained]

Will you be going places where potable water is hard to get?

I ask, because I think in this van dwelling life it's possible to overprepare.

While I get your point, I think that a good water filter is one of, if not the most critical piece of kit anyone can own, be it for vandwelling or sticks and bricks. Pick a natural disaster- storm, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, wildfire or what have you, and local water sources can become contaminated. As I said in the the 'prepper' thread, things change FAST when the lights go out.

People can survive for weeks without food, but going even a few days without potable water isn't an option.

 

[caseyc]

I haven't ordered the "family model" yet. I read online that this product is sometimes on sale, but it's not currently. I will wait a bit to see if another sale comes on before making a buying decision. Geez, I just recently spent many hundreds at REI sports on all kinds of "prepping" gear. Must stop spending!

I agree with others that water is CRITICAL in the event of a natural disaster, or even an extended bug out situation. You simply cannot store enough water in your vehicle or home because of the weight and space requirement needed. Hence the next best thing is to have enough water filtration products to make potentially contaminated water safe for drinking.

Think about this. How many times have you seen the local news of natural disasters (including power outages) whereby supermarkets are broken into and looted? Guess what is gone first? Water, food, batteries and flashlights!! I don't have to worry about flashlights and batteries, because I have plenty of this stuff. But I need to stock up on at least a couple weeks worth of water and emergency MRE foods.

I recently bought a few of the 5 serving Mountain Home (MRE) foods at REI sports. Each packet costs something like $14. I got a variety of flavors such as Beef Stew, Beef & Lasagna, etc. I have plenty of Coleman 1 pound propane cans and stoves for heating up the food, just need to add some hot water.

I would have gotten the large bucket full of Mountain Home packets, but I don't have enough room for the large container, and I don't want to break up the packets individually which will lose some of its shelf life longevity. I think each packet has a shelf life of something like 10 to 25 years, depending on storage conditions.

 

[Willy]

A lot also depends on where you live. Here, in B.C., water is plentiful with tons of streams, in the backwoods, flowing cool 'n clean water. Haven't yet had to use a water filter, and I've been on the road in the boonies for something like 28 yrs now; still got a filter tho, cuz ya never know. ..Willy.

 

[MrNoodly]

Pick a natural disaster- storm, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, wildfire or what have you, and local water sources can become contaminated. As I said in the the 'prepper' thread, things change FAST when the lights go out.

People can survive for weeks without food, but going even a few days without potable water isn't an option.

But one of the big benefits of van/RV living is that we can either leave before disasters hit or go to where the situation is normal.

 

[Unchained]

I live in California, and earthquakes don't tend to give advanced notice

 

[MrNoodly]

I lived in CA for 20 years. I know how quakes are. (I was around for the 1989 World Series quake, among others.) The infrastructure damage is usually rather localized. Unless you're someplace with only one road, and it gets damaged, there's always a way to get to a nearby place that isn't damaged. Damage from quakes are a major problem if you're in a house/apartment and want/need to stay there. We don't need to. We can take our possessions and living space somewhere else. ANYwhere else. If you need to stay in the area because of a job, then chances are the job is messed up, too, so there will be no job to go to for a while. And if the job isn't damaged and it's business as usual, then good for you, you have a place to get water.

 

[SternWake]

Approximately 180 moons ago, I was preparing for a year long trip around the globe.

For some reason I thought I needed to carry a water filter. Back then a hand pump ceramic filter was top of the line.

I made sure to use it, just to have justified having carried it around. It did not save me the price in bottled water I would have bought had I Not had it with me, but we as Humans Must justify our expenditures, whether they be time or money.

I last used the filter back in '03, and I was aggressively cycling the pump's handle when some park rangers ambled by, asked me some basic questions about my preparedness about camping in bear country, and began to drink directly from the stream I was filtering water from.

Now the filter resides in my storage unit. Extra filter cartridge and all, and the technology of it is long since past.
But I have one!

Just not with me.