Sawyer MINI - Lightweight and Versatile

You'll probably hear me say this a lot - the lighter you can be when hunting the backcountry, the faster you can move, and the longer you can stay before you are completely fatigued. However there are some products you CAN NOT go without. One of which is water filtration/treatment. Obviously the lightest item to use for water treatment is tablets. These work very well in most situations for treating water. The downside to using tablets is that you often have to wait at least 30 minutes - 4 hours before drinking. I always have a couple in my pack as a backup, but haven't had to use them for years. In today's market we see some different alternatives that are extremely lightweight. The filter that I've found to be the most versatile is Sawyer MINI. This unit weighs around 2 oz. It can be used as a straw directly from your water source. If you use a water bladder system, the sawyer mini can be placed in line on your drinking tube and filter water as it passes from the bladder to your mouth. It can also be screwed onto any standard sized water bottle (common 1 liter bottles, 20 oz water and soda bottles, platypus bags, etc.). But that's not all, you can also use the Sawyer MINI in a lightweight gravity system. Which we'll explain in a later post. The Sawyer MINI also boasts the ability to filter 100,000 gallons of water, so you shouldn't need to replace your filter for a very long time! Backflow is required to keep filter working at high flow. The Sawyer MINI is available now in our new ONLINE GEAR SHOP for only $24.99, where we only carry items we trust and use in the backcountry! Sawyer also makes some other great water treatment products like the Squeeze System, and gravity flow systems with higher capacity. I've found the MINI to be the most versatile, affordable, and lightweight option available. You can check out the rest of the Sawyer products we carry HERE!