Platypus  QuickDraw Filter System - 1 Liter

Test the filter before your trip. This purchase was a good one, and I am extremely satisfied. But my previous purchase was defective. (Previous purchase was older model that does not come with ConnectCap adapter in the front but all other components are exactly same) In my opinion, this product is much better engineered product with thoughtfulness compared to sawyer. I liked flow rate and being able to test the filter's integrity. Even though quickdraw's pore size is 0.2 micron (filters 99.9%bacteria) compared to sawyer’s 0.1 micron (filters 99.9999% bacteria), I am not concerned about this at all. The fact that most of my trips are in PNW with good water source helps with that confidence too. The fact that I can test the integrity relives my major concern. I camp on glaciers sometime and even though I try everything possible to not freeze my filter, I still worry about their integrity. One thing to note though, when I first tested a previous purchase at home, I soaked it for 20 hours, but the flow rate was very bad. Very very bad. Advertised flow rate is 3L in 1 minute. But I got like 100ml in 1 minute. So I purchased another one. The new one is a new model that has front adapter. But the filter itself is exactly same. And the second one I bought has great flow rate. I was able to filter 2.5L in 1 minute. I would say it is close to the advertisement. I also found online that it is a known defect that some bad batches filter only 0.5L per minute. I returned the defective one and notified the employee. I still think this product is a a great product if not defective. But be sure to test it at home. You don’t want to find the filter is defective on your trip.

This design isn't quite there yet. - Flimsy strap: I returned the first one of these I bought because the hanging-strap on the top of the dirty water bag peeled off before I even took it on the trail. I used the replacement unit for one trip, and then while cleaning it afterwards, the hanging strap peeled off again while the bag was only half-full of water. This is just straightforwardly a design flaw— the strap attachment points are not capable of holding the weight of a full bag of water. - Poor bag design: The dirty water bag has a small mouth which is difficult to fill by dipping it in water. When you submerge the bag, water will not flow into it because the weight of the water surrounding the bag squeezes it closed. You have to aggressively scoop many times for water to go in, getting maybe a half cup with each scoop. This isn't much less annoying than pumping, but pumping is more flexible about where it can draw water from, especially from shallow water (like... near the shore, where you'll be standing). The bag would work better if it used the same fill design as the Platypus "Big Zip", which opens with a wide mouth, and seals firmly closed with a zip-clamp. (The same clamp design would also hold firmly on the bag and not tear off like the QuickDraw's hanging strap did). - Fussy case Platypus gets a half point for this, because a competitor gravity filter I tried did not even have any bag at all, and it's important that there is something that can keep all the many parts together inside your pack. Unfortunately the provided bag is not very wide, and all the parts don't fit inside it very easily. It's quite difficult to jam them all next to each other inside the bag, especially when many of the parts (like the hose) are rubber and strongly resist sliding against each other. The pump filter I was intending to replace has a lightweight zip bag with a very wide opening (it opens hot-dog wise), and it's much easier than the QuickDraw to tuck all the parts inside. - Runaway gasket The filter has a rubber gasket on the clean side of the filter to assist with backflushing. This fell off every single time I opened the filter for use. This thing has a 100% probability of getting permanently lost if you use it for more than a few trips. There is no other convenient place to store it. I don't know why the fitting at the end of the filter doesn't have a small retaining lip to hold the gasket in place; this is another obvious design flaw. - Poor bottle attachment design The filter comes with a plastic attachment which is supposed to fit multiple bottle openings, like standard soda bottles or Nalgenes. The clean-water hose connector on this attachment is nonstandard and grips the hose male attachment extremely hard, with no way to mechanically release it. It has to be wrenched quite hard in order to pull it out, and doing with the minimum amount of force that would actually pull it free caused the plastic on the inside of the connector to be damaged. I don't think this would survive repeated use at all. I'm a guy, and detaching the hose from the bottle attachment is difficult for me, enough that I decided to not use it. If you don't have strong hands, this might not be possible for you to use at all. As far as I can tell, this is just another obvious design flaw. - Fragile filter: After one trip to the woods, the filter failed the integrity check. Temperatures were not anywhere freezing, and it did not take any significant impacts. I'm not sure if it was like that from the factory or if one mild trip (filtering about 3-4 bags worth of water) did it in. This will be the second unit I've needed to return right after I bought it because it broke. Even if it functioned properly, it still isn't a very convenient design. I won't be getting another one; this product does not feel like it's ready for serious use. I'll keep my trusty hand pump until gravity filters evolve further.