Travelers such as yourself have a number of water-purification options these days. The SteriPEN (hydro-photon.com) is one of the more innovative ones. It uses ultraviolet light to kill viruses, protozoans, and just about anything else bad in the water. You simply insert the SteriPEN in to the water in question, turn it on, and in a minute or so you have drinkable water. And the cost is not unreasonable聴a kit that includes a SteriPEN, a pre-filter to clean out particulates, and a plastic bottle, sells for $120. They聮ve proven very popular, I think for good reason.
SteriPEN System Pack
SteriPEN System PackAnother 聯electric” purifier (the SteriPEN requires batteries) is the MIOX Purifier from MSR ($140; msrcorp.com). It uses an electrical charge to create a virus-killing salt-based solution. One advantage is that you can treat larger volumes of water in a batch than the SteriPEN. But it聮s not as fast; it can take up to four hours to kill cryptosporidium and 30 minutes for Giardia.
One issue with both is that anything with batteries can go haywire. Or you can find yourself unable to find batteries (the MIOX takes fairly exotic CR123 batteries) or charge them. So another option is to combine a filter with a purifying solution. Katadyn聮s Pocket Filter ($220; katadyn.com) is a tough, reliable choice. And when paired with something such as MSR聮s SweetWater Purifier Solution, you can clean your water of both organisms such as Giardia, which the filter takes out, and viruses. Or you can get filters such as the MSR Miniworks ($85) or SweetWater Microfilter ($65).
You聮ve seen our picks for 2007 Gear of the Year, and now the entire
国产吃瓜黑料 Summer Buyer聮s Guide is online. Check out this year聮s more than 400 must-have gear items, including gadgets for travel.