Introduction

If you are planning on getting away from the rat race and going on a camping trip, having access to clean, safe drinking water should be a top priority. No matter where the road or trail takes you, when you are exploring the outback, water supplies are generally untreated and water quality can be dubious. To protect yourself from any nasty pathogens or other harmful contaminants that may be present, it is advisable to have a good quality portable water filtration system on hand. In this article, we review five of our top picks to help you choose the best camping water filter to keep you safe on your outdoor adventure.

Tips for Selecting the Best Water Filter for Camping 

Why use a portable camping water filter?

Untreated water, even in remote locations, can be contaminated with bacteria, viruses and other pathogenic microorganism originating from human or animal feces. Consuming water that is contaminated with pathogenic organisms can cause diseases such as botulism, cholera, dysentery and typhoid, to name a few. It's bad enough coming down with some form of illness if you are at home with all your home comforts at hand and medical facilities nearby. But if you contract a stomach bug or other disease while you are camping or hiking miles away from civilization, your fun-filled trip can suddenly become not that much fun after all, and in a worse case scenario, can even be life-threatening.

A good quality portable outdoor water filtration system that is capable of removing bacteria, viruses and other pathogenic microorganisms will keep you safe while you are camping, preventing your adventure from turning into a misadventure. A portable camping water filter is designed to be compact and lightweight so that it can easily fit into a backpack without hogging too much space for other gear, yet still be efficient at removing contaminants from all sources of water, including raw water sourced from rivers, streams and dams.

Benefits of using camping water filter?

Using a camping water filtration system will not only protect you from harmful contaminants, but offers several other benefits too. Since a camping water filter will also remove contaminants that cause foul taste and odors, water will smell and taste better, and therefore will not only be safer, but also more palatable to drink. This is important if you are partaking in strenuous outdoor activities such as hiking or canoeing, and need to keep rehydrated. You will be more inclined to do so if the water tastes good.

Using a camping water filtration system alleviates the need to bring bottled water along on your trip. Bottled water is not only bulky and heavy to carry around, it is also expensive, and leaves a trail of plastic in its wake. Replacing bottled water with a camping water filter is therefore not only more convenient as you will have less weight to lug around, but it also offers economic and environmental benefits too. 

Things to consider before buying a camping water filter

There are many different types of water filtration systems for camping (more on this in the next section), let's look at some of the key things to look for when buying a camping water filter to help you narrow down your selection and choose the best outdoor water purifier to keep you safe on your camping trip.

• Filtration capabilities — the perfect camping water filter should be capable of removing a wide range of drinking water contaminants commonly found in both freshwater systems and tap water, but especially pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa. A portable water filtration system that is also able to remove contaminants that give water a bad taste or odor will make water that much more palatable and refreshing to drink after a long hike. Have a close look at the list of contaminants the water filter is able to remove, and to what degree before you make your final purchasing decision.
  

• Portability — The whole point of a portable water filter is that it must be portable — in other words, small enough to slip in your backpack and easy to carry around without breaking your back. Consequently, size and weight is an important factor to take into account. Ideally, you want a system that is small and lightweight, yet produces enough water to keep you adequately hydrated.
  

• Storage capacity, water output and filtering efficiency — This is also an important factor to consider. You should look for a camping water filter that will deliver clean, safe water at a fast enough rate so that you are not likely to die of thirst waiting for it.
  

• Ease of use — Portable water filtration systems for camping tend to be small and lightweight, but not all of them are easy to set up and operate. Look for a model that you will feel comfortable using without having to refer to the user manual, otherwise this is another item (taking up valuable space and adding extra weight) that you will need to include in your backpack.
  

• Durability — As the filter will be used on adventurous outdoor pursuits, it may very well be subjected to some knocks and bumps. To ensure it continues to last for the long haul, choose a camping water filter that is made from durable materials, is well constructed, and comes with a manufacturers warranty against flaws and defects.

• Affordability — Look for a camping filter that will efficiently deliver safe drinking water but which also offers good value for money. It may not be the wisest decision to purchase a top end system that will dent your budget to the extent that you will have nothing left over for the rest of your trip. By the same token, the best outdoor water purifier is not necessarily the most expensive one you can find but also offers economic and environmental benefits too.

Types of portable water filters 

Straw filters — These are the smallest, simplest and cheapest portable camping water filter available — simply suck up the water using the straw, and it will remove any dirt and debris that may be present. They are ideal for cleaning murky water, but their ability to remove harmful contaminants is limited.

Water Bottle filters — Water bottle filters typically have a single-stage filter cartridge inserted inside that removes contaminants from drinking water. They are particularly handy for campers, as they are durable, lightweight, and can also double up as a normal water bottle when safe drinking water is available.

Squeeze Water Filtration Systems — These water filters incorporate a single-stage filter into the works, which operates by squeezing the water bottle to push the water through the filter. They are able to remove pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms, but are not effective at removing viruses. They also tend to clog up fairly quickly when used to filter dirty or murky water, which can slow down the rate of filtration significantly unless the filtration system is flushed out and cleaned. They can be quite labor-intensive to operate.

Pump filters — These compact filters can be used to pump and filter water drawn from a water source such as a river or lake. Simple insert one end into the water source and the other end of the hose into a water receptacle. Like the squeeze bottle filters, they can be quite labor-intensive to operate, and they are capable of removing bacteria and microorganisms but not viruses. But they fair better when filtering our dirty water as they have a pre-filter fitted into the inlet hose which removes sediment and debris.

Gravity filters — While gravity filters tend to be on the larger side, they are able to process larger volumes of water at a much quicker rater. Dirty water is placed in a top reservoir and passes through the filter to a lower reservoir via the force of gravity. The clean filtered water in the lower reservoir is safe to drink.

UV filters — UV filters use ultraviolet light to kill pathogenic bacteria, microorganisms and viruses. While UV filters are very effective at eradicating pathogens from water, they cannot remove sediment and debris. They operate on batteries, which makes them portable and useful for camping, but to be on the safe side you will need to pack a spare set of batteries in case the original set die. Batteries can be expensive, and will add to the running costs.

Best Water Filter for Camping

Best straw filter

The LifeStraw is cheap, lightweight portable filter that can be slipped in a pocket or backpack and used to filter water anywhere. 

Pros

• Lightweight - weighs just 2 ounces
• Compact - slim design measures just 1.2 x 8.8 inches
• Extremely affordable - costs around $20
• Effective at removing pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms
• Includes a removable lanyard to keep on your person while hiking
  

Cons

• You have to lie on the ground to suck water through the straw or put dirty water into your reusable water bottle
• Does not remove viruses
  

Best squeeze filter

The Sawyer Squeeze is a good quality squeeze camping water filter that will not hog real estate in your backpack.

Pros

• Lightweight - weighs just 2 ounces
• Compact - empty squeeze bags lie flat and do not take up too much space in a backpack
• Affordable
• Effective at removing pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms
• Versatile
  

Cons

• Does not remove viruses
• Squeezing to filter water can become tedious, especially when you are parched after a long hike
• Can become clogged when filtering dirty water
• Squeeze bags are not that durable and will eventually wear down

Best pump filter

The MSR guardian is a military grade pump water filter that is very effective at rendering the worst quality water safe to drink. Unlike most other pump filters, it is also capable of removing pathogenic viruses.

Pros

• Removes bacteria, microorganisms and viruses
• Pre-filter fitted to remove sediment and debris
• Durable
• Low maintenance
• Fast flow rate
  

Cons

• Expensive
• Weighing 17.3 ounces, it is extremely heavy to lug around

Best portable UV filter

The Katadyn Steripen Ultra is a compact, portable UV filter that is easy to use and effective at killing pathogens.

Pros

• Kills bacteria, microorganisms and viruses
• Easy to use - simply place inside a water bottle and shake
• Lightweight - weighs 4.8 ounces
• Fast - takes 60 seconds to treat half a liter of water and 90 seconds to treat 1 liter of water
• Can be used up to 8000 times

Cons

• Expensive
• Runs on rechargeable batteries, so will need to be recharged via USB cable from time to time to keep working effectively
• Not effective for treating murky water

Best gravity water filter

The Go Berkey Kit provides a versatile water purification solution no matter whether you are camping, hiking in the outback, or just on the go. The portable Berkey water filter kit includes a compact stainless steel gravity filter with 1 x Black Berkey filter element plus a Sport Berkey water bottle filter, together with a Berkey primer tool and a vinyl carry case to conveniently store everything in. Berkey also offer the larger, but bulkier, Travel Berkey water filter as an alternative portable water treatment option that is particularly useful for treating larger volumes of water and for catering for more than one person.

Pros

• Portable, gravity fed system that can be used anywhere
• Removes over 200 harmful contaminants including pathogenic bacteria and protozoa
• The re-cleanable and self-sterilizing Black Berkey filtration element will filter 3000 gallons of water before needing to be replaced
• Long filter life makes this system economical over the long-term
• 1 Quart (.95 liter) storage capacity
• Can purify 1 gallon (3.5 liters) of water per hour
• Aesthetic, durable polished steel design
• Includes a Sport Berkey water filter bottle that can be refilled 160 when filtering water from any source, and 640 times when filtering municipal or well water.
• Compact for easy portability - the upper chamber fits into the lower chamber when transporting and has a total height of just 10 inches.
• 6 Month manufacturers warranty against defects in workmanship and materials, plus extended lifetime warranty on stainless steel chambers and hardware available if system is purchased from an authorized dealer

Cons

• Weighing 2.4 pounds, it is somewhat on the heavy side compared to other portable camping water filters, but it very useful at basecamp and does include the lightweight Sport Berkey water filter bottle that you can slipped into your backpack while hiking.

Best of the Best

When you are camping you may have to rely on untreated water sources to supply both your drinking water and cooking water. Since water quality can vary greatly from location to location, and may be contaminated with a wide range of contaminants such as pesticides, lead, and pathogenic organisms such as bacteria, and cysts, we recommend that you choose best water filter for camping available to keep you safe out there. All the above filters will do just that, but in our opinion, the portable Berkey water filter kit is the best outdoor water purifier for several reasons.

It is a portable water filtration system that is capable of removing pathogenic bacteria, protozoa, and cysts, as well as more than 200 other harmful contaminants that are commonly found in drinking water and freshwater sources. As it operates by gravity, it doesn't require power, batteries, or elbow grease to produce water that is safe to drink. Simply top up the system and let gravity do the work. It also offers greater versatility, as the portable Berkey water filter kit includes an ultra-portable lightweight water filter bottle — very handy when heading out on the trails. The Go Berkey kit is also extremely durable and long-lasting and will keep you hydrated for years to come.