Aside from protecting your fleshy meat-sack of a body from blistering heat or freezing cold, the most important survival consideration is the old standby: water. Long thought of as one of the easiest elements to find, it is actually one of the toughest to find safely when in an emergent situation. Few things will hamper your attempt to walk out to safety as crippling, explosive diarrhea. Keeping your water clean is the sole purpose of the Survivor Filter.
Let’s cover the Survivor Filter’s tech specs, as provided by the manufacturer’s website:
- Filtration down to .05 microns
- The Ultra Filter can be removed and cleaned up to 100,000 liters (26,417 gallons), the replaceable Carbon Filter lasts up to 1,000 liters (264 gallons) and the Cotton Pre-Filters (5 extras included in every order) can be used up to 1,000 liters (264 gallons).
- Durable but weighs only 3.5 Ounces
- Independently tested at Intertek Labs in the USA to show removal of – 99.9% Virus, Staph and Bacteria and reduces Heavy Metals
So, the Survivor Filter (in the “Squeeze Kit” I received for review) is essentially a filter-straw with 2x canteens of one liter capacity each. The filter by itself can be used as a simple drink straw, and effectively as well. It has an ample flow-rate, allowing you to drink quickly and without excessive restriction. As part of the Squeeze Kit however, the Survivor Filter shines. The two included carabiners (blue and red) are not only useful for attaching the canteens to a pack, but can also be used to denote filtered water vs raw water.
Using the idea listed above, our imagined survivor could fill the “red” canteen, then filter it into the “blue” canteen (as denoted by the carabiners). The blue canteen is safe to drink without further filtration, while the red canteen is essentially portable storage which can be filtered later on as needed.
In use, the Survivor Filter is easy and straightforward. The threaded bottom is the same pitch as is standard on soda bottles, an added bonus. The lifespan on the filtration elements is impressively long for an inexpensive product, and the body is very staunchly built. The Survivor Filter Squeeze Kit is now an essential part of my outdoor kit, and at $29.95 for the filter and $39.95 for the Squeeze kit, there isn’t much reason it shouldn’t be a regular part of yours too.
IG @Rexnanorum
