Katadyn Base Camp Water Filter

$79.95 $66.65

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The best water technique for base camps, household and team camping. Excellent when significant volumes of water are necessary.

From Backpackgeartest.org
The Katadyn Base Camp filter is a gravity feed filter technique that makes use of a bag that is filled with unfiltered water, hung, and enables gravity to feed the water by way of the filter media into a water container. It is 1 of Katadyn's Backcountry Series of filters.

Initial Impressions
The Katadyn Base Camp filter arrived at my home packaged in an appealing screen box. The box contained the filter bag, filter cartridge, lock ring for filter cartridge, hose, hose valve, and a tiny plastic bag that contains the instruction guide, a tiny tube of silicone lubricant, and a sponge.

My first impression of the merchandise, based exclusively on its physical appearance and packaging, was that it seemed to be an appealing and properly-developed device. The bag is equivalent in building to a dry bag (a nylon content coated on the inside, with a top that rolls down and buckles to close). The bag has a plastic insert at the bottom to take the filter. I discover the vibrant blue color to be appealing, and truly feel it strikes a excellent stability between currently being unobtrusive throughout an out of doors knowledge, nevertheless even now vibrant enough that I am unlikely to lose it by not noticing I left it in camp. A close examination of the bag uncovered what seems to me to be soundly welded seams in the bag, excellent stitching wherever the straps and buckles are located, and a properly-made device.

The filter alone is a pleated content (significantly like an air filter in a automobile) mounted in an normally plastic cylinder. The manufacturer's site describes this filter content as a glass fiber. Over the pleated surface area was wrapped what the manufacturer refers to as a filter protector (a extremely great mesh screen) that is held on by a cylinder of plastic mesh. The filter and filter protector look to be made in keeping with the basic design of the device as a total.

The shutoff valve is a basic plastic clip that slides above the discharge hose, and can be pinched to quit the movement, or launched to allow filtration.

Looking at the Directions
The instruction guide was extremely straightforward, with excellent line drawings and text explanations. There are two omissions I noticed. Very first was the lack of an explanation surrounding the set up and operation of the hose valve, however I discovered this to be self-explanatory. The 2nd omission was any explanation of the goal of the sponge presented, however I have been told it is for cleansing the filter protector. Directions ended up involved in English and French, and covered merchandise set-up, typical operation, field performance tips, prolonged-expression storage, cartridge potential, substitute cartridge set up, merchandise registration, and guarantee data (along with basic data on water filtration).

In the field performance tips part the guide describes how to briefly clean the filter cartridge in the field really should it turn into clogged, a approach I hope to try out out whilst screening this merchandise.

In addition to the guide, there is a label titled "Crucial Industry Suggestions" sewn to the top of the bag that gives six line drawings that make clear how to assemble and use the filter.

At the manufacturer's site further data is discovered in the Usually Asked Questions part. In this part I discovered several useful tips, which includes permitting sediment to settle out of water in yet another container prior to filtering it, and wrapping a bandana or equivalent item around the filter cartridge to lengthen its lifestyle when filtering extremely dirty water.

Making an attempt it out
I discovered assembly of the filter to be pretty straightforward. Even though at initial I did not feel I would require to use the silicone lubricant to insert the cartridge into the plastic insert in the bag, I quickly recognized I would require to. Following lubricating the o-ring, the cartridge slid in with moderate work. Insertion of the hose onto the filter barb took a few of tries, as the filter barb is recessed into the base of the filter between four flanges, and I have large fingers. I discovered the silicone lubricant to be useful below as properly. Once these duties ended up completed, I simply threaded the plastic lock ring (that prevents the filter from simply falling out) onto the flange and slipped on the hose valve and the filter was ready for use.

A single note on assembly is that there is a warning in the directions not to grasp the cartridge around the pleated surface area or it could turn into ruined. This warning made me wonder how significantly caution will be needed in my pack, as the filter cartridge is essentially unprotected from crushing. This is a thing I will keep track of throughout field screening. Once the filter was assembled, I determined to try out it out in my kitchen area. The initial thing I recognized was that filling the bag just isn't as straightforward as I thought it would be with 1 man or woman. Even at my sink, attempting to maintain the bag with 1 hand and fill with the other was a challenge. The bag flipped closed at 1 level, creating the water to movement down the front of my pants. Once I figured out how to maintain it to avoid that from taking place, I recognized the bag will get rather hefty as it fills. I program to try out filling the filter on the ground throughout field screening to see if that is easier. I also wonder how realistic it will be to fill the bag immediately from, for illustration, a lake whilst keeping the discharge hose out of the unfiltered water, at minimum by myself.

The next challenge grew to become locating a location to hang the filter, for which I selected the back again of a chair. Due to the bag currently being barely previously mentioned the outlet end of the hose the movement was extremely sluggish, but it did confirm the operation of the filter and confirmed there ended up no leaks. The movement valve was straightforward to close and seemed to lock extremely securely. The valve launched alright, but my large fingers made releasing a little much more difficult.

I followed the directions to filter 2 L (2.one qt) of water to flush the filter of carbon. Even though the directions noted that this water may well be discolored, I wasn't expecting the initial movement to be black. The carbon quickly cleared, however.

The water filtered right after this first flush was obvious. I performed a aspect-by-aspect style exam between my unfiltered tap water and the filtered tap water. There was a slight, but detectable, enhancement in the filtered water's style, which I suspect was the result of the carbon in the filter absorbing residual chlorine from my tap water.

Testing Strategy
I program to exam the filter by utilizing it to filter all my water for the journeys I get throughout the exam period of time, preserve what I have in at the trailhead. I am a hefty buyer of water whilst backpacking. Given that I will be delivering water for up to four individuals on a lot of of my journeys, this filter will see a great offer of use throughout the exam period of time, probable filtering in surplus of 50 gallons (189 L) of water from a wide range of resources.

All through the screening I will work to examine the following areas:

• Ease of use - Is the filter straightforward to run? Is upkeep straightforward to carry out? Is it straightforward to fill the bag? Are closures straightforward to run? Is it hassle-free to use? What sort of movement fee can I assume underneath various true-globe situations? Does the output speed decline as the filters start to clog? Is it straightforward to hang?
• Design and style - Does the filter work properly with my typical mixture of hydration bladder and bottles? Does it fit properly in my pack? Are the hoses prolonged enough to use very easily wherever I am in a position to discover a location to hang it? Does it seal in the water currently being filtered properly, or does it leak? Does the buckle and top closure look secure? Does the hose valve work properly? Does the content look to maintain up properly, or does it fade or turn into brittle with use? Does the color of the bag have a tendency to absorb photo voltaic warmth, creating the water also warm for drinking? Does the filter clog when utilized with horrible-looking water? Does sediment or slime from the water construct up in the bag, and if so, how straightforward is it to clean?
• Quality of Filtration - Do I discover any off preferences in the water? Is the water at all cloudy? Can it make tannin filled water (which is bitter-tasting from all the vegetable issue steeped in it) along the Washington coastline palatable?
• Element Quality and Reliability - Can the filter stand up to my standard use? Are there any areas prone to use or failure? Does it reliably provide me with secure drinking water, or is it prone to failure, leaving me to resort to a chemical therapy backup? If I come across freezing temperatures do basic safeguards such as draining the filter avoid damage?

Summary
Total the Katadyn Base Camp filter seems to be a properly-made, properly-developed filter. I appear ahead to evaluating its performance underneath true-globe situations.