New Cool Things: Katadyn BeFree Pre-Filter

[middleearthchronicles]

I had previously looked at these, but saw the mixed reviews. Glad to hear that they have worked well for you, it sounds like a great preventative option. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find them anywhere now.

[FOLLOWINGWALKERSWORLD]

Definitely look at these. I do see it fits the 42mm Cnoc & the 1 liter Katadyn. Can’t find the Cnoc 42mm on Amazon though.

[ak]

How well do these work when using a befree gravity system?

[kristinvetromile]

Also have you found them recently? I can’t find them anymore.

[MarmaladeOutdoors]

I’ve been using the befree filter ever since you turned me onto it on the pct and this is huge. Never knew if shaking the water in my bag back and forth was really cleaning the filter so this is huge. Where can I buy these sleeves? You didn’t say?

[hikerJohn]

Why cant you simply back-flush the BeFree the same as with the Squeez? Sawyer says the best pressure is 20 pounds and you should tap it against something while back-flushing. Sawyer says the filter matrix can handle more than 30 PSI but they think the plastic housing might crack but I know that housing can take 50 PSI because I've done it quite a few times . . . I would do that with the BeFree (at the lower PSI) if I had one. Sawyers literally last for ever and you can use bleach before storing them. I would write BeFree an email and ask them about back-flush pressure if you havent already (if it's not in the documentation).

[tomnoyb]

Best back-flush is with Iodine-water. Specifically KI-water, not brown povidone-Iodine. Mix KI-crystals (cheap on Amazon) to saturation (~70% KI by volume) with distilled water and fill a 2ml dropper for the trail. This is highly concentrated (lightweight) disinfectant that should never be used undiluted. One drop of KI-concentrate contains 20mg active Iodine and can disinfect 2.5l of trail-water. That same disinfected (drinkable) water can be used to back-flush Sawyer and HydroBlu filters (allowing the same 20-min disinfection time as the KI-water itself requires). In other words, back-flush and wait 20-min to use filter. Unlike Chlorine, Iodine will significantly restore flow-rate to filters.