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[AT-L] Sweetwater Guardian vs. Pur Hiker

Andrew Linger writes:
 > Well, I've been on this list for about 1.5 months now, and suppose it 
 > would be proper to introduce myself.
 > I'm Andy Linger (no trailname yet) from Milwaukee WI.  I graduate 
 > tomorrow in Occupational Safety.  The last thing in the world I want 
 > to do right now is get a *real* job.  So this winter I plan on 
 > teaching skiing in Colorado.  Then I plan on my thru hike next march. 
 >   One of my biggest questions regards water filters.  I'm looking at
 > the Guardian and the PUR Hiker.  Has anyone had bad experiences with
 > either of these?  I know that PUR guarantees the Hiker for 1 full year, and
 > have also heard many good things about the Guardian.

  Hello Andy!

  Well, I can't comment on the PUR Hiker specifically, but I have a PUR 
Scout that I had only used sparingly for a little over a year.  Very
sparingly.  I had it out on a trip to Mount Rogers this July and it 
crapped out.  Totally.  Not clogged, but something else.  I suspect that
it was a problem with the seals since I couldn't generate any pressure.
And this happened just about 14 months after I bought it.  I guess those
guys at PUR really know the mean time to failure for their equipment and
structure thier warranties accordingly.  Fortunately one of my compainions
had a Sweetwater Guardian, and it worked like a champ for the rest of the
trip.  Admittedly, I was using a Scout and not a Hiker, so your mileage 
may vary.  (In fact I have heard that the Hikers are much more reliable
than both the Scout and Explorer.)

  Like I said though, the Sweetwater worked fine where the PUR failed.
And that same filter worked fantastic for my friend when he was trekking
in the wilds of Indonesia.  It's easy to pump, easy to clean, and reliable.
The new model has some slight design improvements over my friend's model
which should make it even easier to use.  (It comes with a bottle adaptor
and cleaning brush, and the intake filter has been redesigned so that
it will not bury itself in silt.)  

  So based on what little anecdotal evidence I had, I replaced my PUR
with a new Sweetwater Guardian.  It will be accompanying me on a 10 day
backpacking trip in Vermont next month, so I'll let you know how it works
out.  I can't wait to test it out.

  John
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