Katadyn Vario Water Filter

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

We took our Vario water filter out with us the first time while car camping. We wanted to make sure all was good before hitting the trail with this little guy. Let me say this is our first lightweight pump water filter and I was quite impressed with the output and the quality. We didn't filter anything super dirty so we had it on the fast flow setting which bypasses the ceramic filter but it was still faster than I expected. We had a 32 ounce cup we used as our source reservoir and it took about 10 pumps to get all the way though it. It tasted clean and critter free as well. You can tell that quality was on their mind from the addition of a bottle clip, hose float to keep the input hose below the top and above the sediment and a separation zip bag to store your input hose as to not cross contaminate your clean supplies to the craftsmanship of the filer. You can also fill your bottle from a hose or screw directly on to the top of a Nalgene bottle, they thought of everything. We are very pleased and look forward to using this for years to come.

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

I am on my second Vario. I took the first one back to REI after using it 3-4 times and it started leaking. I cleaned it, took it entirely apart, lubed it, and it still leaked on both longer life and faster flow settings.

I got the second one and took it home and used it in the sink only to find it leaking again, brand new out of the box. Again, cleaned it and lubed it from top to bottom to no avail.

I am going to take it back and get the MSR pump before my next trip, I am not risking contaminating my water.

I will not buy anything Katadyn anymore.

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

I bought this filter to replace a broken Pur Hiker I had for many years. I have had three Pur/Katadyn filters through the years as they have become smaller, lighter, and faster.

The Vario filter is great refinement of filter ergonomics. The side handle design of the Vario makes the pump very comfortable to use and requires minimal effort.

The water taste is clean and crisp, which is as expected with any Katadyn product. I have read complaints about the ceramic disc becoming clogged and requiring cleaning, which is a good thing. If it did not, all of the debris would be lodged into the main filter, which cannot be cleaned (also depends on clarity of the water source you are using).

The greatest thing about this filter is that it is fast, fast, fast! The filter fills a 10L MSR Drom bag in minutes and with the ease of pumping you are not fatigued after.

Sounds great right? Well, here is the reason for only three stars;

1) Leaks! The pumping system is able to create a high amount of pressure in the upper housing, which pushes past the seals. This is remedied by slower pumping but defeats the purpose of the design for high water flow.

2) Field service is not the best. The filter comes with a bag of extra o-rings/seals, which I have not required but is a nice piece of mind to have them. I personally do not have a problem understanding the Vario operation but if you are not mechanically inclined it could be intimidating with all of the moving parts. The design is not simple.

3) The design seems fragile. Though, admittedly I have not broken any parts on the Vario, the thought is always in my mind. The plunger arms and pins are not very robust in comparison to other filters (See the MSR).

All in all the Vario functions with minimal effort, provides impressive water flow, and good water taste. Time will tell on the durability and I will live with the leaks.

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

I've had the Vario filter for about two backpacking seasons. It's held up very well and I think the build quality is very nice. The water tastes great and all functions of the filter are very easy. It comes apart for field repairs very well and is simple to reassemble.

The only issues I've had is with the ceramic pre-filter clogging a bit and causing water to squirt down the sides of the filter. From reading other reviews, is seems like there are some easy fixes out there. In the past, I've taken the filter case apart to let the pieces empty and dry fully, but have never cleaned the ceramic pre-filter while on a trip.

It's not the smallest nor lightest filter, but I have been very happy with it so far. I plan to continue using it for a long time.

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

I've just returned from an 8-day backpacking trip where we tried to use the Katadyn Vario filters for our filtered water from snow-fed creeks.

Both units we had leaked horribly in the joint between the pumphead and filter housing. We replaced/greased the O-rings and the filter cartridge and this didn't help.

Even though the pump was leaking dirty water (and possibly into our Nalgene bottles and MSR dromedary bags), we managed to get enough water out of them during the trip but it took a lot of pumping.

When I returned home, I disassembled one of the units and determined with a pair of dial calipers that the pumphead housing is out of round and doesn't allow the thin O-ring to seal properly. Pumping water from the sink, I could pinch the pumphead housing and change the leak behavior from almost no leak to something that resembles my lawn sprinkler.

The pumphead housing needs to be made out of some material that won't distort, or possibly change the design to use a fatter/dual O-ring to provide a more effective seal. They are competing in the sub-$100 water filter market with MSR and others so I have my doubts as whether they will change the design much.

The only thing that I can say about those of you that don't have the leaking problem is that you likely have a unit that doesn't have a distorted pumphead housing - yet.

I no longer have my REI receipt so I'm going to box up the filter and cartridge spares and send them back to Katadyn North America, plead my case and ask what they can do for me.

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

I am a scout master of a boy scout troop. I have had this unit for about 2 years now and have taken it on about 8 outings - each of them only 1 to 2 nights with our troop. Every time I cleaned it properly and overall was very happy with it.
We just returned from an 8 day 50 mile hike through Emigrant Wilderness, broken up into two groups with a total of 13 scouts and 5 adults. We had two of these units, a Katadyn Pocket, a Katadyn Hiker Pro, and an MSR that I don't remember. Given that we had 5 units, we felt that we were covered in case of any unit failing. My Vario was the first to fail on day 3 - it would no longer pull any water - nothing would pump. Replaced the O rings, re-cleaned, took the complete head apart but nothing would pump at all. Turned out I had to fill the head with water to pre-prime (I see a few reviews that also found the same issue). However even with a clean disk the flow rate fell to almost nothing by day 4 and the paper filter was still clean and white. Yes we cleaned the ceramic disc many times over the remainder of the trip - now it is about 1/16 of an inch thick but its flow rate fell to about 1 liter every 30 minutes - something was very broken in the rubber flaps in the head. The next unit to fail was the other Vario - it also became vapor locked. One of the scouts turned the disk to faster flow without the leaders knowing and within 2 days that paper filter was completely plugged up - again maybe a liter in 30 mins or more, just drops came out. We used the filter from my Vario but in a day that head also failed - same issue I had. The Katadyn hiker pro continued to work until day 5 when we had a small meadow that had murky water (previously the water we had were very clean snow melt lakes) and that plugged up that filter and the MSR. We were forced to combine the two groups since we only had a single remaining filter - the Pocket. Thus water filling became a 2 hours every morning and 2 hours every evening task to fill everyone up for the day/night. We completed the 8 day trip with all 5 adults very disappointed in the quality of the Vario's.
After returning back home, I again cleaned every part of the Vario and discovered that the plastic pin (it is a long pin that acts as a bearing) that holds the pump to the head was bent at a good 15 degree angle, and found the little rectangle end that holds it in place was only held on by a thread of plastic. It appears that the same thing also happened to the other Vario, and this may have been the root cause.

At this point, I can see so many design flaws - there is simply way too much plastic - every part of the pumping system is plastic. If any part of it is weakened, the entire pump simply will not work. This would be a great product if the head/handle assembly was all machined but I guess the cost would be a lot more to manufacture it.
So if you need something that is for a weekend and if it fails you have backup - it is decent unit as long as your water quality is good. I see that some suggested using coffee filters, that most likely would have saved the other units but we had plastic shaft deformities that shut ours down - I'm guessing due to the usage we gave it.

Note that one of the leaders brought his Katadyn pocket (purchased in 1992!) and that unit is built like a tank – it continued to work the entire trip - there is a reason they are expensive and now reading reviews on it, I am going to just chuck this (did not buy at REI and now I wish I had). The other Vario was purchased at REI and that one will be returned for a credit for the pocket.

If you are a scout leader and you are taking a group of scouts in the wilderness and you must depend on your water filters - I can't recommend this unit or for that matter any plastic Katadyn unit. I wish I had spent the money on the pocket in the first place, but now I have learned that lesson.

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

This filter was very disappointing to me. I field tested it initially on a local one night trip and it performed very well and pumped water very quickly so I was quite excited to use it on larger trips. Then, on a second one night trip a few weeks later, the seals started to leak and I was unsure if dirty water might be entering the nalgene I was using. I should have returned it then and there, but I foolishly took it home, gave it a thorough cleaning and regreased (with silicone) all of the seals in preparation for a 4 night canoe trip. The filter went one night before beginning to leak water from every possible seal point, leading to me constantly taking it apart, cleaning, and resealing the filter in the field. I was subsequently never confident that the water that was passing through to the Nalgene was being properly filtered. Definitely disappointing. Fortunately my group had two other filters with us that took up the slack of mine.
In addition to these issues, it is not clear at all whether you are in the fast/clear water mode or the slow/dirty water mode. And the item as a whole does not feel solidly constructed. I would not trust this product in any serious outdoor setting.

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

Have used this filter/pump on several outtings. Never a problem. Simple to use.

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

I have had this filter for probably 3 years or so and have always enjoyed using it, because it is so fast! Just recently I started having the water seep around the junction between the lower part and upper part. Not that big of a deal, but annoying nontheless. I did a little online research and went to Katadyn's Q and A section, where they said to scrub the filter and oil the O-Rings in the pump. Just like that, and the thing was back to pumping full speed ahead, no need for a new filter or even parts, just a little TLC. Would reccomend to anybody that doesn't mind performing a little maintenance. (Seriously, it took ~ 5 minutes.)

Comments about Katadyn Vario Water Filter:

I been using this product for a year now when hiking, camping with family. This filter does everything that I want 1. clean water 2. not bad taste. I used to boil the water but that used to take too long and use of fuel, I decide to go with the Vario Filter, been deployd a few times I know exactly what too look in a filter and this guy do all that I need. Of course if the water is not too clear I can add Iodine and then filter the water, let me tell you, this filter almost take completely away the iodine flavor, can get better than that. For those that are complainting about this filter get clog too fast, you can use a coffe filter with a rubber band and wrap it around the suction device, I'll promes you the filter as a whole will last longer and is not going to clog. Besides you should be wise where you pick water. There is a few camping books or just google search and learn a few things about where to pick up water, water filtracion and even how to pick up the water location. Because you have a filter in your hands does not means that you have a miracle water systen. If the filter gets clog? means the filter is doing his job, get a time a clean it for the next time, I don't know why some people here complaint, I guess they need to be a little more educated. For the price of this filter and what it do I'll never will buy a 300.00 filter. BTW the 300.00 filter will clog the same way, lol. I little bit of education goes a long way. Hope this help for those loking for a filter, it is my honest experience. Ciao!