Review: Katadyn BeFree Water Filter System

[alpinista55]

I just completed an 8-day trip to the 60 Lakes Basin (http://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/viewt ... =8&t=24459), where I used my new Katadyn BeFree filter for the first time. I absolutely LOVED this filter!

The BeFree can be purchased with a .6L soft bottle for $40, or just the filter for $25, making it the same cost as the Sawyer Mini. It has several advantages over the Sawyer Mini (my previous goto filter). It is rated by Katadyn at a 1,000 liters lifetime.

• It has much higher flow through the filter, probably 3x the flow of the mini
  The filter is internal to the container, instead of external like the mini
  The BeFree does not require back-flushing. Just shake the water bottle to clean the filter
  The wider mouth of the water bottle makes filling the bottle much easier than the Sawyer

I also purchased a HydraPak Seeker 3L reservoir for use with the BeFree. In camp, we filled the Seeker, capped it with the BeFree filter, and used it as a gravity flow filter. The flip-top part of the filter cap screws off to reveal standard size threads. The sawyer squeeze tube adapter fits, as does the Tornado Tube, making for a prefect gravity system. You could also use this setup as a hydration bladder, but you would have to store the Seeker bladder upside-down in your pack.

On the trail I kept the BeFree in it's .6L bottle and just filled it as needed, drinking directly from the filter. The high flow rate made this much better than drinking directly from a Sawyer Mini. I could easily quaff down a bottle and refill for the trail in just a minute or two. On longer waterless trail sections I would use the BeFree to filter additional water into a Platypus 1L collapsable bottle.

Cleaning the filter is dead simple. Just fill the bottle 3/4 full, screw on the filter, and shake.

The only con; water bottles with 42mm openings are harder to find. HydraPak Seekers fill the bill nicely, and come in 1, 2 and 3 liter sizes.

Also, the BeFree .6L bottle seems pretty rugged, but a couple reviewers on REI.com have reported failures (pinholes, and a catastrophic failure at the connection between the body of the soft bottle material and the harder plastic at the top of the flask) . Having the Seeker along seems pretty good insurance. Those reviewers with problem flasks noted that Katadyn replaced them without questions free of charge.

A few reviewers reported reduced flow over time, but I did not see any reduction on our 8-day trip, filtering all camp water for 4 people, and my personal drinking water during the day.

[Chazz]

Thanks for the update. I'll be using a Sawyer One for seven days and if that does not work well with flow-rates, I'll be purchasing a BeFree for next year.

[Koda]

Im glad you shared this, Im a huge Sawyer Mini fan but with it filtering water is still a chore... and slow. The new BeFree cleaning method beats the Sawyers backflush maintenance hands down. I will probably migrate over to this BeFree system eventually.

[sparklehorse]

I too had a catastrophic failure with a brand new BeFree, so count me as a skeptical adopter. See photo below.

REI replaced that unit, and I used the new one on a recent 5-day trip in the Diamond Peak Wilderness. It worked well, but I'm not in love with the water balloon type flasks that are all you can use with this filter at this time. They really need to come out with a semi-hard sided bottle, like a SmartWater bottle, with the correct threads for this. Then it would be an awesome system. Being paranoid after the initial failure I bought two of the Hydrapak SF750 SoftFlasks to use in place of the .6L flask that comes with the filter, one to use daily, the other as backup. They worked OK, but you really have to screw that filter on tight to keep from having leaks, which increases the chance of causing another failure. I also used a 3L Seeker for water in camp. It was fine too. You could use it as a gravity feed, but I found just squeezing the Seeker to filter into an empty SmartWater bottle was plenty easy and simpler than setting up for a gravity feed.

All-in-all I really like this system, but feel it needs improvements in the container department.