Thanks. I was tempted to cut this down big time to shorten it up, but felt some would appreciate all the extra info and demos that hasn't been shown as much in other vids.

Thanks. I was surprised how long it ended up being myself and gave some serious thought to cutting out half the segments, but ended up deciding that my video offered more information that might be worth it to those who take the time to watch it.

That makes sense. Thanks for the comment.

I loved my Mini too when it had been working well for me but neglected to care for it as well once I picked up its bigger brother.

what you using now?

@@jm7720 I started using the MSR Hyperflow filter. Which I do like, as well. But I ended up picking up another Sawyer (the regular size) and typically grab that first nowadays. (I use it with a CNOC water reservoir)

This is an old video. I'm well aware of the pronunciation and origin now because I've since looked it up. In fact I put that all out there in my more recent CNOC repair video. And I know the blue coupler is officially called a cleaning coupling and I certainly use it for that purpose. The new CNOC Vesica does particularly good job at allowing you to get more forceful pressure on a backflush using it. But it certainly also doubles as a convenient coupling simply for gravity filtering, eliminating any need for a hose.

Glad it was helpful!

Glad you liked it!

Really. Wow. Do you know how those holes got there, or was it just a defective seal at the neck seam?

@@WasatchWill Ya, I'm betting it was a defective seal on the seam because the holes are right on the seam between the bag and the harder mouth section. I was squeezing some water and then felt a spray on my leg...looked down and there was a tiny stream of water shooting out.

FYI, I contacted CNOC today about the defective Vecto bag and they are sending out a replacement today.

@@26parma Awesome. Good to hear.

Old video. Thanks for watching though. I now go between Sawyer and Platypus QuickDraw. But your point is correct. Sawyer guarantees their pores to be maximum .1 micron. QuickDraw is .2. Both are small enough to essentially eliminate 99.999...% of all bacteria and protozoa. But because QuickDraw is bigger pore size, the flow is faster and thus more convenient. Sawyer's smaller size however filters out all microplastics from water. But then again, microplastics exist throughput our food supply chain, so we're pretty much SOL either way when it comes to that.

Sorry. I haven't purchased that so I don't have any experience with it.

I put mine on as firm as I could comfortably get it and it still leaked as demonstrated. As also mentioned, my friend put his on a Smart bottle so tight on a trip he was unable to get it back off. Even Hydroblu's website has a note where they declare their product isn't compatible with a Smart bottle and many other reviews and comments I've seen elsewhere online have confirmed this as well. However, I won't doubt yours. That is interesting. It may be that yours is an anomaly from some variation in the manufacturing process. Kind of like how some people have found that the Sawyer mates well enough with their Platypus Platys (like mine) while others have had more mixed results. Or, they may have indeed revised their thread mould very recently to be more compatible with Smart bottles and such. If that proves to be the case, that'll mean my vid on all this is already outdated. Going to keep an eye out for others who may have similar results as yours with newer filters.

@@WasatchWill i saw devins video after i bought it and was real worried about it working. It not working with the main hiker bottle is a huge issue. I hoping either like you said they changed up the molds or i justvgot real lucky. Good comparison though. Very in depth.

That has been pointed out by another commenter as well. There is no gasket, only the threads, so yes, that's likely the cause there. I now think it's the softer material that the threads of the CNOC are made from that allow it to seal securely with Hydroblu.

These filters don't give a lifespan in years, but in capacity of water filtered. A good way to determine a lifespan in years is to look at the specs of the filter, look at its listed life capacity. Then determine how much water you use each day on a trip and how many days your trips typically are and how often you go on trips each year. Then divide the filter life capacity by the approximate amount of water you'd use it for in an average year and that'd give you an approximate lifespan in years. Point being that if you do a multi-month thru-hike every year, the lifespan in years will be much shorter than for someone who gets out for a weekend once a month.