MSR HyperFlow Water Filter

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

I thought that I had done all of my research on this product before I bought it, but upon it's arrival I found some information in the provided literature that was not anywhere else that I had looked.
This filter uses a "hollow fiber" filter. This is exactly what it sounds like. When you look at the end on the filter, you see what looks like a bunch of the ends of tiny straws. The upside is that this filter filters well, pumps very easily, and pumps a lot of water fast. After reading the reviews, and doing my own research I was sold. When I got the filter, I noticed a little "warning" in the instructions that says you shouldn't let the filter freeze, or be stored below 0 deg Celsius. If this happens, The filter will be damaged, and may not filter out all the nasties that can make you so horribly ill. I can only deduce that as the filter is a bunch of tubes, that if it were to freeze, the resulting ice expansion would shatter the tubes. This seems like a major over site to me. I have been out ALOT when the morning dew was definately morning frost. So, I really have to wonder if on the next morning I wake up like that, I will also get to wake up to a busted water filter.
The instructions also relate that a drop from as little as .9 meters can damage the filter resulting in nasties in your water again.
With all that said, it really is a joy to use. It pumps really fast, and is well designed other that the obviously delicate filter. I'm still taking it out this season, but I'm bringing extra treatment tabs, just in case.

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

I just got done hiking the Appalachian Trail, and carried the Hyperflow from Troutdale, Virginia to Maine. (about 1700 miles) I hated every minute I had to use this awful pump. I was replacing an older MSR miniworks, which was twice the weight and moved a very low volume of water. Because of the way I had my water system set up with a camelbak inside my pack that is very difficult to remove on a regular basis, I needed some sort of pump to pump water in through the drink tube.The technology behind this filter is flawed. Simply stated, backflushing does almost nothing to clear this filter once it gets clogged. So you basically have a very effective, as-advertised 3LPM pump that is even exciting to use, until it clogs for the first time. That first time for me was about 8 Liters. After that, it was the biggest pain in the butt to use this thing. The pumping became so hard that I would need to brace one arm against my knee to get the needed leverage. It was like a daily workout, and I dredded pumping water so much that I ended up skipping water sources and at times running out of water all together.No amount of "backflushing" would restore this thing to its advertised functionality. In fact, once the filter gets too clogged, the backflushing method does not work at all because you are basically relying on a vacuum to pull the water through the filter during a backflush, and that simply is not enough psi to do the job. (the same pressure that I needed to brace one arm against my knee to pump water through is required to pull water back out during a backflush via a vacuum). So, in the end the thing just gets worse and worse. I finally called MSR, and the freely offered to send out a new cartridge. This to me is evidence that they freely admit the problem. My new cartridge? Lasted for 5 Liters, and immediately was worse than my old one ever was.I knew dozens of hikers on the AT who had bought this thing, and NO ONE was still carrying it by the end. In other words, I was the only sucker. One hiker I knew who was carrying this piece of junk basically had MSR send a new cartridge to every town along the trail, before finally demanding a replacement Miniworks. Each [$]cartridge will last you a day tops before it needs replacing.I guess the upside to all of this is that you have yourself a great filter as long as you have the luxury of receiving a package from MSR every few days. If you do not have that luxury, then stay away from this product, which I believe is probably the worst filter ever made.

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

This little pump requires too much maintenance, too often. This is an involved, delicate and precise operation. It has to be back flushed every 8 liters, something one won't read about in Backpacker mags glowing review. Then one has to give it a bubble test into a cup of water. It should include an output tube and hook. It is very fragile for backpacking and has lots of little parts that can easily get lost in the field.
We returned it for a refund.

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

On the 1st day of my backpacking trip I filtered clean running water with this filter and it worked great. The 2nd day of the trip I stopped to filter and the MSR Hyperflow was super hard to pump so I tried to backflush with the small amount of water I had left with no luck at all. We ended up boiling water for the rest of the trip and bad mouthing MSR for it. When I returned home I eventually got the filter to backflush which is a pain. The MSR Hyperflow does not pump as easy as it did when it was NEW. The documentation recamends taking a extra cartrige on longer trips, from my experience that means 2 days!
I'm not sure about the freezing, shake it dry. Dropping it?? It's a little weak but it is LIGHT.
I'll keep tring it and backflush the filter everytime, it takes time so that kills the super fast pumping time.
I knew it was too good to be true!

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

The first few gallons that came out of this pumped easy and went fast. After that it's leaking water, hard and hard to pump. I tried to backflush it and that didn't work either. This is with CLEAN water from the Sierra's. Became such a pain by the end of the trip that I was just filling up my Nalgene in the creeks.

The weight is also 10oz with everything that you need.

Hang onto your Mini-works because that thing hasn't let me down in 50-100 trips, this thing has let me down in the first 2 trips.

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

Right out of the box and into the water this filter requires little prep. Light weight and compact, perfect for fast packing or adventure racers who don't fully trust or like chemical treatment. Pumps well, and with little effort can fill a camelback in no time. Not a fan of the bottle attachment, so I just put a small piece of hose on the outlet valve to minimize spill, and pumped away! Water quality was good, but this is more of a selection of water source than the pump itself. The prefilter likes to float around so air suck can be a problem, but a little thought and some small rocks can help with this problem. A great little pump!

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

I didn't get the pleasure of using this before I read all the bad reviews, so I've kept hiking in a backup system, expecting this one to clog with every compression. Yet, it doesn't seem to want to cooperate with my low expectations. Instead it filters water faster than I ever thought possible, and is just as easy to pump as when I first bought it. I don't know what is going on with all the discrepancies in the reviews, but somebody at MSR needs to figure it out and put out a informational blurb to explain why it seems to fail for so many people.

Anyway, my complaint about this filter is that the end part is a little tough to get to sit down in the water and I find myself getting into some pretty sketchy situations while trying to keep it submerged and not tip over my water bag. Strapping a rock to it, would seem simple enough, but you'd be surprised how difficult finding the right sized rock in the right situation can be.

One bit of advice I'd give, is to pause between pumps and let the suction really fill the reservoir on the filter before pushing it through. Not sure if that would help with the clogging, but it sure makes pumping easier.

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

Assuming it holds up well...I think MSR has a winner with the tiny, lightweight,EASY pumping Hyperflow.
I was using a MSR Miniworks EX that filtered well, but it wore me out getting water and bashed my knuckles. The Hypeflow with the horizontal bike-pump action fills up my camelbak VERY quickly and easily. I just picked up the Camelbak Hydrolink filter adapter from REI and added a tiny chunk of the inlet hose to the adapater piece and now its plug and play to switch from mouthpiece to filter connection. You can fill a camelbak with the pack on your back.

This is a DELICATE unit(don't drop it!) and I suspect REQUIRES regular simple maintenance. I do the 2 drops of bleach in a liter of water back flush after every hike that I use it and then just EASILY break it all down and spread it out to dry. I could see the tiny filter area clogging easily if you just put it away and let algae grow inside it. Its SUPER easy to break down and backflush is simple.
I just use it for dayhikes. Now I can carry a lot less water to even further reduce my pack weight, since its so quick and easy to use.

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

AMAZING product. It was even smaller than I was expecting. It pumps a lot of water with ease. Easily field serviceable to backflush if you need to clean on the fly. The pre filter wraps the whole thing right up into a small package. At first I thought the wide mouth bottle adapter would be a piece that would add bulk when carrying but MSR was genius in designing it so that you can leave it right on a bottle and pop open the small port on top for drinks. It worked equally well filling platypus canteens, and camelback via filter adapter. BRAVO!

Comments about MSR HyperFlow Microfilter:

This is a great filter in theory but it needs to be altered for best performance. I found that if you add the MSR SweetWater Silt Stopper all of the clogging and back flushing issues with this pump go away. Just attach it to the inlet tube and you are good to go. You will find that the hose diameter is different between the two but the short pieces of hose that come with the Silt Stopper will insert snugly into the silicone hose of the Hyperflow. You will need to choose where you want to insert the siltstopper and cut the tubing accordingling. I recommend roughly 8-10 inches below the Hyperflow so everything will bundle up nicely and fit into the bag. Also, to solve the prefilter floating issue, use the four holes in the corners and fishing line to attach something that provides a little weight. In a pinch I have used the velcro strap on the prefilter to attach it to a small rock and slowly lowered it in the water so I wouldn't stir up the bottom.