Platypus gravity works is another great option. I’ve been using them solo and group camps for about 8 years with no issues.
I agree. I just used the Gravity Works last season and was amazed at how well it worked compared to the pumping method with an MSR. SO MUCH easier and no issues, even in cattle country. Very impressive.
This really surprises me. I would think that the pump would be faster than gravity.
I'm not familiar with how the system works. So I guess you have a "Dirty bag" and a "clean bag" and you just elevate the dirty bag to get it to flow?
At first I thought that the bags might be nice if you camped next to a stream or something that you could just fill the bag and drink from it. I will probably have to drive or hike to a water source and will fill up some containers and then head back to camp - but I guess if the system is more efficient that pumping it will work at any location that way.
I have a saywer mini filter that I use for backpacking. Could this be rigged up to filter using the gravity method?
Yes it can. That’s how I started with gravity filters. It’s a little bit slower than the platty system but works awesome.
When i rigged it up I still bought a dirty platypus bag (big zip marked permanently as “dirty” to avoid confusion.) I put a couple quick connects inline on my pack bladder and fill right into it without having to remove it from the pack.
The gravity systems are actually handier camping away from a stream. You can filter super fast using the Sawyer mini too into all your clean bags then fill the dirty bag to filter later.
I do this all the time in early season when I set up on ridges and peaks to buy myself some extra glassing time where getting fresh water means melting snow if it’s still there or a hike back down.
If I’m backpacking in the off-season with the wife and dog I add a couple Nalgene canteens for extra capacity depending on availability of water.
Here’s my solo set up. With the bladder I have 6L capacity
Bladder with quick connects
Solo weight
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