Do Water Bottles With Filters Work

Access to clean drinking water is critical when you're surrounded past nature, whether you're taking a short hike or going on an extensive wilderness backpacking tour. Avid outdoors enthusiasts are already well aware of this -- and a good filtered water bottle for clean water is an essential piece ofadventuring gear. It's also of import considering toting gallons of purified bottled h2o is heavy, expensive and an environmental plague.

Frankly, it isn't fifty-fifty an selection.

While many sources of groundwater and tap water are perfectly safe, information technology'south never worth the hazard to drink from an unfamiliar water source. Even if a water source looks clean, it could be nonpotable contaminated h2o with viruses, harmful bacteria, protozoa or other microorganisms invisible to the human eye. If y'all've ever been sick from drinking water, you know that waterborne bacteria are no joke. And despite the Prophylactic Drinking Water Act, tap water can still contain contaminants such as pb, chlorine, arsenic, pesticides and fifty-fifty particles from malfunctioning wastewater treatment. Why not give a filtered water bottle a spin instead?

Six filtered water bottles lined up outdoors. — I put 6 filtered water bottles to the test at a h2o source of fresh groundwater in Southern California.
Paige Thies/CNET

Some reasons you may desire to say cheerio to using a plastic h2o bottle or disposable water bottles and invest in a filtered water bottle to keep you hydrated:

You're unsure about your tap water
You travel to other states and countries where y'all don't know nearly water practices and it might contain harmful contaminants
You go hiking, backpacking or on other outdoor adventures
You prefer bottled water but desire to reduce your plastic waste

To that end, I tested six filtered water bottles to find the best filtered water bottle you lot tin can trust to provide you with make clean, safe h2o, indoors or out.

water-bottle-testing-site-1 — The water hole where I tested the filtered bottles.
Paige Thies/CNET

How I tested filtered water bottles

For the sake of safe drinkable water, two friends and I ventured out to a freshwater source in Southern California. We were lucky to find a tiny trickle of a waterfall in the Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa Wilderness area in the Santa Monica Mountains, which culminated in a series of iv tiny pools of water. Of the four h2o holes, we settled on testing the bottles in the i that looked the least stagnant (and had the fewest bugs and tadpoles).

The mean solar day before the hike, I cleaned and prepped each water filtration bottle on my list according to their instructions. I filled each canteen from the aforementioned water hole and tasted the water from each bottle on site. I then drank from the bottles one by ane and poured some water from each to run across how make clean it looked. I was fix to drink gallons of water if need be, and keep drinking until I found the best reusable water canteen.

How I rated filtered water bottles

I considered five important criteria when using each reusable h2o bottle: filtering and filter chapters, materials, taste, ease of use and cleanup. These are all factors you should consider when looking for a h2o purifier bottle -- y'all'll want to purchase one that suits the activity you plan to apply it for.

For instance, if I was looking for a filtered bottle to take backpacking, I wouldn't choose the Brita. I likewise wouldn't invest in the Grayl Geopress if I only needed a bottle for tap h2o.

Filtering: What filtering mechanism was used and how well did the bottle filter harmful contaminants, bacteria and viruses, and other unpleasantries out of the presumably non-potable h2o? Did the water bottle filters leave any particles in the h2o after filtering? Water "subsequently filtering" means the h2o that comes out of the drinking spout or filter harbinger. Are there replacement filters?

Materials: What is the bottle made of? Stainless steel or plastic? If plastic, is it a BPA-free bottle? How durable is the canteen?

Taste: This one's pretty obvious. How did the h2o gustatory modality? Specifically, were in that location any remnants of mineral odor or chemical tastes such as a chlorine gustatory modality?

Ease of use: Was the bottle like shooting fish in a barrel to prep and put together? Was information technology easy to get water into the canteen? How was the flow rate?

Cleanup: After employ, what are yous supposed to do with the bottle? How piece of cake is information technology to clean the bottle and make sure it'due south ready for your next adventure?

All-time filtered h2o canteen for backpacking

Grayl Geopress Water Purifier

Grayl

The natural water I tested the bottles in already looked relatively make clean, just when I poured a chip from the Geopress water purification bottle, I was shocked at how crystal-clear it looked. Although I guess I shouldn't accept been surprised, as Grayl'south heavy-duty filtering and water purification system is designed to filter out protozoa, chemicals, particulates (like dirt and sand), heavy metals and bacteria and viruses.

The Geopress h2o purifier is made of BPA-gratuitous polypropylene, a durable type of plastic. The wide base bore of the water purifier gives information technology a sturdy experience, and it's apparently designed to withstand ten-pes drops onto physical while it's full of water. Without a doubt, the Geopress is the best filtered h2o bottle to proceed yous hydrated with pure water on a backpacking trip due to its intense filtering mechanism and durability.

This Grayl canteen also offers relatively easy clean-upward, an important factor if you're using natural water. I really liked that the opening of the Geopress water filter canteen is wide enough to fit ice cubes and my entire hand into it, pregnant I could actually get to the lesser of the bottle with a sponge. Merely make sure to thoroughly dry the filter canteen earlier storing it: If you lot store the h2o purifier while it'southward wet, the inner portion and outer portions suction together and it's so difficult to pull the two pieces autonomously.

All-time filtered h2o bottle for tap water

Astrea 1 Filtered Water Bottle

Paige Thies/CNET

The Astrea 1 filtered h2o bottle filters out an impressive suite of heavy metals and chemicals, including lead, benzene, mercury, copper, chlorine and more. The website says you lot shouldn't utilize this filter bottle with water that is "microbiologically dangerous or of unknown quality," but I used information technology in natural freshwater and I turned out fine.

The torso of the Astrea One filtered water canteen is made of stainless steel, and the lid is made of thick BPA-free plastic. The h2o bottle filter inserts snugly into the bottom side of the lid and locks in, giving the bottle an overall sturdy experience.

The water I scooped from a natural water hole seemed to magically turn into bottled spring water within the Astrea filter bottle. If the Astrea Ane bottle didn't have its filter in place, information technology would only be a normal wide-mouth stainless steel water bottle, making it super piece of cake to clean: The bottle opening is wide enough to fit a standard dish scrubber inside the lid, and the lid has an extra opening where the filter attaches to make certain you hitting all the nooks and crannies.

Astrea offers a subscription service so yous never forget to supervene upon your filter. The water bottle filters are $12 per replacement filter and should be purchased every 2 months if you utilize your filter water bottle regularly -- but because well-nigh people drink about ii liters of water a day, that should requite you lot enough of gallons before you need a new filter.

Runner-upward for backpacking

Sawyer Select Filter & Purifier S3

Sawyer Products

Water that comes out of the Sawyer Select filtered h2o bottle is clean drinking water, that's for certain. Sawyer Products offers all sorts of clean-water gadgets, but this purifying water canteen in particular uses a double-filtration system: The interior "Foam Adsorption Engineering" removes heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides and viruses, while the exterior micron water filter removes leaner, protozoa, cysts, clay and sediment.

The Sawyer Select bottle is made of BPA-gratuitous, food-course silicone, and the interior is foam. The diverse caps, as well as the external micron water filter, are made of BPA-free plastic. The micron h2o filter itself is a hollow cobweb membrane. The bottle is squishy, but information technology even so feels relatively sturdy.

One downfall for backpackers looking for a convenient travel water bottle, though, is that this filter bottle will never return to its dry weight while you're on foot. It's impossible to squeeze all of the water out of the bottle, then expect it to add some weight to your pack after the first use.

This Sawyer bottle requires an initial prep to remove any foam adsorption material that could've gotten knocked loose during packaging or shipping. Once you prep the bottle, the h2o filtration process requires 10 seconds of squeezing the canteen to work the cream adsorption feature. To become all of the h2o out of the h2o filter bottle, yous need to give it a serious squeeze -- even roll up the bottle from the bottom, like to the way y'all roll up a toothpaste tube when it's getting low.

Considering this filter water bottle has so many parts, it's pretty difficult to clean. There'south no way to get your hand or a brush inside the bottle, and the foam interior makes me worry that the inside tin never get completely clean and dry. Nevertheless, the website does say that it's not necessary to completely dry the Sawyer Select filter water bottle, as the cream is also designed to prevent mold and leaner growth.

Runner-upward for tap water

Brita Premium Filtering H2o Canteen

Paige Thies/CNET

Brita is known for its faucet and bullpen filters, but the company besides makes plastic and stainless steel filtered water bottles. Co-ordinate to Brita'southward website, these bottles aren't intended for outside apply -- they're intended for only filtered tap water, similar the Astrea bottle -- only this bottle also filtered natural fresh water just fine. The Brita filtering water canteen uses an activated carbon filter, which is extremely porous and pulls contaminants, such as chlorine and particulates.

Brita's filtered h2o bottles come up in plastic and stainless steel. It's BPA-free and relatively sturdy, but I wouldn't take this bottle filter bottle on a backpacking trip. It would suffice for twenty-four hours hikes, still, if you filled it up with tap water first (utilize with natural h2o at your own run a risk).

The Brita filtered bottle consists of just three parts: the bottle itself, the flip-elevation cap and the filter, which nicely locks into identify on the lesser side of the cap. It'southward easy to put together and requires almost no prep -- simply quickly wash the bottle and run the water bottle filter under hot h2o before your beginning use. Because the bottle contains minimal parts, it'southward pretty easy to make clean.

Not recommended

Sediment remained in water

Lifestraw Get

Lifestraw

Despite being i of the most popular water-filtering products on the market place, the Lifestraw Go did not meet my expectations for filtering. The double-phase filtration includes a hollow-cobweb membrane and a carbon capsule, nevertheless this was the only canteen that produced water with particles later on passing through the Lifestraw filter. That'due south not to say the Lifestraw Go isn't safety to drink from -- the particles were probably just sediment -- but it did produce a relatively strong mineral taste compared to the other bottles on this list.

The Lifestraw Get is made of BPA-free plastic throughout. Overall, the Lifestraw Get feels pretty sturdy. I prefer the durability of stainless steel, but information technology'due south lightweight and comes with a carabiner, so information technology would brand a good backpacking water canteen.

This self-filtering h2o bottle has 3 simple parts (canteen, cap and filter -- four parts if you lot count the carbon capsule inside the filter), and the prep is simple: Just run clean water over the carbon filter capsule. Whatever fourth dimension you lot utilise the bottle, allow the water sit for a few moments to prime the hollow-cobweb membrane filter.

Waterwell Ultrafiltration Travel Water Bottle

Produced a sour taste

Paige Thies/CNET

Waterwell claims its double-phase filtration system removes 99.9% of waterborne pathogens, but based on the taste of the water that came from this bottle, I wouldn't exist and then certain. I didn't experience or see any particles like I did with the Lifestraw Get, just the taste alone was enough to make me wary of bringing this bottle into the backcountry for make clean water.

The bottle and cap are made from BPA-free plastic and feel just as sturdy as a plastic bottle should. The filter, however, is attached to the straw by a flimsy prophylactic tube, which could exist the culprit behind the poor filtering. The h2o tasted sour, just I couldn't quite identify the taste -- sulfur, maybe. Fifty-fifty though I didn't actually want to, I took a couple more than sips (and also spat those out) to brand sure information technology truly tasted the way I idea information technology did.

Despite its poor filter attachment and sour taste, the Waterwell does take some good properties. Information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to use, with the same setup as nigh of the other bottles on the list: bottle, cap, filter. The water bottle filter detaches easily and the canteen opening is large plenty to insert a standard dish scrubber.

Originally published terminal year and updated periodically.

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The data independent in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended every bit wellness or medical advice. Always consult a doctor or other qualified wellness provider regarding any questions you may have nearly a medical condition or health objectives.