Backpacker: Why Hasn’t Anyone Come Up with a Better Water Filter Design?
Backpacker: Why Hasn’t Anyone Come Up with a Better Water Filter Design?
YouTube video highlight
A confluence of form factors, tech, and knock-offs have led to a muddled market for one of the most important pieces of gear a hiker will ever own.
Read more about the projectBackpacker: Why Hasn’t Anyone Come Up with a Better Water Filter Design?
Why Hasn’t Anyone Come Up with a Better Water Filter Design?
If you’ve gone shopping for a new water filter recently, you know that trying to differentiate between the various options isn’t an easy task. The market is saturated with straw-style filters—lightweight tubes that look like they’re jammed full of vermicelli noodles and meant for squeezing or sucking water through. They come in slightly different colors and lengths, but fundamentally, they’re all the same: hollow fiber filters that use thousands of hair-width tubes covered in microscopic pores to strain out bacteria and sediment.
Ten years ago, it was easier to differentiate between gizmos. There was no mistaking a ceramic pump filter with a UV pen. Straw filters were the minority, with Lifestraw and Sawyer making the two dominant versions. Not only do today’s most reputable brands make very similar water filters, but the market for copycat water filters is rampant on websites like Amazon, where you can find dozens of Lifestraw knock-offs for cheap.
Why Hasn’t Anyone Come Up with a Better Water Filter Design?
If you’ve gone shopping for a new water filter recently, you know that trying to differentiate between the various options isn’t an easy task. The market is saturated with straw-style filters—lightweight tubes that look like they’re jammed full of vermicelli noodles and meant for squeezing or sucking water through. They come in slightly different colors and lengths, but fundamentally, they’re all the same: hollow fiber filters that use thousands of hair-width tubes covered in microscopic pores to strain out bacteria and sediment.
Ten years ago, it was easier to differentiate between gizmos. There was no mistaking a ceramic pump filter with a UV pen. Straw filters were the minority, with Lifestraw and Sawyer making the two dominant versions. Not only do today’s most reputable brands make very similar water filters, but the market for copycat water filters is rampant on websites like Amazon, where you can find dozens of Lifestraw knock-offs for cheap.
Why Hasn’t Anyone Come Up with a Better Water Filter Design?
If you’ve gone shopping for a new water filter recently, you know that trying to differentiate between the various options isn’t an easy task. The market is saturated with straw-style filters—lightweight tubes that look like they’re jammed full of vermicelli noodles and meant for squeezing or sucking water through. They come in slightly different colors and lengths, but fundamentally, they’re all the same: hollow fiber filters that use thousands of hair-width tubes covered in microscopic pores to strain out bacteria and sediment.
Ten years ago, it was easier to differentiate between gizmos. There was no mistaking a ceramic pump filter with a UV pen. Straw filters were the minority, with Lifestraw and Sawyer making the two dominant versions. Not only do today’s most reputable brands make very similar water filters, but the market for copycat water filters is rampant on websites like Amazon, where you can find dozens of Lifestraw knock-offs for cheap.
Recent articles
Other categories
You might also like
メディア
An investment helps provide years of safe drinking water for entire families and schools.
メディア
You spray [permethrin] on your clothes and gear and it turns them into a barrier bugs don't want to cross.
メディア
The Smartwater bottle’s small opening allows you to screw on filters, such as those from Sawyer.
Built for the Outdoors
see ALL PRODUCTS
インスタグラムをフォローする
アウトドア企業以上の存在
From the trail
アンバサダーをご紹介します。アンバサダーはトレイルのエキスパートで、パタゴニア製品の耐久性を高く評価し、次なる冒険のストーリーで私たちを楽しませてくれます。
meet our ambassadors
