Water Bottles With Filters For Hiking Buyer’s Guide

When you’re buying a filter water bottle there are a few things you should be aware of.

Price And Affordability

The price is what most people tend to focus on when they’re buying a filtered water bottle.

Many people fall into the mistake of buying the cheapest possible water bottle available. This is because most people don’t think about the additional features available on top quality filtered water bottles.

When you’re looking to purchase a water bottle with a filter, you need to pay a bit more for the filtration feature.

As a rough guide, $20 is the cheapest filtered water bottle that you can get. The cheaper options tend to have average quality filters and poor quality of build.

At the higher end, you can expect to pay upwards of $50 and sometimes as much as $125. These filtered water bottles tend to be survival type bottles that filter and purify water. This means that you can drink from natural sources as well as taps. Great in the backcountry or when traveling overseas in areas with sketchy water quality.

When traveling it is so much cheaper to do your own filtered water rather than buy plastic bottles filled with filtered water. If you add up the cost of a filtered water bottle compared to making your own filtered water then it is very economic. Buy a quality filtered water bottle and think of each water bottle you save from landfill.

Natural Water Source Vs Tap Water

An important thing to get your head around early on, is the fact that some bottles with filters are only designed to be used with tap water. This means that it is not safe to fill your bottle from streams or rivers.

Other filtered water bottles have more extensive filtration systems and built-in purification systems. These can be filled from rivers and streams.

If you’re planning a multi-day hike out in the wilderness, a filtration/purification bottle is going to be your best choice. A Water Bottle with filter such as the ones on the LifeStraw Go and GRAYL Ultralight being among the best.

If you’re only doing a day hike, and you know you’ll be able to refill in a campground or town, you will be fine with any of the other water bottle filters in the review.

Types Of Filters

There are a few different kinds of filters used in water bottles. Some are more effective against specific particulates and contaminates.

Activated Carbon

Activated Carbon is a really common filter material. It is essentially charcoal in block or particulate form.

Carbon filters are excellent at removing chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, and chlorides. They are also great at removing microplastics, lithium, and phosphates.

They do not remove waterborne bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms. Carbon filters are sometimes used in conjunction with other filters that do remove biological contaminants.

The main downside of activated carbon is that it doesn’t last very long before it needs to be replaced. Often as little as every 100 liters it needs to be replaced.

UV Filters

These are not as common because they are so expensive. They work by blasting bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms with UV rays. The UV rays kill the microorganisms, but they don’t remove chemicals or other compounds in the water. The Steripen is the best UV filters (review pending and will be added to this page soon).