Is this thing worth it or a piece of shit?

I always take one on backpacking trips, lets me conserve the clean water I have for cooking or when I'm not near a water source

>>1055050
Katadyn>Sawyer>Lifestraw

Personally, I just filter through cloth and then boil.

Its a meme that was made so the UN can hand out cheap plastic tubes to african kids and pocket the money. Fuck I hate socialism.

Weighs very little and is pretty cheap so i just chucked it in my /out/ bag, not going to use it unless I must.

>>1055050
I've used and cannot confirm that they work great.

>>1055050
Literally the worst piece of garbage ever made do not even bother. Please.

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I was given one of these as a Christmas gift. It came very much handy my last outing.
I'm not really interested in getting on my hands and knees to drink out of a puddle when I can just scoop a bottle full and be on my way.

>>1055050

It's good enough for what it is.

Emergency use of unfiltered water.

It's good to have one in your pack, or a similar tool.

>>1055052
>or when I'm not near a water source
How do you use one of these when you're not near a water soruce?

>>1055050
>drinking straight from the source instead of putting it into a cup, waiting for any sediment to settle then using it to drink from the cup

So, they just want people to replace the filter all the time.

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>>1055307
>he goes hiking where the water sources have sediment in them

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I have used pic related for about 8 years now. I do not filter the water, and I do not boil it. I just scoop it directly from the water source into my bottle, add the drops, let the activated water flow onto the bottle's threads, wait a little bit before drinking, and that's it.

I picked up one of those Sawyer mini filters recently, which is just a life-straw type thing with threads that will fit some water bottles, intending to have it supplement my Aqua Mira system, but I just haven't used it. The issue I have is that it's hard to get the filter completely dry by night time, and if the temps fall below freezing, there's a possibility of the ice crystals damaging the water filter. Plus, it's just heavier when it's wet. The manufacturer includes a big plastic syringe that you could probably use for enemas, as a way to flush the water out of the filter, but that's more bulk in my backpack.

>>1055050

The Sawyer mini can be used this way, plus as a conventional filter. I don't really see the point, even if you want redundancy.

>>1055307

In a world with coffee filters and rubber bands, I don't see how this is a problem.

>>1055050
Its fine but get a fucking bowl or something instead of sucking water directly out of a pond like a dumb ass.

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>>1055358
>instead of sucking water directly out of a pond like a dumb ass.
Not an issue in certain terrain.

>>1055304
He means he takes clean water with him, and drinks from local sources when he has a chance so he doesn't go through the clean water he brought with him as fast so it's still available when there aren't any local sources.

>>1055310
>>1055362
You always let the water rest and sediment settle. There's always sediment even if you can't see it. Though, get your eyes checked since both images have obvious sediment floating in the water.

>>1055358

The straw is because sometimes your only option is a water seep. That trickle isn't enough to put in a bowl or whatever.

If things are that dire you probably already made a lot of mistakes leading up to it. But it does happen.

>>1055050
>clean drinking water anywhere
>if you're directly by a body of water and don't need to take some of that water with you away from the immediate area of said body of water

>>1055059
Congratulations, this is officially the dumbest post I've read today.

>>1055372
>Though, get your eyes checked since both images have obvious sediment floating in the water.
Give me a fucking break, dude.

>>1055382
Why is it dumb? Use your words.

>>1055127
i like the bottle idea. how baout you just scoop up with a regular bottle and drink from that through the lifestraw....

you know... like EVERYONE ELSE

>>1055059
/pol/ is leaking again. go back your circle jerk safe space kid.

>>1055388
Because lifestraw is not socialism. Socialism is a governmental system, lifestraw is made by a private capitalist company in Switzerland, not a governmental agency. The United Nations does not hand out lifestraws, but many NGOs do. NGO=Non-Governmental Organizations.

If anon wants to hate lifestraw because it's developed a product to try and help black people and he's a cowardly little edgelord who hates dem niggers he can do that, that's his right.

But to trot out the "muh socialist agenda!" that is the rallying cry of intellectual lazy neo-conservative manchildren when it's a private enterprise working with non-profits just demonstrates how anon would be better off either learning what words actually mean and applying them correctly in a sentence or just putting his head in the toilet and keeping it there until the bubbles stop.

>>1055321
This. Sawyer is better.

Can be cleaned
Filters more water
And you can use it with any pet bottle.

>>1055387
You can tell by the water color tinting things in the water. A pure mountain stream looks like glass, but without any tint. It even disguises how deep a stream pool can be. Yet, it will still have sediment that your filter will clog up with faster if you don't settle it out.

>>1055420
He didn't say that the LifeStraw is socialism. Can't you fucking read? He said that the LifeStraw is a meme, and he incidentally hates socialism. There are two complete thoughts there. Is your brain capable of processing more than one idea at a time?

>lifestraw is made by a private capitalist company in Switzerland, not a governmental agency. The United Nations does not hand out lifestraws, but many NGOs do. NGO=Non-Governmental Organizations.
A result from the first page of Google's search results indicates that the UN is involved in these activities.
http://montessori-mun.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/UNEP.pdf

>If anon wants to hate lifestraw because it's [hurrdurr strawman]
He hates it because it's subsidized by people who don't have the modern outdoor recreationist's best interests in mind, and therefore the developers of the product don't really have much motivation to ensure that it will fit the demands of what we do on /out/. For example, I mentioned earlier in the thread that when these kinds of filters are waterlogged, the ice crystals can damage them. The filter also can not remove viruses. Now, if the company gets most of their money from contracts to build handouts for Africans, then why would they care about providing features that outdoor recreationists want? What's happening here is that the government (or a government-like entity) is getting involved in the economy and essentially "breaking" how the free market functions. It's characteristic of, and reason enough to pick a bone with, socialism.

>But to trot out the "muh socialist agenda!" that is the rallying cry of intellectual lazy neo-conservative manchildren when it's a private enterprise working with non-profits just demonstrates how anon would be better off either learning what words actually mean and applying them correctly...
This is coming from the person who makes posts like "Congratulations, this is officially the dumbest post I've read today." Lol, you're a hypocrite.

>>1055427

There are dissolved minerals in most water that can change the tint to blue. That doesn't mean there is "obvious sediment floating in the water" in those images. In the second image, I can tell you positively that the water is blurred from a long exposure and you couldn't tell if it was muddy or not, even with your glasses on, which you clearly aren't wearing. I can also tell you positively that water gathered from similar sources will not taste any different if you let it sit for hours or drink it immediately. It won't appear to have any sediment settle out at the bottom either. I can only assume that you have never drank water you collected from a natural source, or at least a source that you could see to the bottom of.

>>1055436
This is some pretty impressive mental gymnastics to defend a post by a moron.

He implied that the UN distributing lifestraws was socialism, not that he incidentally hates socialism in a throw away non-sequitor.

He was wrong and he got called out for it, Mr. White Knight.

>>1055442
>This is some pretty impressive mental gymnastics to defend a post by a moron.
Not an argument.

>He implied that the UN distributing lifestraws was socialism, not that he incidentally hates socialism in a throw away non-sequitor.
See now you've changed your story. To quote you exactly: >>1055420
>Because lifestraw is not socialism.
Now you're saying "distributing lifestraws" instead of just LifeStraws. Which is it? Do you understand the difference? If so, explain it in three sentences or less.

>He was wrong and he got called out for it, Mr. White Knight.
He wasn't wrong about what he asserted from what I've found. The UN *is* involved. Did you read my post?

>>1055445
Lifestraw is not socialism, the UN and other NGOs distributing lifestraws is also not socialism.
Anon is wrong, no matter how you try to spin it. I'm not saying he has to like it, I'm saying he should learn to criticize intelligently and to use words properly.

>>1055451
>a governmental agency getting involved in the economy isn't socialism
You don't understand what socialism is.

>>1055059
Why do you people shitpost about politics in every fucking board

>>1055467
When you get old enough to grow body hair, you might understand.

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Another thread about an important topic ruined by inbreds arguing about politics. God, the happening can't happen soon enough.

>>1055376
>what is boiling
>what are bottles

>>1055470
>she thinks politics aren't important
I guess you wouldn't mind living in a country where you had to rely on lifestraws just to avoid getting sick from your drinking water? I mean if politics don't matter, then why not just swap out the politicians and policies of your country for the politicians and policies of the Congo?

>>1055469
Just fuck off already retard, you have an entire board for this shit, just let us talk about the outdoors for fuck's sake

>>1055479
You're the one >>1055382 who chose to make it an issue.

>>1055483
No im not, im not even that guy
Plus the guy who started it which I assume is you is the one who started bitching about socialism for no reason

>>1055484
>No im not, im not even that guy
That doesn't make it any better. You are still pressing the issue. I have only responded when challenged.

>>1055467
Because we get (you)s from trigger happy retards like yourself.

>>1055401
Thats not easy to do while walking and less convenient all around, considering I don't use wide mouth bottles.
Plus I got it as a gift, so shovel your shit somewhere else.

Can this thing filter out parasites and shit like beaver fever.

>>1055494
Yes, but I wouldn't trust one that had been exposed to freezing temperatures.

>>1055420
thank you for calling out the retards.

>>1055457
almost every governmental agency is involved somehow in the economy. I bet you drool when you try to form a thought.

>>1055526
Yes, because our government has highly socialist tendencies. Did I ever claim that America, or any country, was libertarian? Do you understand that you're only making the case that there's a problem with the government having its hands in too many things?

>>1055525
>I can't refute his arguments, so I'll just give karma/gold/thumbs ups to this other person who picked a fight with him
>that'll show him!

>>1055442
How don't you understand how a government organization buying a widget regardless of the widget's ability to perform a function properly is a symptom of socialist policies and why central planning is retarded.

I'm sure the africans would like lifestraws to have replaceable V/B filters and the ability to filter more than fucking mouth loads of water for cooking, but the UN/charities needing a bullshit feelgood widget to spend that 4% of their budget that actually goes to (((aid))) buying them regardless and walmart buying your overruns to sell to idiots making bugout bags gives the maker very little reason to do anything to improve when the money is assured.

>>1055050
pretty shit. use it once and it essentially becomes a petri dish. at least it clogs up with mold and won't filter water when it hasn't been cleared properly so it won't kill you.

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>>1055382

It's dumb because it's artificially allowing genetic dead-ends that would have perished continue to be a drain on everyone else, while stealing 98% the charity $$ as "administrative" costs.

>>1055467
>why does politics permeate every aspect of life
Jesus this board is 18+ kid

>>1055059
This is correct. Other water cleaning solutions are significantly better but this one gets good PR so there you have it.

>>1055382
>>1055404
>>1055467

Douchebags who want to bitch and moan because somebody has an opinion they disagree with. The thread is about these meme straws, and the fact is they only exist for political reasons, so the thread is going to end up political in nature. Try not to get your butt too hurtied about it.

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>>1055059
Wew I'm going to do that too. Create something "green" to peddle to those niggers.

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>>1055059
Absolutely correct statement disguised as a retard trumpian bitching about socialism.
This is one top tier (you) getter you got there anon.

>>1055584
>retard Trumpian

Time to go the fuck back to R E D D I T, fuccboi.

>>1055590
Just as soon as you do, t_d queer

quick question,

living in germany, I'm fine drinking lake and river water , right ?

>>1055620
not unless it's filered, boiled, or both anon

probably no risk of viruses (unless it's contaminated with sewerage or it's a refugee toilet) but there's pretty much always a risk of bacteria

>>1055626

damn.

is bleach an option ?

>>1055627
i've read about the "drop of chlorine bleach" approach but i'm not too sure what the scientific verdict on that is. they sell tablets as well, but i'd do some proper research on that stuff

>>1055630

seems like I really have to read up on that stuff.

>>1055427
some mineral sources are clean as fuck and blue as shit. I drink form them all the time. Here in brazil there are lots of mineral water sourced little
streams

>>1055059
Good job sir. You are correct.

People aren't aware that socialism is not just an economic system but also a social policy. Social marxism is the bane of the world and a core concept of socialism.

>>1055050
It IS worth it.....small.....cheap.....light....proven.

I would use it as a backup though in case your Katadyn one drops or a bear steals it.

>>1055529
>the only alternative to socialism is my retard ancap utopia

>giving lifestraws to African children is better then doing jack shit like I would because Life straws aren't perfect

just stop

>>1056018
Strawmans are easy to construct, huh? They don't make you sound too smart, though. Something to keep in mind next time you try to reply to me with one.

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>>1055310
if i didnt have a straw (i dont)
and had to choose between standing water, or some sediment river,
i'd choose the rushing water.

>>1056021
"muh strawman" explain to me how you retarded statements didn't imply what I wrote instead of throwing around buzzwords for once.

>>1056057
Strawman isn't a buzzword. It's a description for why your fallacious argument is disingenuous and not worth responding to. You paraphrased my post with the clause "the only alternative to socialism is...." but I didn't say anything in my post about there being only one alternative to socialism.

You described in >>1055526 a situation involving socialist policies to some degree. I countered in >>1055529 by pointing out that there are degrees of socialism in most/all western governments. I gave an example of a kind of political ideology that wouldn't have any socialist tendencies, libertarianism. You then, in >>1056018, conflated libertarianism with anarcho-capitalism, which it is not, but doing so simplified my argument to the point where it was easier for someone with a low IQ to "defeat" it. That is the definition of a strawman.

FUCK OFF TO /pol/ IF YOU WANT TO ARGUE ABOUT THIS SHIT

Please continue the political discussion here >>>/pol/133058404
>>>/pol/133058404
and leave the thread in peace

>>1056186
Fuck off, mini mod.

>>1055404
Found the nigger

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>Got into this thread expecting to learn a bit more about the practicality of water-filters like the lifestraw.
>3 comments in and /pol/ has already turned this into politics spewing that lifestraw is somehow a bi-product of socialism. Fuck man.

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>>1055059
/thread

>>1055382
>Congratulations, this is officially the dumbest post I've read today.
Lifestraw is a result of an insane idea. Keeping people alive one day more but not giving them any means to survive on their own.

Building clean water wells and giving them gardening tools is great, but a Lifestraw will not last forever. What happens when a poor African child has been drinking through Lifestraw a couple of months/years and it gets clogged up?

Foreign aid has caused population to explode and things like Lifestraw are keeping this population alive and growing exponentially. Yet people are dying and suffering just like before, just more people. Keeping one person alive only causes some other person to die. Too many people, get it?

One day the foreign aid will stop. It will stop because of politics, war, depression, pandemia whatever. All these 'extra' people are going to die in civil wars and unrest never seen before in human history. The population will return to the level it was before foreign aid in the 1950's. All these other people will die. How is this 'humane'?

Foreign aid is one of the greatest crimes committed by the man. It causes overpopulation and ovepopulated countries can't develope. Foreign aid was invented to ensure Africa stays poor and undeveloped, and of course to benefit those involved in the business.

>Sorry about the rant, back to the topic.
I have a lifestraw but it's for emergencies only. It was cheap and it can useful in a pinch. I don't really care about politics.

>>1056021
>>1056057
it's not strawman, it's lifestrawman :^)

>>1055542
LMAO it's like I'm reading a sociopath's tumblr

>>1056502
their containment board isn't big enough

>>1056532
Thank you for the redpill. I needed this.

>>1055436
anon on suicide watch

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>>1055631
It's very scientifically sound, in fact, every major city in the world uses chlorine to purify tap water.

That said, I use a sawyer.

>>1055620
>living in germany, I'm fine drinking lake and river water , right ?
Well, we have good health care and nothing really dangerous, so there likely won't be anything worse than 4 days of extensive puking and shitting happening, so go for it!
On a more serious note:
We do have some lakes, streams and springs that you can easily drink (also, see below), but it's hard to know that just from looking at them.
Generally: if it's downstream of agriculture or population, it's probably not good (so, that's about 99% of Germany).
And even your pristine forrest stream might have a dead fox in it a few meters away from your position or some deer or fellow asshole hiker shat in it.
If you are directly at a (mountain) spring, you'll probably be safe, but even then, if you have a "civilized" stomach, you might still get irritated.
Personally, I'm also trying to get /out/ more (moved to the Alps recently, and wan't to get to some climbs that are not close to a DAV hut), and it seems like a filter is a really good idea.
The /out/-approved sawyer seems like a nice and cheap option, but there is a lot of internet-drama around fakes, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

>>1058183
>in fact, every major city in the world uses chlorine to purify tap water.
Unless you are one of those
>there are no major cities in Germany
folks, this is not true.
In most cases we only use chlorine as an emergency measure if something went wrong, or in a few shitty places with rotten infrastructure, but according to a quick wiki lookup (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorung) that now also might be illegal.
Most German tap water has seen only a very limited filtration (mostly the removal of sediment and iron), though we now also are running into issues with "emerging contaminats" (flame retardand from technical devices, fungicides from building insulation, pharmceuticals, to name a few) that do not get filtered out by the passage through an aquifer, so this might change.

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>>1056885

>>1055127
I remember the first time I posted some /out/ pictures I took on facebook some girl I talk to insisted of coming with me and when we was out I walked over to some dirty looking pond and just scooped it up into my bottle and started drinking she panicked like fuck until I explain it has a filter

What the deal with these straws? Do they somehow filter bacteria/parasites? Could you use one on sea water?

>>1058885
everything this anon says is true

>>1059137
Yes they filter bacteria/parasites/microbes and that's basically all they do. If the water is somehow toxic or tastes like shit the filter won't help.

>>1059140
That's a shame. I'd like to have a small filter for sea water.

>>1055055
This is correct. I'm waiting to find a Katadyn pump for under $50 for car camping in the National Forest.

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>>1058885

Wow, this /pol/ really shit this thread up...too bad, kind of seems like an important /out/ topic. Anyways, I believe the lifestraw is pretty capable of filtering out almost all bacteria and shit, it cannot filter out viruses though. I think I remember reading that water born viruses are not really present in US waterways, so technically that shouldn't be an issue if the thing performs like it says it does. I have a couple of their straws, but I have never actually used them...Hopefully this thread can get back on track and people can leave the fucking politics on pol where it belongs.

>>1059137
>What the deal with these straws? Do they somehow filter bacteria/parasites?
Yes, though there are a few things (viruses and I think some very special bacteria) that are too small and will pass through.
>Could you use one on sea water?
Nope.
>>1059143
>I'd like to have a small filter for sea water.
"filtering" sea water does not really work. The salt in it is not really just some small "pieces" of salt that you can filter out, but the salt (NaCl) is actually dissolved in the water as Na+ and Cl- molecules.
This makes desalination very difficult and thus (energy) expensive. Either boiling and condensing, or reverse osmosis wich needs high pressure.
But there are hobbyist sized systems available for small boats I think.

>>1058885
>>1059326
I find both of these equally kekable

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>>1055473
What are bottles??

>>1059326
Lol. The "regular" discussion on this board really is such garbage.
>i want to buy land, but i'm not aware of the concept of a real estate agent. pls help!
>i want to live in a van, explain to me how i can do this, btw i only make about $400 a month working at subway
>smoking pipes is /out/ because i said it is
>beard grooming is /out/ because i said it is
>trespassing in abandoned properties is somehow the same as connecting with nature in the mountains
>let's troll each other about batonning wood (262 posts 91 image replies)
>i just bought this $22 backpack from amazon, should i have bought it?
>recommend me a sleeping bag, but $100 is the upper limit of how much of my allowance i'm allowed to spend on it
>>he doesn't shit in the river
>what kind of bug is this
>what kind of snake is this
>i was in the outdoors when my gf said she wasn't having fun, what did i do wrong

These are the same subhumans who scream "/pol/ git out!!!" when someone breaks their delusions about the outdoor gear market being totally free from UN meddling.

>>1059716
But at least those discussions are harmless and at least somewhat out related and don't try to drag everyone else on their level. also, they stick with their containment threads.
I have never had anyone annoying me with
>Hurrr… smoke a pipe!!!! Fuck talking about tents, I want to talk about pipes in this tent-thread!!!!
Injecting pol shit into unrelated threads however…

>>1059722
>having a containment thread makes it ok
I think you just need to grow up

>>1059722
Maybe stop taking the bait then you retard.

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>>1059722
>unrelated threads
Everything is related to politics.

>at least those discussions are harmless
Is it somehow damaging to find out this equipment was not designed for hikers?

When some /out/ gear manufacturer uses child labor, should that also be dicussed only on /pol/? A chinese sweat shop is the opposite of /out/ and there's no board that particularly cares about chinese kids working 16 hours a day, other than /pol/ and people like you are never there.

>>1059731
The way you confront people, and the way pol posters act in general, turns people right the hell off. You really don't know Jack about politics if you don't understand that how information is communicated is just as important as the information if you want to be heard. But hey, this seems more like an ego thing for you.

Dumdum.

i got one to add to my gear. would never use it unless i absolutely had too. i saw survivor man drink out of some real rancid shit with them.

Is Lifestraw against Echinococcus?