The Sawyer Filters…. And Some Pretty Cool Things you can do with them!

Say what!?!?

Ah the Sawyer Filters, I absolutely love them, for such a small price tag you really get such a mighty little filter! And I certainly  don’t mean little in a diminishing sense I mean it actually as a benefit, the smallest sawyer filter’s weigh in at only 2 oz (that’s the Sawyer Mini tied with the Sawyer Micro Squeeze) and the second smallest (the Sawyer Squeeze) weighs in at 3 oz…. Both of these filters will fit in your pocket and both of them boast a 0.1 Micron filter size, meaning you’re getting some of the filter industry’s smallest available filtering, which basically means it filters almost everything out of your water… What it does and does not filter I’ll talk about a little later on. Also what other filter boasts 100,000 gallon lifetime, I mean it’s more likely you’re going to lose it than use up its filtering ability through its usable lifetime….

***** A note of the filters I recommend… overall I would recommend the Sawyer Micro Squeeze because of the included attachments / weight / price…

Maybe You’re already sold on the Sawyer filters and you’re here because you’re wondering how much more your filter can do other than just working as a squeeze filter? The answer to that is surprisingly a ton more… For example, did you know your filter makes an awesome Gravity Filter, also with minimal set up it becomes an inline filter, usable either hooked up directly to a Camelbak line or used directly from a source (similar to a life straw). ***A quick note on the included squeeze bags from Sawyer, while I love just about everything Sawyer… I do not love these bags, they will definitely get you through a season, but they aren’t going to last forever… or even as long as how long you’re likely to hang onto your filter… With that in mind the bag that I use regularly is: The 2 Liter Platypus Bag ( https://amzn.to/47Dl6tN )

Some of these set ups below can be combined, and I’m sure there are even others out there, but these are the setups that I use or have used… If they seem pretty obvious to you, well, I’m glad you’re a step ahead of some of the others I have encountered on the trail… Otherwise enjoy!

Pre-Filter

This is my goto on almost all configurations of the sawyer filter that I use. What I usually do is cut a couple inches of scrap t shirt fabric, then add that around the filter inlet doing this you can Pre-Filter for the Sawyer which helps prevent sediment getting into your filter and extends the length of time between having to flush it out… Another good option that tends to leak less and be more durable is buying a Cheap washer with a built in screen, but ya know then you have one more thing to buy (just make sure there is enough room for the washer to seat down, and the mesh to extend over the inlet tip)…

Gravity Filter for Water Bladders (ya know with a tube to your mouth thingy AKA CamelBak)…

This one is easy to do and is something I do whenever I get to camp or take a break throughout the day. It takes about 15 minutes per liter to filter through the Sawyer Micro Squeeze (which is my goto filter even with the added 1oz of weight, mostly because of the increase in speed of filtering). Also to note, when holding the bag-filter-tubing upside down the length of tubing going to your bladder will basically suck the water through the filter out of the bag…

 The basic steps are as follows:

1. You don’t need the following item but it will make your life about 1000 times easier by using the fast fill adapter, so the very first thing… get one of those! (If you got REI points coming your way they sell them, but you can also just buy through amazon which is what I did: https://amzn.to/3SlWsJN )
2. What you’re going to do is cut the tube to your water bladder about 2-5 inches from the mouthpiece ***Quick Note*** I really like this mod with a water bladder (the kind you put in your backpack and that has a tube that comes out to your mouth)… but if you don’t have a water bladder you can use some similar tubing to any container you want… (airline tubing or even an old unused camelbak tube works great, I’ll detail this below).
3. Next insert both of the speed parts into the water bladder tubing (the male and female pieces). You want to make sure that the female piece (there’s only one, whereas there are two male pieces) is going into the bladder side of the tubing. 
4. Then remove the tubing that is connected to the screw on adapter and shove it onto the output of your Sawyer filter (the reason I opt for this as opposed to screwing it on to the water filter, is 1 you can do it this way with any Sawyer water filter, and 2 you can maximize water flow and increase speed by skipping the screw on adapter).
5. Last step is to punch a small hole in the corner of your water bag (ideally not through the part that holds the water, but in the sealed corner part… so you can hang it from a tree or wherever) Then add a small loop through the hole to be able to hang the water bag upside down. This step is optional, but like the Fast Fill adapter will greatly improve your experience!
6. That’s it you’re done! To use it fill your water bag up with dirty water, screw the filter with the tubing already attached (the only time you have to take it off is when your cleaning or backflushing your filter) onto your water bag, then unhook your mouthpiece from your Bladder and put somewhere safe (ya know like a pocket) since losing the mouthpiece generally sucks… hook the water filters output adapter to your bladder and squeeze until water reaches the bladder through the tubes. The longer the tube to the bladder and the higher the water bag and filter from the bladder, the faster the filter will function…

Ultra Light Gravity Filter Set Up (Also happens to be cheaper… so that’s a win!)

1. For this setup you don’t need the Fast fill adapter, but you do need a length of tubing 3-6 feet or so is pretty good. This can be from an unused Water Bladder removing the mouthpiece and the bladder itself or you can use airline tubing, aquarium tubing, really whatever that fits on the end of your water filter. I’ve used the following before: https://amzn.to/41ZrDhm and cut to length…
2. Connect the length of tubing to the output side of your Sawyer water filter. 
3. Last step is to punch a small hole in the corner of your water bag (ideally not through the part that holds the water, but in the sealed corner part… so you can hang it from a tree or wherever) Then add a small loop through the hole to be able to hang the water bag upside down. This step is optional, but like the Fast Fill adapter will greatly improve your experience! aaaannnnddddd that’s pretty much it, the rest is operational!
4. That’s it you’re done! To use it fill your water bag up with dirty water, screw the filter with the tubing already attached (the only time you have to take it off is when your cleaning or backflushing your filter) onto your water bag, then place the other end of the tubing into your preferred drinking container (perhaps a smart water bottle)…
5. To get the water filtering, squeeze the dirty water bag till the clean water flows through the tubes into your container. The longer the tube to the container and the higher the water bag and filter from the bladder, the faster the filter will function…

Inline Filter…

A really simple mod that’s pretty useful, the only negative in my mind is that your water bladder will be dirty till you get somewhere you can clean it (or in an emergency you can use water purification tablets to clean the bladder and the tubing)

1. Cut your water bladder tubing 3-5 inches from the mouth piece.
2. Put the filter in there (with the output end connected to your mouthpiece)
3. That’s basically it (easy mac and cheesy right?). To use this setup you fill your water bladder with dirty water and just drink like normal sucking dirty water through the filter resulting in clean water ending up in your mouth.

Direct From Source Filter…

Perhaps even the easiest option… and one that I have used when thirsty and in a hurry!

1. Connect the included short water tube thingy to the output end of the water filter
2. And that’s it… I mean aside from sticking the input end of the water filter into dirty water and sucking clean water through!

Bottle Top Filter…

Another really simple way to use your filter, and one of the Ultralight community’s favorites… like super simple…

1. Use a suitable water bottle… like a smart water bottle, or if your cheap or like the designs better a lifewater bottle
2. Fill the bottle with dirty water
3. Screw the input end of the filter onto the bottle till it’s snug… if you over tighten the filter will leak…
4. That’s it! To use it, while gently squeezing the bottle, suck from the output end of your filter…

Easy BackFlush…

I like the easy backflush because I can carry the coupling adapter instead of the syringe, which always gets broken pretty quickly in my backpack and also is lighter… also then I carry an extra clean water bottle which usually comes in pretty handy…

1. Get the coupling adapter less than $3~! (or get a filter like the Squeeze Micro that comes with one)
2. Hook the coupling adapter to you clean output end
3. Put clean water into your clean water bottle
4. Screw it on and squeeze! You should have dirty water flowing out the input end of your water filter… extending the life of your filter and speeding up filtering in the field!