I'm an Anesthesia student and found something interesting here. The cleaning syringe is simply a medical syringe with a standard "Lur-Lock" tip. If you lose or damage it, pick up another at a medical surplus store or have a nurse or md friend snag one from the hospital. Also, if you are on a long trip and want to cut down on weight, but still want to clean your filter, grab a 10mL "Lur-Lock" syringe instead of the 30mL one that comes with it. Its about 1/2 the weight. You'll have to clean a little longer but you'll save a little weight.

Just back from a medical mission to Haiti. While there, I used a Sawyer mini filter and a home made gravity filter system. I added an in-line carbon fiber filter for improved water taste. We had a 32 person team in the field for 1 week. The system provided water to everyone for 7 days with NO diarrhea or waterborne illness. 1 person had heat exhaustion from not drinking enough in the heat (95-105F). I backwashed the filter every day and was amazed at the crap that came out each time. At one point I saw mosquito larvae in the dirty water bag (taken from rainwater collected in an orphanage cisterne) before filtering. This filter is GREAT! I used it in the Philippines after Typhoon Yolanda last year also. no illness on either trip. I can't say enough about it. If you're worried about viruses, boil your water!

This is the best review I've seen on these water filters. Actually, probably one of the better review videos period. I have the original Sawyer and was thinking about picking up the mini for my son. This pretty much sealed the deal. Thanks!

Thanks for taking the time to do this. Looks like I'll be ordering the Mini!

youtube needs to make this video a mandatory watch for every other youtube reviewer to set a standard. you are great at reviewing , bullshit cut and total honesty and to the point!!!

My wife bought the mini for me on my birthday. I almost bought the original Sawyer after watching your videos. At that time they come out with the mini so I held out. We are going on a 2 day backpacking trip over the Thanksgiving holiday. I cant wait to use it on this trip. We were using the aquamira drops before. Just want to say thanks for the videos. You do a great job.

Thanks, Sin! I just ordered the mini kit so I'm pretty stoked to add it to the pack!

*note* He recommends the sawyer squeeze nowadays because of flow rate & the # of quick trips the mini has been clogged.

Just the information that I was looking for. Thanks so much for taking me along on your hikes and for the Sawyer info on both, Filters! Aloha!

This is the best review/comparison I have seen. You answered all of my questions as I was deciding which one is best for me!!! Convinced me to sub!!!!

Excellent video. I was looking at these earlier at Academy Sports and then I stopped at Walmart and my brother and I were trying to figure out the differences. I told him most people preferred the mini, but I wanted to know the differences between the bottle, the mini, the squeeze and any other models. After watching videos on Sawyer mods, I didn't think it really mattered, but wanted to know their out of the box features and why the various designs. Your video helped to explain and clarify them. Again the point is made that you can modify or accessorize them to work any way you want, but the price for the Mini 2 pack really makes that the current best buy.

Thank you for converting the weights, i hate when other American youtubers only say it in ounces and I have to pause the video and go check what it is in grams. You've earned my like

this is some top notch editting! Mad respect

Thanks for your review. I've been looking at these and you just made up my mind. I will combine this with my Millbanks Bag and a two liter bag for an inline system. Texas is not know for clear, clean water in the field.

I love my Sawyer, getting the Mini soon.

Really GREAT video. Very informative and well presented, also covered all the bases for those of us without experience with either systems but looking to educate ourselves before taking the Sawyer plunge..

Just bought the Sawyer Mini, waiting for it to come it the mail. Can't wait to use it.

Excellent, professional looking video and well thought out. Plus, you answered all of my questions in the process. Thanks!

Great review, saved me loads of time going through numerous reviews... subbed

Thanks for the review. On was on the fence about which system to buy but you helped me make my choice. Really enjoy your videos. Keep them coming. Enjoy and be safe!

very good review. I have the sawyer mini also and have coupled it with an active carbon filter from Katadyn. the 'Katadyn carbon catridge' reduces chemicals and Improves taste of treated water. the carbon filter weighs little more than the sawyer mini and both together are a good supplement. I connect both filters with short hose pieces. that's all. thank you for your cool videos and good tips. greetings frank

Just received my mini in the mail. Enjoyed your video far more than reading their instructions! Ha! Thanks!

Thanks for the great review. My MSR is now going to be riding the shelf...

I bought one of these after watching your review. I can't wait to give it a try in the next hike!

One thing I notice people who use this product on long trails is they dip the bag in their water source, or spill it as their filling it up from a gravity source of water, wetting the outside of their collection bag, then screw the filter to the bag, filter the water while the contaminated water on the outside of the collection bag drips unfiltered water into their clean water bottles. I watch and read a lot of videos and journals of people on long trails. Sometimes they get sick and I can't figure out how they got Giardia. I can't help but think this may be the source of their getting water-born pathogens. Some care must be taken to insure this doesn't happen using this very capable filter. I've only seen one person use an added hose to this filtering system to insure possible bad water didn't get into his drink container. Good video. Thanks.

Thank you sintax77 for clearing things up about back flushing oh and btw loved your video think I'm going to get myself one for Christmas

You couldn't explain it better. Great review, thank you.

Excellent. I shall look at getting one for my trips this year. Thanks.

As you said: the ability to put the mini in your pocket during freezing temperatures is a massive plus - especially in a survival situation.

As always a good, informative product vid, Sintax! I use a Katadyn and have always liked it but mine (Hiker Pro) is older and kind of bulky, love the idea of just putting it in my pocket. Just so happens that on my "Winter Wish List" is a ULA OHM 2.0 pack and on the ULA site they offer a Sawyer Mini with the pack purchase! Great luck…but they'll be sold out now that I posted this! ;-) Good job, Bro and thanks for sharing...

Sintax, Great review and comparison. I have the standard Sawyer and am not familiar with the mini. I just did a video review about the standard one a week or two ago. Love these little filters.

Great review. Whew! I'm glad I had already put my order in for one of these at Amazon before you posted this video, because after this raving review the price is going to shoot up. LOL! Thanks for helping me realize I made the right choice. Happy trails!

Great review. I got all my answers in one review. To the point and great comparisons.

Great video for Future AT hikers like myself. Thank you!

It's late 2015. There are a few lightweight backpacking viral-level purifiers now: RapidPure straw/inline (1.9oz), Aquamira Series II Red Line Inline (3oz?), and Sawyer's own Zero Point Two (heavier). There was the Renovo, which I see you reviewed a year later, but that company looks to be undergoing a transition and is now touting the upcoming Oasis "system." I guess we'll have to see about that if and when it comes out.

Ok, I bought the mini on eBay, so we'll see how it does. Thanks for the review.

Thanks for an informative comparison of these filters. The video quality was excellent. I am trying to decide which system to use for backpacking and must be as light as possible, yet effective.

Thanks for the review. I will be buying a mini for next trip.

Good job on your review...I own all of these Sawyer filters...I used a older version as a pre filter on my First Need Deluxe water purifier.

This was super super helpful, thank you for explaining it so well!!

Glad I found this! Great content man, keep it up.

100,000 Gallons of water = 417 TONS of Water. Trust me, It's worth it... A few little Tip Hacks: 1: Get a nice biggish Molle Bag, One of the shops I frequent provides me with these nice long plastic Click close air/water tight tubes in which they supply their product. These make excellent protectors for those easily busted off nipples. The Molle Bag is useful for stashing all the "Stuff" I got one that has a loop strip for a hook and loop type patch. That bag is now the Designated "Water" Gear bag! I think it was sold as a medical bag, a pair for less than the price of 1 filter. 2: Get some Pure Water grade tasteless non-Toxic clear tubing at your local hardware or Aquarium store. That too goes into the Water "Kit" bag! Color some of it with a permanent marker - That's always to be used as the Tainted Water side. Just so there is no confusion! It's so much easier to set up a large capacity Gravity filtration system, IF you expect to be staying for at least a day in one place. 3: I always buy 2 of whatever, because I also duplicate everything I carry in my Wife's kit. So - It's easy to simply cut off the bottom of one of the collection bags, using a small stick and a few pieces of tape (you are carrying a medical kit with some tape or band-aids in it aren't you?), it's easy to keep the bottom open so you can keep a nice constant pour of pond water going. My wife and I are in our 60's so we Truck/Jeep adventure, our hiking days are over. I set up a Gravity system once we get to our camping/fishing spot by the lake, and set up our system to fill a 7 gallon Aquatainer for fresh water. Overseas it's different, but in North America and most of Canada, Waterborne viruses are simply NOT an Issue.

OMG, thank you so much for the info, I will be going to that 4day hike at Peru, great info.

Thanks for the info, well done video. Using the disposable water bottle cut down to use as a scoop is a great tip.

I enjoy Bivowack backpacking so I find myself stationary once I reach my destination. For that I love my kyatodine. But for on the go, can't beat the sawyer!!😊

Great review, just got my mini last week. Looks like my MSR Sweetwater will be a spare.

I found your video informative and helpful. Great job!

Excellent review! I'll be picking up a mini. Thanks for sharing.

Great video. Provided me with all the information needed before purchase.

great review just ordered my Saywer water system today ! looks like I oicked a good one !! subbed !

Apparently the sawyer bags 7 years ago were a lot more robust because these days they last about a week before busting open at the seams. Most people replace the stock sawyer bag with the Evernew bags made in Japan.

When using this filter it helps to keep a rag with it to dry it to prevent contamination, also a water bottle to gather dirty water easily and you can also use the water bottle to squeeze if your bag breaks.

thanks for the cut water bottle idea I put one in my bob it's a nice scoop for sure.

don't know, if it was already mentionned in some earlier comments, but you can screw the filters also to most normal bottles instead of the bags! So taking 2 bottles, one for dirty and one for clean water, saves you the weight of the bag.

Also curious if you found a convenient bottle setup or other hands free filter technique using these things. Would be fun to have the filter running while setting up camp or preparing cooking.

Very in depth review! Thanks ! You made up my mind!

I have both and prefer the larger Sawyer Squeeze. It doesn't weight that much more and the flow rate doesn't seem to diminish as fast. I question Sawyer's stats on maximum gallons filtered. When I am back from my backpacking trips I simply run a mild bleach solution through the filter as described in the Sawyer manual to keep the shag nasties at bay.

Amazon has a coupler smaller than the tornado tube one, to backwash with no syringe. They also have adapters for tube adapters to use as a gravity system. If you search for Sawyer filters they come up as "other customers also bought" ... Lot of negative reviews on YT about the Mini but the regular Sawyer gets great reviews.

Very good video - I too have a sawyer and did my own little video on it - I have been very impressed with it - having drank swamp water and I am still here :-)

I originally bought a Katadyn. The larger of the 2 as for some reason it weighed less at about 500 g. Was recommended this little thing 2 years later and for the dry weight of 34 g without the other bits which makes it up to about 100 g is phenomenal if you are trying to strip bag weight to a minimum for long distance walking. (100,000 Gallon = 470,000 Litre) When you consider the numbers, you really have to ask for how long would you need to be in the wilderness before this little treasure started to breath its last. For the price, weight and the capacity, I think it will be sometime before anything better hits the shelves.

My mini arrived yeasterda. Thanks for the video. I just need to try it out now.

Tux for helping me make my choice I just bought my sawyer mini today!!

Both my Sawyer mini and squeeze stopped working after a couple of uses. They were back flushed, then stored for several months. When used again it was like pushing water though rock.

Sintax77 happy Thanksgiving! !!

There is a newer version of the squeeze with 2 32oz bags, an adapter for the straw for both sides of the filter, caps for the bags, a thick rubber straw, the backwash plunger, the squeeze with the drinking cap, and a mesh bag. It is $49.95 though.

Can you back flush with air? thanks for the detailed review!

Thanks for the comparison! I ended up going with the original Sawyer today. Also REI has some platypus bags on clearance on their website for about $5 right now for another bag option.

Nice review! I think im going to go for the mini.

Phenomenal review 5/5 stars

Great review. That looks like a great filter.

For an update on pricing on these, I went with the sawyer because of the much faster flow rate and lifespan. Walmart carries the Sawyer Squeeze for $29.99, this includes the Squeeze, Injector Cleaner and 1L Bag.

I bought the katadyn and I absolutely hate it. This is a good info video. I've been looking at the sawyer squeeze, but since I'm more into fast packing at the moment I'll go with the mini.

My opinion differs from yours. I just recently completed my AT thru hike and during that 90 day experience I upgraded from a mini to a regular sized squeeze. I carried a syringe with me the entire trip and backflushed as frequently as possible. Regardless, the mini has such an insanely slow rate of flow that I would spend an inordinate amount of time filtering water each day. I got tired of spending 10+ minutes filtering water every time I stopped. I eventually bought the full sized sawyer and began using simply a smart water bottle instead of a bag. I could walk by a stream, fill up the bottle as I went, screw the sawyer on top and squeeze the bottle to have clean water on demand. My filtration time was cut down to simply filling the bottle and the full size sawyer had a generous enough flow rate to drink directly out of. I personally wouldn't recommend the mini to anyone who needs to have a water filter for their own well being. Be it an emergency situation or simply backpacking. One bad water source and it gets clogged beyond practical use.

i now have a mini, i only go on short #microadventure trips tho so it should serve me fine. and about bags failing, i have only seen one video where a man called dean read has a brand new bag burst, and he knew how to use them as he had been using the filters for a long time.

I am curious why one might use the cut half of plastic h2o bottle with the cap rather than the bottom of the bottle without the cap. It seems to me the latter is lighter and if you somehow loose the cap you no longer have a scoop but a funnel.

Thanks dude, great review!

Use a 1or 2 litre soda bottle to feed the filter and keep the bag as a back-up. Weight difference is totally minimal. I use the squeeze for backpacking.

another great video and review mate .. thanks for sharing

As always, thank you for posting and the great info. Also check out the Sawyer .02 filter for virus removal and I'm a back packing size.

sintax77 (love the pun), I just discovered your channel with this water filtration review. Thank you. Excellent review, excellent video, very informative, and very professional. I will look for more of your videos.

I just watched about a dozen eval's of the Sawyer Mini and your's was the best. One note, there are 2 options for killing virus's one is chemical as you mentioned and the other is U.V. (Ultra violet light.) Two good options are Steri Pen, my sister used one on an African trip and it worked great. I just bought a CamelBak 'All Clear' U.V. purifier that kills everything living in the water. It doesn't filter particulates so use your Sawyer Mini first and in areas where you suspect virus's, use a UV system to kill them. Thank you for your video.

Another great review (as usual), I hadn't even heard about the mini until now. It's a shame stuff is so expensive in Europe though, at $20 they're giving them away.

Just to let you know. They sell 16oz collapsible bag/water bottles in drug stores like CVS and Wallgreens for $1 or $2. The threads on those bottles match the sawyer squeeze.

Its best for the filter to find slow water not fast as there is more sediment stirred up in fast flowing water, which will clog any filter faster.Nice comparison.

I have the “Survivor Filter”, similar in size to the Sawyer filter, which claims to filter viruses too!

Did i see you wearing the Vasque Breeze 2.0 Gore Tex? Was about to buy a pair myself if so and was wondering how happy you are with them.

Just a note that in the demonstration in this video of the straw, he inadvertently put the straw on the wrong end. Make sure if you are using the straw that the flow arrow points into the straw. Otherwise a great comparison. I use the mini and I bring the back flushing syringe on all trips longer than 3 days and I back flush after the last filtering of each day and have never had a clogged filter however I am almost always filtering clean lake water. Thanks.

ive never had a bag fail either. some days if I am really tired, and i don't recommend this unless you have more than one bag, i sit on the bag to get the pressure to push the water through the filter. using that method i have never had the bag burst, but again i only do it if i am pretty tired and i have another bag with me.

Looking at getting the Sawyer mini to replace our MSR Miniworks pump filter, and I was curious on your opinion. We use Camelback water bladders and to fill it with water you have to unload your pack, remove your bladder from the sleeve to be able to access the bladder opening. With the Sawyer Mini could you close off the hose valve, remove the bite valve, hook up the sawyer to the hose where the bite valve was, open the hose valve and squeeze clean water into the bladder? That way you would never have to remove your bladder during fill ups and can do it without taking off your pack. Either way awesome video's, keep them coming and they are all very helpful.

Great presentation.

Awesome review. Thanks!

Great review. Thank you!

Good review, good detail, thank you.

Very nice review. Thank you!

my issue on sawyer mini is the slow flow. I wanted to solve that by buying the larger sawyer. But the connections are an issue too. Inline seems to be more reliable.

My sawyer squeeze is a family heirloom my great great grandchildren will use it and itl still have lots of gallons left on it

Great gear review man:) I'am looking for some water filtration system. I was searching for Sawyer Squeeze but its not available in my country:( Too bad because its a great piece of gear.

Are there any independent _lab_ tests on any of these units? Not just the sawyer, but others as well.

So if you were to use inline you would fill up your bladder system with funky creek water, and then it filters it as you drink?

Thanks for adding weights in grams!