Katadyn Steripen Ultra Portable UV Water Purifier – Rechargeable 2200mAh Battery, Eliminates 99.99% Microorganisms, Fast Water Treatment for Hiking, Camping & Travel

This is incredible and I hope the technology will improve water quality around the world. I brought it for a several months long trip in South Asia. It's incredibly easy to use. Before you dip it into the water, you press once for 1 Liter (a large water bottle) and twice for 1/2 liter, 16 ounces, or a small water bottle. You dip it into the top of the bottle then tip the bottle over so the pins are submerged. The steripen has a rubber nose so it's leak proof. The UV lights up the water and the display counts down to zero. You get a smiley face when it's all done. 60, maybe 90 seconds. The water tastes clean and good. The battery lasts a long time too. Best travel purchase.

I bought the SteriPEN for a different use case than I suspect most other people have. I have a long term sinus condition that requires me to irrigate my nose & sinuses frequently, two or three times per day. My ENT doc made it clear that using plain tap water may have germs that cause infection and is unsafe for nasal irrigation. Unfortunately, that meant that it was necessary to boil water in advance & store it in sterilized containers, or else buy gallon containers of distilled water. My wife and I travel fairly frequently, so we had to take water with us---a hassle if you travel by car, and impossible if you travel by plane.Then one day, after months of this, it occurred to me that UV sterilization might be an option to replace boiled or distilled water. I shopped on Amazon, and found the SteriPEN products and read both the product descriptions and user reviews. The SteriPEN Ultra USB Rechargeable seemed like a really great fit. Before I purchased the SteriPEN, though, I talked to my ENT about whether it would be safe to use to sterilize the water I use for nasal irrigation. He 'blessed' the idea with no hesitation. I ordered the unit from Amazon and have been using it now for several weeks with no ill effects. It has proved to be a huge help to me--no sterilized glass jars, no gallon plastic jugs--in the convenience of preparing the water I use to make my irrigation solution. I use the SteriPEN on its 'half liter' setting to sterilize two cups of water at a time; I get the water from the tap & in less than a minute I've got water that I can safely use to irrigate with. The battery charge lasts a long time--weeks, not days--and when its time to recharge I just plug it in the USB on my computer and let it sit overnight.One thing I want to make clear: in the literature that comes with the product, the manufacturer says clearly that the SteriPEN is NOT a sterilizer. I think this is something their lawyers made them say, because if the unit doesn't sterilize, why would anyone buy the product. But be that as it may, for the record let me state that I didn't rely on their literature or advertising for my use of their product. I thought up this usage on my own, and I ran it by my doctor and got his OK. So, if you think you might want to use it for an application similar to the one I have described here, I urge you to get your doctor's approval before proceeding.I'm very happy with this product. It really works well for me, has excellent build quality, and hopefully will last a long time.

I bought this back in 2021 and it's been working well with my weenie weekend warrior backpacking/kayak camping/bikepacking trips. Works better than anything I've tried prior. I still keep water sanitizing pills just in case however.I used the Sawyer Squeeze Micro but had issues with cloggage after only a handful of trips.I had much better luck with the Sawyer Squeeze Mini but I had one freeze on a particularly cold trip and crack making it difficult to know if the filter was working or not. This made me leery of filters in general. You can never 100% trust whether or not your filter is working.I then tried the Kayadyn BeFree to good effect. It's much easier to clean out and it has better flow rate but the BeFree started to let small specs of sand through and if sand is getting through bacteria certainly is as well.The "Steripen Ultra" zaps bacteria, viruses, protosoa but the downside is that it can run out of batteries and it does nothing to filter dirty water. I feel this an acceptable compromise.

First and foremost, I am excited to have a lightweight water treatment solution for backcountry endeavors. After a few years of hesitating I sucked it up and purchased one that seemed like a proper compromise between weight and battery life (the main dichotomy with Steripens).Unfortunately, the first one delivered had an electronic problem of some sort. The visual interface was damaged in some way and it would not charge or turn on when charged. Luckily Amazon's replacement policy is easy to use and I had a replacement within days (they actually shipped it One Day like I originally had). I postponed an early season hiking trip because of the issue but I also have a lot of leeway in timing my trips.The replacement arrived in great packaging and worked as its supposed to. My guess is I will not have any further issues from here on out and will likely be extremely happy with my purchase. The downside is that the original flawed item has left me skeptical and concerned about backcountry travel. I will likely carry a small bleach dropper with me as a backup until I gain complete confidence.Why I bought it:1) Lighter solution than my current filter/pump. I have 2 pumps that range in weight from 12 ounces to 1 pound in real packed weight. Both are bulky and relatively heavy for the solo trips I often do. The Ultra weighs 4.7 ounces on my scale (5.7 with neoprene case if desired) and is roughly 1/2 to 2/3 the size of the pumps. That is half the weight of my normal options.2) Non-chemical: Ultralight hikers have gone to chlorine-dioxide treatments. While they are deemed safe for human consumption I prefer not to add other chemicals to my life and diet.3) Quick: a half liter takes 48 seconds and 1 liter treatment takes 1.5 minutes. Thats a little quicker than my pump and a huge decrease in time for chemicals (which take 20-30 minutes to 4 hours) to kill protozoas that I would really like to avoid.4) Ultra Battery: has enough battery life between charges, 50 liters, for 95% of my adventures. Its a perfect solution for 3-4 day trips with my wife and friends or the 1-2 week long trips I do solo. I prefer reducing my use of disposable batteries and the models that take rechargeable external batteries compromise the # of treatments available. And for $10 Steripen will replace the internal battery when it finally bites the bullet (plus shipping I here).5) Overall cost: Much cheaper then both chemicals and pumps. The UV bulb last 5-10 times longer than the micro filter which cost around $40 a pop to replace.Cons:1) Limited duration of use: The Ultra's internal battery only last 50 liters which doesn't not suit all trips.2) Electronic/computerized: not field repairable and can go dead at any moment. Disconcerting but I can always boil my water if need be. At some point it will die though and add to the electronic waste of this country. Overall though I think it will provide a smaller footprint then the other solutions.Best of luck out there and I will update if I discover any different benefits or run into any other problems.Would be a 5 star rating if the first unit had not be flawed.