The 6 Best Purifying Water Bottles for Travel

Up until now, adventure travelers heading to places where water is questionable had few choices: bring a UV-light-equipped sterilizing pen, a hand-pump filter that takes time and energy or chlorine- or iodine-based tablets that purify but take at least 30 minutes to work. Now, water bottle companies have gotten smart and are equipping bottles themselves with these technologies, conveniently combining drinking vessels and purifiers into one neat bundle. It’s time to ditch the single-use plastic water bottle for good.

Before packing for your next trip, search the Centers for Disease Control and Protection. Select whatever country you are visiting for specifics on contamination. For example, hepatitis A is a virus found in contaminated water in many countries in the developing world, but with specific water purifying systems (not just filtering), that virus can be removed. Do you need to protect just from bacteria or also from viruses? Some systems filter to remove protozoa (such as giardia), bacteria (e-coli, salmonella, cholera) and chemicals or pesticides; some systems filter and purify, which then eliminates viruses, like hepatitis A and rotavirus. Remember, many water systems filter out the chunky stuff like pebbles and grit, but not all purify against bacteria and viruses.

We tested six water bottles and their purifying systems in the backcountry to find out which we trusted most, how easy it was to filter, what the drinking experience was like, durability and, well, style points. Here are our favorites.

See the full article by Mattie Schuler on Gear Patrol's website here.