The original design for the Katadyn hiker belonged to PUR. The PŪR brand was created by Recovery Engineering, Inc. which was sold to Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1999 for approximately $213 million.
The PŪR outdoor products line was sold to Katadyn USA in 2004. P&G maintained the household products and continues to manufacture and sell them. PUR was one of the premier makers of outdoor water filters until their outdoor line was sold in 2004.
One thing that made PUR filters stand out was that some of them came with Iodine made into the filter. As the water was moved through the filter, Iodine would break away from the filter and mix with the water. This would kill any viruses or bacteria that were able to pass through the filter. The filters ability to kill any bacteria or viruses made it into a purifier. As anyone with any real outdoor experience knows, a purifier is better then a filter. The draw back to this design, the water had an Iodine taste to it. Using a charcoal filter may have helped remove the Iodine taste from the water.
After Katadyn bought the outdoor water filter line from PUR, they discontinued production of the Iodine filters. This left customers that had bought the PUR products with no suitable replacement Iodine filters. Once the filter had to be replaced, the purifier was downgraded to a regular filter. There were (and still are) a lot of unhappy PUR customers that found out they now owned an expensive filter, instead of a purifier.
In this review we are going to take the Katadyn Hiker Water Filter on a 6 – 8 mile hike in 90 degree daytime temps.
On the first stop to refill our water bottles the stream was only about an inch deep. To test how tolerant the filter is of dirt, and to get the intake hose fully submerged, the pre-filter was removed. We found out later this was a big mistake
During this rest break my son, my nephew and I drank two bottles of water. We had been hiking for about an hour and a half almost non-stop. So when reached a good stopping point we were pretty thirsty. So we took the time to tank up on water before we headed out again.
On the second refill of the water bottles, the Katadyn hiker stopped working. Inspection of the housing showed that some sand had made its way into the filter, but not a lot. Luckily for us I had my older PUR hiker in my pack. The PUR was taken out of the pack and tested in the same exact water conditions that the Katadyn had just been used in. This time however, the PUR did not clog up. The PUR hiker has been used in similar situations several times with no problems.
Keep in mind, taking the pre-filter off the intake hose is just asking for trouble. When the pre-filter was removed, I knew that the filter might clog. But to properly test a piece of equipment sometimes it has to be pushed to its limits. In this case, the Katadyn hiker did not have much of a limit.
Using the PUR housing and the katayden filter (the kids did not like the Iodine taste of the water) we were able to refill our water bottles and keep moving. During the trip we stopped one more time to refill our water bottles using the PUR Hiker, because the Katadyn had stopped working.
A couple of days later an email was sent to Katadyn customer service. The reply to the email was helpful and the problem with the filter was resolved. There is some kind of one way valve that is on the intake. This valve is very picky about dirt and debris getting into it.
For the price, the Katadyn hiker seems like a decent buy. But, be aware that this filter very picky about dirt and debris getting into the one way valve of the intake hose. At no time should the prefilter be removed. If the stream is not deep enough to fully submerge the intake hose, dig the steam out a little to create a hole. Then submerge the filter into the hole.
One of the draw backs of the design of this filter, there is no access to the one way valve. So if its broken, or not working, there is no way to inspect it. On the other hand, some filters are designed so the one way valve can be accessed, checked, and or replaced – but not the Katadyn Hiker. If the person looking at this filter can afford to buy something else, then do so. It seems that the quality of the Katadyn products has slipped since PUR sold their water filter line to them.