Field Sports In Scotland Pt5

Come Dine With Me

We spent the morning anxiously searching the Kingdom of Fife for Sciurus carolinensis AKA the Tree Rabbit, who has an urgent dinner invitation for some celebrity chefery. Further details are embargoed...

More soon (ish)
SBW

Unboxing: Life Saver Water Purifier Review

Readers from way-back-when may remember I was rather taken with the idea of these water purifiers. Finally I've taken delivery of one, so an Unboxing is due. 

When inventor Michael Pritchard saw the asian tsunami on TV he wanted to do something to help people in the third world rebuild their lives, when he saw hurricane Katrina devastate a first world country he re-evaluated the scale of the problem, and developed Lifesaver as a solution. This truly is game changing technology, by carrying one instead of carrying water you save a massive amount of pack weight AND get far cleaner water than any other available system.

Up until now even the best filter has only removed bacteria 200 nanometers long from water. Viruses are typically only 25 nanometers long and would pass through the filter. Lifesaver filters right down to 15 nanometers means instant access to safe water whatever the circumstances.

The instructions said you have fill it with clean water and let it stand for 10 minutes

 Once you've got the lid off!

 Mockery: Andy says it's better to give than receive

Pump it up to prime the charcoal filtre

 Fill with water of questionable quality

You can also use the pre filter as a scavenging sponge

Make sure you've closed the waterproof cap to keep the drinking and filling ends separate

 OK perhaps the lid is a bit stiff

Pump it up to make the water flow,

if the water only trickles out give it a few more pumps.

“The ‘Lifesaver bottles’ were tested using micro organisms in far greater numbers than could ever be found in natural water sources. This is the worse-case scenario approach recommended by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and their guidelines have been used to draw up our own protocols for testing of all Microbiological Water Purifiers. As well as using modified tap water for our tests we use samples taken from a pond or stream as our challenge test water to simulate ‘real-life’ situations as per EPA guidelines.”

Under the conditions of testing in our laboratory as shown in this report, our results show that the ‘Lifesaver Bottle’ removed all bacteria and viruses from a contaminated water source in excess of legal requirements and as such, complies with all British, US and European Drinking Water Regulations for Microbiological Reduction.
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

For a full explanation here's the inventor Michael Pritchard giving a demonstration for TED Talks


I'm not as smart as Michael Pritchard but as ever, my blog my rules, so here's what I'd do differently:

In this size it takes up a bit of pack space, I'd like one half the size, half the weight wouldn't be a bad thing either even if, as it's for recreational use, it only had half the service life.

The strap is add-on design - by the time you've filled the thing with 'orrid water the strap has soaked some up and the risk of cross contamination is doubled. I'm going to make a replacement out of something non-absorbant.

In summation: wether you're hiking, camping, traveling in the third world, or preparing [see the Jerry Can size here] this is an excellent bit of kit.

Lifesaver also do a really cool purchase option, where you pay a little more for your bottle and another bottle goes to someone in a disaster zone. The link is HERE the USA site is HERE

A very cool product from a very cool company

More soon
SBW