The 6 Best Camping Water Filters

Water filters and water purifiers have been created with the same goal in mind: To give you suitable drinking water when on the go. Since there are a multitude of water-borne illnesses that can be spread through streams, rivers and lakes, it is best to know whether a filter or a purifier is going to work better for your particular situation.

The difference between a filter and a purifier is the level of organisms that get filtered out. Filters use an activated carbon element or ultraviolet light to separate the dangerous bacteria and spores from the water. Thus, all that's left behind is the clean drinking water. Purifiers take it a step further and remove viruses with the use of chemical additives such as iodine. Viruses are too minuscule for a filter to remove. Purifiers are recommended if you are traveling abroad to different countries such as Africa or South America. If you’re staying in North America, a purifier is not as critical, and a filter will be able to effectively clean an adequate supply of drinking water for your camping needs.

Hearing the term water filter may elicit images of an extensive system attached to the outside of the house at the water source or a funny looking contraption attached to a faucet. Since neither of these is portable or appropriate for camping, there has to be some adaptation of this concept into a more mobile and contained unit that can be carried around freely in your backpack.

There are many different styles of water filters to choose from.

Pump filter – Put a hose in the water, secure the pump mechanism to your bottle and pump the water up through the hose to the container.

Bottle filter – Filtration system is built into the water bottle. Fill the water bottle and drink.

Drop filter – Gravity filtration system that consists of a large bag and hose. Fill the bag with water, hang it up and wait for it to drop through the tube.

Straw filter – Cylinder tube system that allows one to drop down to a water source and drink directly from it through the straw.

Squeeze filter – This system is the same as a bottle filter except it's a soft bag that can be collapsed down to fold flat.

Ultraviolet filter – A wand-like mechanism can be dropped into any water receptacle (check the size on the instructions), then a button is pushed and when the light illuminates, it's safe to drink the water.

Chemical tablets – Add to water per the directions. Chemical tablets usually consist of iodine and/or chlorine and can be combined to make water drinkable. The chemicals can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours to fully process water, so don't want until you are in absolute dire need of water to treat it.

You can also boil water if you have the time. Just be sure you take the extra fuel into account when you pack. If you boil any water for at least 1 minute, it will kill just about anything that shouldn't be there. Remember, viruses, bacteria, and protoplasm are all living organisms, and no living thing fares well in boiling water. Also keep in mind the time it takes for the water to cool before you can drink it. Don't boil up a batch of water when you need it; plan on doing this well ahead of time so you can get the water down to a temperature you can tolerate before drinking.

In terms of the best type of system, that will all be dependent on your needs at the time. If you are preparing water for a large group, the gravity system may be your best bet as the receptacle holds a more significant amount of water, which also makes it great for cooking with. If you have the time and patience, then boiling water is just as useful as any filter system and it will only cost you fuel. However, if you want a portable solution to the water purification process, then one of the other methods will prove to be the most practical. Because of this, we focused on these types of systems when conducting our research and creating this list.