Katadyn BeFree Water Filtration System

[alpinista55]

Just picked up this new entry into the crowded water filter niche. It will replace my Sawyer Mini. The BeFree filter is designed to live inside the water reservoir. It has amazing flow through the filter, easily 2x or 3x the Sawyer mini, making drinking from the bottle super easy.

No back-flushing required with the BeFree, just fill the bottle, screw on the filter, and shake; or remove the filter and swish in the stream or hold under a faucet.

The filter fits a 43mm bottle, which makes filling the bottle much easier that the smaller Sawyer opening, but much harder to find a bottle to fit the filter to. The Hydropak Seeker reservoirs do fit this filter, and I picked a a 3 liter Seeker to use as a gravity feed filter for camp. When hiking I'll just drink right from the filters included .6 liter water bottle, or fill a Platypus collapsable 1-liter for extra dry trail sections.

The filter is $24.95, or $39.95 with the water bottle.

I'll be using the BeFree on a 50-mile trip into the Gardiner Basin in SEKI this August, and will report back on actual experiences afterwards.