Personal Water Filter for Camping/Hiking/Surviving [Review]

Every year, I go through a period of updating and supplementing my emergency preparedness kits. While I have had a kit in my car for a couple of years, I needed to add a bag for my toddler and add a bag to my husband's car. I also went through our 72 hour kit and added some necessary emergency items. One of the most important items in an emergency is having clean water. While you can store as much potable drinking water as your house will allow, having potable water while you are on the go is a different story. This is where water filters come in. A personal water filter is a pocket sized water filtration device that filters up to 1,500 liters of contaminated water without any added taste or chemicals.

Life Defender Water Filter       

Rating: total green check marks out of 5.

The Good	The Not So Good
Ultra light, pocket sized, no moving parts	Plastic body could break during a fall
High waterborne bacteria/protozoa removal rate	Instructions contain grammar mistakes

The Life Defender Water Filter is a small, pocket sized personal water filter that you can take with you on-the-go or slip it into your bag (any bag). The water filter is ultra light - 2.1 oz. I really like that the filter is compact and light weight. I can even through it in my diaper bag or stash it in the glove box of my car. The plastic material is what makes the filter so light weight, though I would worry about the plastic cracking or breaking if the filter fell on something hard.

The water filter claims to filter to a market leading 0.1 microns with a 2.5 times higher flow rate (450 ml/min) than other leading brands. The filter removes 99.99999% of waterborne bacteria and removes 99.9% of waterborne protozoa through a chemical free hollow-fiber UF membrane with industry leading edge coconut shell activated carbon for superior filtration down to .01 microns. This means that you still get superior filtration with a higher flow rate in a pocket sized filter. Life Defender also claims to filter up to 1,500 liters of contaminated water without adding any taste enhancers or chemicals. This is very important to me. For a small investment, I can use the filter for quite a bit of time.

Usage: The filter is easy to use. You just need your mouth and some water.

1. Place the bottom end in water.
2. Suck through the mouth piece to begin the water flow out.
3. After drinking, blow out water to keep the filter clean and prevent from clogging.

Storage: Throw out residual water and leave caps open to dry. Keep in a cool and ventilated place. Do not expose to the sun. The filter has a shelf time of 5 years after production.

Results: The caps were easy to remove, though I could see the cap connection breaking after repeated use. The water filter itself worked as expected. It takes a few sucks to get the water flowing. Basically, you use the filter as a straw. The water flows through the filter and into your mouth. The unit is made from plastic, so it seems a bit flimsy, but I like the light weight aspect of it.

Opportunities for Improvement: The instructions need to be proofread for grammar mistakes and misspelling. Though I could tell the gist of the instructions, for a $25 product, I would hope that the instructions are crystal clear. I would also like to see the manufacture date so that I know when the 5 year shelf life is up.

The compact size, ultra light weight and superior filtration abilities makes this pocket water filter a good investment for any prepper, hiker, camper or someone who just wants to be a little prepared for any emergency. I would like to see the instructions be more clear and the manufacture date be published. The filter itself works well. I feel that for the $25 cost, the filter should be made from sturdier plastic and the instructions be more clear.

Disclosure: I received the product to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are my own and are honest.