Versa Flow Light-Weight Water Filter

I make a few trips a year back country camping with the same group of friends, and usually trade off the chore of pumping water. A typical trip involves setting up camp in one spot for several days and doing day hikes. It happened all too often that we ended up down at the stream at night with flashlights getting some water bottles filled, because we kept putting off the task. This last trip I was the champ (actually the credit goes to the HydroBlu filter); I had two three liter bladders hooked up, an orange one and a blue one, and there was always a full bag of drinking water ready for use. I looked at making up an arrangement of bags, hoses and filter, but ended up just screwing a bag to each end of the filter and hanging it from a tree branch with a carabiner. It was a simple arrangement and worked well for our situation. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RSF2WT6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I designated the orange one "dirty", so it was a quick fill from the stream, hang it up and go about my business, half an hour later (it varied from ten minutes to over an hour and time to back-flush) we had three liters of drinking water. I got in the habit of distributing the good water and hanging up a fresh batch of stream water, we always had plenty of water to drink and there was no waiting for water, so I quit watching how long it took. By the end of the third day it was time to back-flush it by lifting the clean water over the filter and giving that bag a squeeze for five seconds, then right side up and it was good as new. Now all my buddies want the same setup, it's so easy and so good. I would have saved money by buying the kit with the two bags included, in retrospect I wish I had gotten that just because of the fittings included, but I do prefer these cnoc reservoirs because they're so easy to fill. This packs up into a compact bundle that was smaller than the pumps we used to use. No moving parts and the energy required to filter water is provided by Mr. Gravity! When I got home I carefully followed instructions for back-flushing the filter and running vinegar through it and let it sit out and dry for a week before storing. Hopefully this will last a long time, it's supposed to be good for 100,000 liters of water. I'd estimate it's filtered 50 liters so far, so it's got a long way to go. I did a lot of homework before getting this, I looked at the Platypus gravity system, the Sawyer Squeeze and several others, sent to a bunch of outdoor product websites and blogs, YouTube, etc. but based on price, ease of use and ease of maintenance, I decided the HydroBlu is the one to get. Now that I've used it I feel that even more strongly.

YouTube reviews were spot on. This HydroBlu filter is comparable to the Sawyer Squeeze and Sawyer inline filters. Flow is faster, probably due to more surface area in the filter. Fills 32oz bottles in 3-4 minutes and did an excellent job overall in my recent adventure in the Adirondacks. Recommend their charcoal filter also to improve taste. Note that Smart Water bottles fit the threads but cannot be used to squeeze water through. As with all filters, make sure you backflush the filter regularly and store after back flushing with bleach water.

I've been using this filter on canoe trips deep in the back country for 6 years now. Flow is good if you make sure to back-wash it occasionally. I've never gotten sick while camping, so it seems to be doing a great job!

This was advertised as being compatible with all water bottles. The pictures in other reviews are of a Versa Flow with threads on only one end. The one I received had threads on both. That WAS a selling point, but they apparently changed the thread pitch on the newer filter. It seems to fit a Coke bottle, but not Smart Water or a Platypus hydration pack or any other cheap water pouch out there. I was bummed that it didn't fit a bottle, but it seems a bit wonky to need to turn a bottle upside down every time I need a drink, then burp the air, then ignore the sloshing. I have mixed feelings. I really wanted to save weight and simplify my water setup. The flow rate is better than both Sawyers that I have though. I guess this will just have to be an inline filter or a poor man's gravity filter. On that note, maybe someone will benefit from this tip: I made a very functional gravity filter from a Bota wine bag by popping the valve out with a butter knife, punching a hole with a hot nail, dropping a threaded piece inside the bag, and screwing a matching threaded barb on from the outside. In the picture, I used leftover pieces of the 5 dollar sawyer quick release kit. You could probably hack a soda bottle for the inside piece and thread the filter straight onto the outside for an even lighter setup. As pictured with the clean water bag, it's 5.58oz (the green cup is tared on the scale). Minus the 3L clean water bag, you're looking at 3.62oz for a FREE gravity setup. Just use a Capri Sun bag or any similar collapsible pouch with the top cut off for a scoop. If you're using a hydration bladder, I recommend the Platypus style bags similar to the one pictured with a single fill port on top, and some hardware store 1/4"ID tubing. That way you can just set your pack down, pull the bite valve out, stick the filter on (or use the 5 dollar quick connect kit)(purge the air from the line as you set all of this up, and the 3 feet of elevation will be sufficient to drain the bag faster than you can fill it.

I was using the platypus gravity works for several years while backpacking, but the filters have become extremely expensive. I've used this on multiple canoe and clbackpack trips with great success as a gravity filter with a CNOC brand bag. Definitely worth the price!

Way better than any other filter I have owned and used. I have had the Sawyer Mini, the Micro, and the full size Sawyer Squeeze. The flow rate is just as good if better than the biggest Sawyer Squeeze filter and this filter is way more solid feeling and tougher, but is also not heavy. It has bee. Thought though and is intuitive. I bought a CNOC vecto water bag and fill it easy with dirty water and let it filter straight thru and j to a smartwater bottle. It's so fast I can fill a bottle in only a few seconds. Plus it does not seem to clog easily and there are even no O-Ring on the treaded ends so you don't have to worry about losing them and having a useless filter because of the missing rings. I absolutely trust and am very happy with this filter. Best filter for solo backpackers and campers hands down. I can even say with a quick flow rate like this, several backpackers can even share this filter and be happy with quick clean water production.

I recently went on a backpacking hike and wanted a better filtration solution than the one I’ve used for another trip. This is far superior in my opinion compared to the smaller sawyer. I paired this with two 2l Vecto bags and was super happy with how easy it was to get a good amount of water filtered in such a short amount of time. It’s easy to back flush and says it can filter up to 100k gallons of water, which is crazy but I’m not complaining. This is a solid solution that doesn’t take up much space and is lightweight.

Excellent. Remember, Smartwater bottles don't fit airtight, they're ok for clean receptacles because slight airleak allows air displacement as water fills them, but they're NOT good for dirty water input, dirty water will drip down onto your clean end. But if you use a CNOC water bladder or regular thread soft plastic soda bottle for dirty water, then you've got a great gravity AND squeeze system. Threads on both ends means easy backflush without extra attachments, and output spout allows putting clean water directly through a drinking tube into a bladder, no struggles taking the bladder out of a jammed pack. Just pull the drinking mouthpiece off and put the clean end spout in the tube. If you want you can put a scrap of coffee filter over the dirty end spout and secure it with a twist tie or loop of dental floss before you screw it onto the dirty water bottle, and do a sort of a homemade pre-filter. I love these things for ultra-light hiking.