BORELLI CONSULTING: Recreational Equipment Reviews

SteriPEN Handheld Water Purifier
7 January 2008

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Okay: I have to start out with the qualifying statement that Borelli Consulting doesn’t own or operate a laboratory facility. I have no way of scientifically measuring what impurities do or don’t exist in filtered water and therefore cannot quantify my statement that “SteriPEN works”. What I CAN do is use it as it’s supposed to be used, drink the water and then report on how sick I get – or not. Thankfully, in this case, NOT. Given the need for hydration in the field under sometimes less than ideal conditions, I think the SteriPEN offers a good solution.

Experienced campers - even if they won't usually admit it - have all taken a drink out of a crystal clear mountain stream - only to find out that the water might have LOOKED clean and TASTED clean but wasn't really. Usually this is discovered within a day or two when the less than happy effects of unwanted bacteria make their way - quite quickly - through the lower digestive system. Such an experience when I was fourteen made me careful not to drink "fresh stream water" on a camping trip when I was twenty. I wasn't taking anyone's word for it. That water was getting boiled for a full five minutes.

Now, though, there are a host of different options. One of the most popular is some type of filtration system that you pump water through to get it clean enough to drink. In general, the faster you pump the water the less it gets filtered. The slower you pump the water the cleaner it gets. Either way, eventually you have to replace the filter(s) in your pump system.

A company called Hdryo-Photon has come up with a new way of making water safe to drink: with ultra-violet light exposure. The SteriPEN (Classic shown above; Adventurer shown to the left) is a light-weight battery powered product that renders the bacteria in water incapable of reproduction. That failure to reproduce means they can't grow and flourish inside your system.

The SteriPEN products operate on batteries to produce ultraviolet light that damages the DNA of microbes. Without that functionaing DNA, the microbes can't reproduce which apparently also means they can't make you sick (I say "apparently" because I'm not an M.D.). The promotional material claims that SteriPEN is effective against (and this is quite a list):
- Viruses
- Bacteria
- Giardia
- Cryptosporidium (most common dysentary causing agent)
- Bird Flue and Influenzas
- E. coli & salmonella - Staph & Strep

Addtionally, according to this material, the SteriPEN kills natural disaster / bio-terror agents that can cause:
- Botulism
- Cholera
- Smallpox
- Typhoid

Now obviously Borelli Consulting doesn't have the laboratory facilities to culture such agents and then test the SteriPEN's effectiveness against them. However, I was willing to risk my own health enough to find some local "fresh water streams", use the SteriPEN to clean the water and then drink it. I've done so in four different locations across the past two weeks. I've not been sick (yet).

Let me make this observation though: While the SteriPEN is apparently effective in killing the illness-causing bugs in the water, it does NOTHING to actually CLEAN the water of bad-taste causing contaminants. If you're looking for something to make your water TASTE clean, this ain't it. If, however, you drink for maintenance and not for pleasure (an USMC thing as I understand it) then the SteriPEN will render the water safely drinkable.

In addition to the test SteriPEN (Traveler) that I received, I also got a solar charging case acceossry. This hard case protects your SteriPEN and is capable of recharging the two 3V CR123 lithium batteries the Traveler runs on. To maintain versatility and not limit the recharging capability to sunlight, an AC charger is also included.

Use of the SteriPEN is quick and easy. For a sixteen ounce container of water you simply put in the SteriPEN lit end, push the button to activate it (a set number of times based on the amount of water you're purifying), and wait for the green light - literally. It takes less than a minute for the SteriPEN to render that 16 ounces of water drinkable. For a liter of water you'll have to wait a minute and a half (90 seconds). Oh, wow... oooh... that's just SO long. (read the sarcasm?)

Current retail pricing for SteriPEN products are:
Adventurer: $99.99
Traveler: $99.99
Classic: $79.99
That seems a small price to pay for safe drinking water everywhere you go.

For more information check out http://www.steripen.com.

BE SAFE!

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Don't forget to check out our Tactical Equipment Review of VIO's POV-1 video cam.

This week's Feature Article discussing the value of personal integrity.

For a listing of all reviews in chronological order, GO HERE.

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