SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

I bought the SteriPen Adventurer primarily for backpacking because of its fast purification of water.
I carry a hydration bag and to use this UV pen one must carry a widemouth 1 liter Nalgene-type bottle so the pen can be properly immersed and to have room to swirl it as directed. The 1 liter bottle is used otherwise to carry an electrolyte replacement drink.

If the water is a bit cloudy I use a #2 coffee filter W/ a small, flexible funnel for the raw water using my drinking cup to fill the bottle through the funnel filter. Then I sterilize it with the UV pen and pour the treated water into my hydration bag. To be safe I teat slightly cloudy water twice as long as clear water.

In my opinion the SteriPen is revolutionizing water treatment for backcountry travelers who are seeking the fastest, lightest, safest water treatment.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

I've noticed people like this thing for sterilizing hotel water from other countries. Great use. As far as camping, not so good. While it is very cool that it uses UV light to kill pretty much everything in your water, it is not very reliable in assuring your water is clean. Murky water, a very common thing to find while camping, might not be fully sterilized with one treatment. With iodine, I know the water is pretty much safe. The batteries that came with the charging case lasted approximately 5 treatments before quitting (after being fully charged). Their cheap batteries, but I'm no even going to bother with buying better ones. I'm taking it back to REI. It's silly to have a filter and a UV pen if you care at all about weight, and I don't like drinking water with lots of stuff floating in it (a bandanna only removes so much sediment). Better to use a filter and treat with chemicals as necessary.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

Used this for 2 weeks in Tanzania to treat tap water in hotels. Worked great as we saved a fortune on bottled water. Battery life was as predicted and the rechargeables were fine. LEDs can be slightly confusing since there are so many flash patterns to try to memorize - it would be a good idea to copy those down or bring the manual along.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

I used it on a 20 day trek in Nepal and it worked great. Even charging the batteries off the solar charger worked OK (even if it did take 2 days, I just used the spare set for those days). It was also good for all the hotel water for drinking, cleaning teeth etc. Per liter/pint it is the cheapest way to sterilise water. Get the filter for the top of your bottle as well and that will get rid of most of the sediment.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

We had problems with our "Adventurer" while traveling in South America. The bulb in our unit was unreliable and would fluctuate between dimly lit and fully lit. We never know if we were getting sick from bad water or other. We wrote Steripen customer support and they offered to mail a replacement to an agreed upon address in Chile which they never did. Then they stopped responding to email. Flaky. These specialized CR123 (camera flash batteries) were expensive ([$] US for 2) and hard to find in places. If you buy one of these go with the regular Steripen even though it is heavier.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

Purchased to use on an overseas trip to Southeast Asia. Steripen worked well, & I did not get sick. Product was used for about 10 days. After coming back from the trip, the Steripen was not used for about 8 months. When taken out to use again, product would not fully sterilize water (cycle would turn off after a few seconds). Assuming battery issues, I changed batteries (2 different new sets) but still could not complete a cycle of sterilizing. After many attempts, I took the product back to REI. Although I had the product for almost a year, the pen was used less than 2 dozen times. Concept appears to work, but product was unreliable. Back to the "no bells & whistles" -- albeit reliable standard water pumps.

Service and delivery comments:

As usual... REI service is the reason I am willing to spend a little more from REI. Product was returned almost a year later with no hassle.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

I want to begin this review by saying that I’m not some forty-year backpacking veteran that’s seen every bit of gear come down the pipe and perhaps has the right to talk about one trip or another’s “burliness.” However, I’m not an amateur either – I’m an average backpacker who enjoys the wilderness and frequently enough finds himself eight or more miles away from any trailhead or populated starting point. In other words, I put myself in positions where I rely on my gear – my tent, my boots, my sleeping bag – to get me through. I have not, unfortunately, been able to rely on the SteriPen as my water purifier.

Several weeks ago I found myself eighteen miles back from a trailhead in western Montana, about to hike those miles out in near 100 degree heat, looking forward to the fact that I could drink as much water as I needed and purify on the spot with the SteriPen. I began to purify for myself and my girlfriend early that morning when the dreaded solid red signal light alerted me that the device was malfunctioning. Several tries confirmed and my heart sank. Thankfully we had enough fuel to boil water and enough snowpack to cool it, but suffice to say not the ideal situation. Now granted a backup would have been smart, but I was confident in the product.

Cut to this past weekend, a new location, less heat, but an additional person relying on my SteriPen – my SteriPen that worked perfectly after several trial kitchen runs the night before – and the malfunction light again shows itself before the eight miles back out from the wilderness. Thanks again to a reliable stove (MSR Whisperlite never fails), enough fuel, and a lingering bunch of snow drifts, we had water that I felt safe enough with, but again the SteriPen failed me. Worse yet, it fooled me with proper function before the trip and a second time mocked my lack of a simpler backup.

This product I’m sure works for a lot of people, and I’d venture to guess that I was dealt a lemon – that if I returned it for a new one I’d be all set. The fact is, anyone attempting any trip where the gear really needs to work might want to think twice about relying on a piece of electronics. We all know how skittish technology can be at times, and frankly from now on I want reliable, manual analog when it comes to my hydration and safety in the backcountry.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

We brought this along on our four week trip to Southeast Asia. While bottled water was usually available it was nice not to contribute to excess plastic in a landfill and also to be able to purify water in the hotels at any time. It's easy and fast to use and will now be part of our hiking must-brings. We saved money on our trip not having to buy bottled water, stayed hydrated and never had a stomach problem the entire trip. Could be a must for emergency kits. It's discrete enough to dip into a water glass in a restaurant and light enough to put in a purse or day pack. We love this gadget! It works perfectly with the wider mouth nalgene bottles. Travel is too precious to spend with an upset stomach; this is a very worthwhile investment.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

After reading all the negative reviews I couldn't keep from adding my experience with this product. I have used this purifier in New Zealand, Mexico, Nepal, Cambodia and Thailand. For all these trips the pen worked flawlessly. It treated the water, and I had no problems. I didn't just use it with tap water; I used it with river water, village water systems and pondwater. The pen uses odd batteries but I found them in all these countries and they were widely available. The negative comments I have are about the charger and the rechargable batteries. The charger works but slowly and the charged batteries don't last very long. So, I have decided to use regular batteries for the bulk of my travels and keep the charger for emergencies only. Like all seasoned travelers, I also carry treatment tablets as a back-up. I would do that with any treatment system. I'd rather use rechargable batteries and not have to haul them back to the states for recycling, but for now I'm very happy with the function of the SteriPEN.

Comments about SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier with Solar Charging Case:

I am a former AMGA Guide, Outward Bound and NOLS/WEA Instructor, WEMT with a Masters in Experiential/Adventure Education from Mankato State with over twenty years in the field, and also served briefly on the Wilderness Risk Managers Committee as AORE's VP rep. I am now retired from guiding with two young kids. Thought that this would be a good product to purify water. Concept seemed sound. However the battery hatch door which has a screw slot jammed and then broke right out of the box. Imagine that you have just lugged this piece of junk to xxxxx feet and xx miles into the backcountry (with a back-up for purification as the maker obviously recommends) and then were changing the batteries that apparently must be changed more frequently than the instructions indicate (see other reviews), and the[...]battery hatch breaks. What a complete waist of money. Do not rely on this to purify ANY water, as it is worthless if you have no power and/or the unit breaks due to its poor construction. Purchase a Swiss-made Katadyn for filtering and a bottle of Polar Pure for chemical purification. This is all the pros that I knew used (who were on expeditions), and it is what I used for many years in the field. Stay away from the battery powered, [...] gadgets for the hapless "green/energy conscious" twenty-somethings to "play" with. Stick with stuff that will work when you need it to work. The only batery powered things you need are a good pro-model headlamp and an ACR beacon. [...]