LifeStraw Family 1.0 Portable Gravity Powered Water Purifier for Emergency Preparedness and Camping

We took this water filter with us to Zimbabwe, six months ago. Although we were able to buy bottled water, we had this as a back-up. We filtered water every day, from a nearby well, to use for washing dishes (I still boiled the water first, but that was probably over-zealousness on my part!), for washing clothes by hand and other non-drinking uses. We were truly pleased with this product and have recommended it to many people. We appreciated that it is very lightweight and portable, and it was so easy to use. I did learn that it's important to have the unit hung high enough (per the clear directions), so the hose is straight and taking full advantage of gravity. The production is slow, but if everyone in your party adds water to the chamber whenever they think of it, you'll be fine for everyday uses. I did drink the filtered water a few times and did not have any ill effects. The water we were filtering was coming from a residential (city) well, and you could see dirt in it, sometimes. If you are thinking of taking a gift to a local resident living in a situation where water is scarce and not treated, this could be a life-changer. Highly recommended product!

The LifeStraw is good filter for camping, but we're using this to filter collected rainwater for use on houseplants and an Aerogarden hydroponics unit. We have well water here, very hard, which is generally not so good for houseplants and definitely not recommended for the Aerogarden. But we collect a LOT of rooftop rainwater for the gardens (like nearly 3000 gallons).The water itself is pretty clean, but I didn't trust it. Plus we did want to be able to filter rainwater for drinking in an emergency. The LifeStraw Family 1.0 Water Purifier came well-packaged and with fairly easy to understand instructions. Mostly it's a matter of knowing what valves to turn when. The other thing was we really needed to do flushing several times before the bits left in the filter by the manufacturing process were all cleaned out.Flow rate was/is good, but seems to work best if the tank is mounted on a wall so that the tube hangs vertically down. I recommend putting a tray or something under whatever bottle you're filling if you're going to leave the area, to avoid spills.We already had a couple of the portable LifeStraws from these folks in our backpacks, and so are familiar with the instant-availability concept of these kinds of filters. Only in this case, you can filter a whole lot more water than just for personal drinking. We'd definitely buy again, and might actually do so for our 'emergency kit.'I tested the water with various meters and strips, and it seems to be perfectly safe to drink. So I'm guessing my plants will like it better, too.

Good quality and reasonably priced

i would give more stars if i could

We took the LifeStraw family water purifier with us on a camping trip recently. It worked great, but it is very slow. It took a little bit to get it to actually start processing the water, but once it did start flowing it came out at a pretty steady trickle. The water was very good and very clean. we intentionally got muddy river water to run through it and it came out crystal clear with no particles that could be seen or tasted. if you were looking for something to be able to hang up and process water slowly then this is a good option for you but not a good option if you needed water in a pinch. All in all I would purchase again but would also have the additional Life Straws an emergency backup.

Produces microbe-free water that is also free of micro-plastic particles found in all brands of bottled water. Time will tell how harmful those particles are. I filter my algae-laden well water thru a 1 micron sediment filter and two 10" 1 micron charcoal filters before it's poured into Lifestraw bucket. Collect in glass and stainless steel containers. Live alone, so slowness is not a problem & 0.02micron pore size provides the safest water you can produce. Amazon price much lower than factory-direct.

I haven't opened or used this yet but I've purchased other Lifestraw products in the past. The only negative I know of and read from other reviewers is that once you open the bag there is no storage case for the unit and it's pieces so, before I open it I'm going to find a plastic tool case or something to use to store it in.The reason I'm writing this review now is to get the word out about Lifestraw. This is the second best unit I know of. It filters 4,755 gallons of water down to 0.02 microns which is enough to filter out viruses and bacteria etc. The absolute best filter I found (the Survivor Filter PRO) was twice as good bc it went down to 0.01 microns and did like 25,000 gallons or something and they both cost about the same. The reason I chose Lifestraw is because it's gravity fed and you can hook up a large water bladder or tank etc to it to feed it... The 0.02 micron level is way good, much better in fact than most water filters sold (which are generally rated at 0.20 microns) and so safe to use and have sold like 5 million units worldwide. The Survivor Filter PRO's .01 micron filter has to be hand pumped 50 times to get a 500ml (about a pint) little water bottle full of water and it uses multiple filters that need replacing etc. There is no way I could see the tiny looking hand pump lasting long enough to pump 100,000 liters. That comes out to 379 pumps for one gallon of water. 100,000L's = 10,000,000 pumps. Wow! The pump in the picture looks plastic but I seriously doubt that if it was metal and with ball or roller bearings, that it will last that many pumps, lol. But seriously, I don't see myself pumping this thing 50 times every hour to get some safe water. I'd rather just dump some water in the feed hopper (my words for it) and come back in an hour and get 2.4 to 3.2 gallons of purified water. That's an average of 2.8 gallons of water in an hour with no work, no pumping.

Confío en que hace bien lo que promete, pero las instrucciones que trae son muy escasas, por ejemplo ¿cada cuando se aprieta el globo rojo?, etc.De hecho no lo he empezado a usar por qué no se cómo se usa al %100

C est le troisième kit de filtration que j ai commandé , pour des sites différents ! Je n achete plus de bouteilles en plastique donc je filtre l eau systématiquement quelque soit le lieu ( bateau , cabanon et maison ) c est parfait pour moi !

I ordered this Water Filter System purely to store away for an Emergency. The Company delivered promptly, and overall, I am very pleased with this purchase. I can not comment at this stage as to whether or not if it works as it should, as mentioned above, I have bought this purely to store away, and use in the event of an emergency situation only to which I hope, I will never need to use. I also purchased the Family Pack of X5 Lifestraw. It was a tough choice between these and the Sawyer Mini Water Filters. For some reason, I was more drawn to these, as I believe these Water Filter Systems are used in third world countries, and have been tried and tested well. If they help people in these countries, I am confident that they will work well in an emergency situation in the UK. I personally believe, these are essential to any Survival Kit, or just handy to have, in case of an Emergency. Without clean water, your chances of survival are pretty slim, aren't they ? Best of luck.

Hope I never need it.

This thing is just amazing. I spent days researching different brands and styles and this is the only portable filter I could find that did all bacteria, protozoa AND VIRUSES. Buying one that doesn't do all 3 doesn't make sense to me because you'd still be worried that the water isn't safe. It's a little on the expensive side but when you consider it does 18000 liters of water, it seems justified. I got it mainly for camping and for my earthquake kit. Only thing I would like to see is a storage container to keep it in. The bag works well enough until you open it and then it just seems like there is no way to reseal it. Even if they sold an optional plastic box for $15 I would buy it in a heartbeat. Overall, I think this is the best portable water filter available as long as you can handle its size.Pros:1.Large reservoir and great filter capacity for long term use with multiple people.2. Gravity feed. No pumping, no seals to wear our or mechanical devices to break. Gravity feed is the way to go if you can handle a larger unit like this.3.Filters viruses as well as the usual bacteria and protozoa that most filters are limited to.4. Durable and easy to use. No need to keep an instruction manual.Cons:1. The bag it comes in is kind of useless as a storage container after you open it. A storage box would have made this thing perfect.Great quality and performance overall.