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Re: [at-l] Re: First Need Filter website

Frank Webbe wrote:
> My experience with the First Need was nothing like yours.  Mine clogged a
> lot, and yes, I was using proper technique, pumping from a pot after
> filtering through a bandanna.  When I was on a section hike in Oregon, the
> thing quit entirely, leaving me two days of drinking snow melt and
> rock-flour water.  I was the proverbial unhappy camper.  Mt Sweetwater
> Guardian has clogged and had to be field cleaned but it always ends up
> working.

I never filter through a bandana first, but I do use a pre-filter, and I
backflush the regular filter when pumping gets difficult.  This back-flushing
has extended the life of my filter dramatically - to at least 100 gallons -
and seems to restore the filter to near-new condition.

I have never tried filtering rock-flour water, nor has any of the water I
filtered been particularly silted, so these conditions may not be acceptable
for this filter. The only time I had to filter silty water, I let the water
settle overnight and filtered off the top. No problems whatsoever that time.

I do find it interesting that so many people have so many different
experiences with filters. As I have said in the past, the First Need is the
only filter that has continually worked for me, and has often been the only
working filter on a multi-boat canoe trip, when every Pur model made has been
unusable. True, Pur has replaced the filters at no charge when my friends have
taken them back, but to me that's not a good filter.

I have no personal experience with the MSR or Sweetwater filters.

-Paddler
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