This is great for hiking! My husband and I used it in Alaska while hiking and it worked great. It filters the water very well, lasts years if not decades and it makes hiking lighter because you don’t have to constantly carry around heavy water bottles that weigh you down. You can use it as pictured, drink straight from a waterway with it, or fill the pack that comes with the filter. I love and highly recommend.

Great addition to my gear bag

Great addition to my gear bag. I took this with me on my trek to Mount Everest Basecamp. I used this instead of buy water and bottles on the trail. It is easy to use and lite weight. The only concern was it freezing at altitude, so I kept it wrapped in a towel in my backpack. I would have liked a bigger dirty water bag so i could fill my pack with one bag. I liked it so much I bought a second one for my bug out bag

Life (and back!) Saving Essential

I was gifted one of the Sawyer Minis by my mother when she heard I wanted to start going on backcountry trips. I used the filter this past week for a three-day stint in the Deer Creek Backcountry and it performed flawlessly. The squeeze bags are a pain given the stiff plastic and the difficulty of filling them, but the filter itself worked like a champ. I will take the advice of using a SmartWater bottle on my next trip to counter this (admittedly minor) issue.The filtered water was clear and clean tasting, better in fact than the city water I drink at home. The kit is small and light enough to carry in a pocket, which made it a breeze to trot down to the creek crossing and refill my 32 oz. Nalgene bottle whenever I was running low. Due to the small size of the ... MoreI was gifted one of the Sawyer Minis by my mother when she heard I wanted to start going on backcountry trips. I used the filter this past week for a three-day stint in the Deer Creek Backcountry and it performed flawlessly. The squeeze bags are a pain given the stiff plastic and the difficulty of filling them, but the filter itself worked like a champ. I will take the advice of using a SmartWater bottle on my next trip to counter this (admittedly minor) issue.The filtered water was clear and clean tasting, better in fact than the city water I drink at home. The kit is small and light enough to carry in a pocket, which made it a breeze to trot down to the creek crossing and refill my 32 oz. Nalgene bottle whenever I was running low. Due to the small size of the squeeze bag (16 oz.) it took a few minutes to fill the bottle, but for a single person who's not in a rush, this was perfectly acceptable. Filling an entire 3 L reservoir took about 15 min, but I expect this time to be cut down once I replace the squeeze bag with the SmartWater bottle.When it comes to ease of use and ease of carry, I highly recommend this filter. While I will always carry Micropur tablets as a backup, I feel comfortable continuing to use the Sawyer Mini as my primary filter during short trips, with an eventual upgrade to the Sawyer Squeeze for longer ones.

Lightweight, always works, our go-to filter

We have used several of these, including six weeks on the PCT through Oregon. The Sawyer mini always works and is the lightest filter solution out there. The bag is not the most efficient way to use it. We just keep the Sawyer mini on a dirty water bottle, take it off for easy filling, and squeeze. Smart water bottles work best, very durable-- they last us more than a year. Backpacking in the Tetons, the Olympics, the Cascades, and the Andes these are our go-to filter. Never had one fail. Backwashing will give them a new lease on life. If there are more than two of us on a trip, we take an extra filter. Speeds up the morning and evening fills.

Long Lasting

I bought my Sawyer Mini back in 2016 and have used it on several hikes and backpacking trips. Overall it's been quite reliable, though it's not without its downsides.Pros:- Lightweight/compact- Reliable. Has worked as expected since I purchased it.- Long lifespan. Had it 6 years and no signs of slowing down.- Compatible with many water bottlesCons:- Included bag can be difficult to fill.- Low flow rate, even when squeezing the bag (or bottle) pretty hard. This can be especially annoying when filtering into another container.I have never had the squeeze bag spring a leak, but I still prefer using a smart water bottle or something similar as they are much easier to fill. While I said that it doesn't have a great flow, that hasn't gotten worse over ... MoreI bought my Sawyer Mini back in 2016 and have used it on several hikes and backpacking trips. Overall it's been quite reliable, though it's not without its downsides.Pros:- Lightweight/compact- Reliable. Has worked as expected since I purchased it.- Long lifespan. Had it 6 years and no signs of slowing down.- Compatible with many water bottlesCons:- Included bag can be difficult to fill.- Low flow rate, even when squeezing the bag (or bottle) pretty hard. This can be especially annoying when filtering into another container.I have never had the squeeze bag spring a leak, but I still prefer using a smart water bottle or something similar as they are much easier to fill. While I said that it doesn't have a great flow, that hasn't gotten worse over time as some other reviews have stated. I do backflush after every use, which likely helps. Overall it was a good purchase, but if I were to do it again I'd just go with the regular Sawyer Squeeze to get better flow for the whopping cost of 1 oz.

Product was tampered with, in shipping not wallma

Check your products make sure they are sealed and not contaminated or tampered with!!! Mini sawyer water filtration system arrived three days late, presume because of weekend, unsealed and clam shells were partially closed product has definitely been tampered with, could not get through to corporate to make a record of this but one Walmart managers, promptly gave refund. Person who used this, on vacation definitely six from using it in the wilderness. We gave them the box and when they opened it, it was either use it then or dirty water from there camping area where they were. What a joke! Never order on a Friday because the three days they have there’s no telling what the transportation and it was FedEx did to it. Definitely not good ! 12 unreturned calls to ... MoreCheck your products make sure they are sealed and not contaminated or tampered with!!! Mini sawyer water filtration system arrived three days late, presume because of weekend, unsealed and clam shells were partially closed product has definitely been tampered with, could not get through to corporate to make a record of this but one Walmart managers, promptly gave refund. Person who used this, on vacation definitely six from using it in the wilderness. We gave them the box and when they opened it, it was either use it then or dirty water from there camping area where they were. What a joke! Never order on a Friday because the three days they have there’s no telling what the transportation and it was FedEx did to it. Definitely not good ! 12 unreturned calls to corporate , ordered in Wichita , came from Dallas Texas , fedex

Solid

This is a great little filter that just keeps chugging along for me. I do not even treat it that well, but it works perfect every time. I would recommend attaching this filter to a smart water bottle, or buying a squeeze bag with a wider mouth that is easier to fill. This filter can also be used as as a gravity system, but it doesnt offer the best flow rate when used this way. I am knocking off one start because the Sawyer Squeeze is better (much faster flow rates), but this one is a little cheaper.

Well, the filter part is nice

TL;DR: Sawyer have released an update version of this called the "Dual Threaded Mini". Availability seems sparse at this point but if you have the option of waiting until you can find one, I would recommend it.The filter itself is nice and has an acceptable flow considering its size.My issue with it is on the input side. Based on other reviews complaining about Sawyer bag failures, I took someone's advice and preemptively bought a Platypus bag to pair with it. While it hasn't broken on me, it's unfortunately difficult to connect to the Mini without leaking, so I often find myself holding it at an angle, trying to keep dirty water from entering my bottle. This makes it pretty clumsy to use and less reliable than I'd like, especially considering water filters are ... MoreTL;DR: Sawyer have released an update version of this called the "Dual Threaded Mini". Availability seems sparse at this point but if you have the option of waiting until you can find one, I would recommend it.The filter itself is nice and has an acceptable flow considering its size.My issue with it is on the input side. Based on other reviews complaining about Sawyer bag failures, I took someone's advice and preemptively bought a Platypus bag to pair with it. While it hasn't broken on me, it's unfortunately difficult to connect to the Mini without leaking, so I often find myself holding it at an angle, trying to keep dirty water from entering my bottle. This makes it pretty clumsy to use and less reliable than I'd like, especially considering water filters are often used it high stakes situations. Sawyer's own description says "Attaches to included drinking pouch, standard disposable water bottles, hydration packs, or use the straw to drink directly from your water source", so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that it should work well with a Platypus.I hope that the updated version fixes one or both of these problems (that their own bags are unreliable and that better bags are hardly compatible), but if it doesn't, it at least solves the problem of getting dirty water into your clean bottle by offering threads on the output side of the filter.

Works but sooooooo slow

My experience is mostly in and around the florida Everglades- so tannic swamp water- and your mileage may differ. But even right after flushing and cleaning, I timed it on our last trip and it still takes 5 minutes to do 16 oz of water, or about 10 min per liter. Didn’t work any faster with super clear pure spring water further north. Plus the threads never really lined up with the pouch, the pouch is hard to scoop water with, and the gasket keeps falling out. It works, but I’d only recommend for very patient people with already pretty clean water or for emergencies.

bag is prone to busting

The filter works well enough to filter water. But the bag is rather rigid. As a result, after a few years, when I was squeezing it one day, the entire bag busted out at the seams. I recommend against using the bag. But if you hike with a standard water bottle top (like Aquafina or Dasani) then you can put the filter onto the bottle and squeeze that bottle instead.