Steripen

Do anybody own a Steripen? Would you recommend this?

I have bought 2 over the last 3 years. I bought them for hiking in Europe and for cities in East and West Africa. My experience is that Berg water is bug free. I wouldn't bother taking one to the Berg.

They are light and easy to use. The first one worked for about 20% of its claimed lifespan (the bulb just stopped working). The second one has seen light use but so far so good. Steripen works by giving a UV dose to any bugs in the water. Typically one litre at a time is treated in a bottle with a neck wide enough to let the Steripen in. The UV doesn't kill all the bugs but it does stop them from reproducing. One's body can deal with a few of them - the trouble starts internally when they multiply non-linearly. I have read that some bugs recover their reproductive abilities after a UV dose, so it is a good idea to drink the water quickly after treatment where quickly is within a few hours.

Thanks for the response. I am planning to use this not only when hiking in the berg but various other hikes as well. Also i do travel to west africa every now and then.

I have read some reviews where people were not to happy about the reliability of them. Any views on this?

Asterix wrote: I have read some reviews where people were not to happy about the reliability of them. Any views on this?

If the first one I had is representative, then they don't last. I was travelling with the thing in a checked (hold) bag in aircraft and you're never sure what kind of a beating the bags get on loading and unloading. I kind of blamed the short life span on the possible treatment the Steripen got in the bag so I would also be interested to know if I got unlucky or not.

Another thing, I've learnt to use expensive lithium camera batteries (AA) in mine as the normal duracell didn't last long at all.

Update – I used my Steripen over the long weekend on the escarpment. For those who do not know, there were very little to no free running streams and as a result we had to resort to standing pools of water with an enormous amount of tadpoles, frogs and who knows what swimming in them.

The water was treated with the Steripen and was drinkable without boiling the water. NO side effects were experienced. I can definitely recommend the use of this device.

One thing I am curious about regarding steripens is that a stagnant pool is exposed to hours of UV light from the sun (not as concentrated, but still), and yet this has no effect on it in terms of killing/disabling the microorganisms.

we had to resort to standing pools of water with an enormous amount of tadpoles, frogs and who knows what swimming in them

I would imagine that stagnant water with frogs and tadpoles in, would be a good indication that it's clean and drinkable, untreated. If there's no life in it, I would classify it as dodgy and use a steripen or chlorine tablets.

I must admit that I am a bit sceptical drinking water where I can see live creatures swimming in them. I can still remember the last time I had stomach bug on a 4 day hike, not the most pleasant memories.

plouw wrote:

we had to resort to standing pools of water with an enormous amount of tadpoles, frogs and who knows what swimming in them

I would imagine that stagnant water with frogs and tadpoles in, would be a good indication that it's clean and drinkable, untreated. If there's no life in it, I would classify it as dodgy and use a steripen or chlorine tablets.

Do you know what the animals do in that water?