When you’re out in the wilderness, one of the things you need to have handy is water. Without that life giving substance, your trip will come to a quick halt! Thanks to the Katadyn Hiker Pro, you won’t have to worry about drinking quality water. As long as there is a some source of water near by you’ll be able to get all the drinking water you need, as this handy tool will allow you to pump water out of the stream and then filter out all the contaminants.

Katadyn, the company responsible for the Hiker Pro is a company that has been around since 1928. They focus their entire company around building portable water systems, be it for 1-2 people like this system is focused on, or more like a few dozen or even a few hundred for one filtration system!

The hiker pro, as I mentioned, is best for one or two people. It is small, doesn’t really require any regular maintenance (other than the rare changing of a cartridge), and is highly portable. The system uses Activated Carbon to filter out all of the bad tastes, viruses, bacteria, chemicals, and more. This allows you to have super fresh tasting and pure water while you’re out in the world. It is even something you could have in your home since many tap water sources are loaded with chlorine.

One of the nice things about this system lies in its ease of use. The water filter can be used in a stream and it even has some controls so that the tube doesn’t sit on the bed of the stream, but rather floats a bit above so that you get fresh water, and as little sediment as possible (extending the life of the filter). The system is so simple to use, that even young children can be taught how.

It is capable of filling up a 1 liter water bottle in just a minute or so, so you won’t have to worry if you end up with more than one or two people coming along on the trip as well.

The bottle also comes with a special filter guard. This filter guard protects the filter from large substances so that you can keep the filter longer.

So what’s the catch?

Well, the biggest complaint against this particular unit is that it is a bit fragile. Katadyn opted for very lightweight and inexpensive materials when building this filtration system, and that came with a bit of a trade-off. There have been reports of the filter breaking apart while people were using it. Also the little zipper bag which keeps the output hose safe from contaminants has been known to rip open on the seams.

Fortunately, these reports are relatively rare, so I wouldn’t let them significantly influence your decision to purchase this great filter. However, I would be careful to make sure you have a secondary location to store your output hose in the case that the bag does tear. That way you won’t find yourself contaminating the clean water which you just filtered!

Finding the Katadyn Hiker Pro is easy. A quick trip to Amazon.com will show you the unit available for a very fair price. They have a note on their page that there is a new model available as well, but I don’t believe that that is a new model, but rather just another color of the same unit.

Regardless, it is a fantastic water filter and is highly portable (less than the weight of a pair of jeans!) so you’ll find it a fantastic travel companion on your next hiking trip.