Roger, do you have any experience with the Journey?

Even though I don't feel comfortable relying on moving parts, or electronics and batteries in this case, the size and capabilities of the Steripen --and a wholesale price-- won me over...hesitantly.

I ended up with the Steripen Adventurer 3 yrs ago. I have used it on three trips. The first two were trouble free. The last trip however, the thing had to tried repeatedly before it worked. Total, I have five days on this thing. Original batteries. All these trips were short totaling 3 nights. It could be the batteries....but the indicator light did not indicate a battery issue. What ever the case, I'm now even more hesitant to use it. My brother has a newer version he took to Mexico last winter. First trip and it completely stopped working. No indication it was the batteries in his either.

To be fair, it could be a simple battery problem in both. I can't speak for my brother but I'll have to think long and hard before I take mine in a remote area again. Fresh batteries or not, I'd feel like I was in Nevada at a gambling machine every time I pushed the button.

Although I know what you mean about relying on batteries in the outdoors, the same can be said for other methods of water treatment. Filter elements can crack, chemicals can sometimes fail or become less effective over time.

Your always reliant on something.

When I was young, I always boiled my water, whether I was in the back woods or in a foreign country.

If my steripen should fail for some reason, I can always fall back to boiling. But I am very experienced at fire making and can usually get a liter of water boiling pretty quickly.

I could always bring a chemical treatment as backup as well.

I want to love my Steripen. I usually travel where clear water is plentiful and don't want to carry a lot or wait on it. I have a classic. I used very good batteries. It usually works great the first day and then starts getting inconsistent. Spare batteries don't help much. I have considered purchasing a newer version but its a bit hard to purchase the new version when the original really didn't work well for me. Are the newer ones really a lot more reliable?

Bought on 04/12/10, used one week in Grand Gulch, died on 08/25/11 in Pecos Wilderness.....mUV's RECHARGEABLE battery would not hold charge.

USB vs magnetic clips...not the issue....it's the cheap RECHARGEABLE battery in Meridian-Design's mUV that's the weakness.

Good luck if you decide to buy the "new", "upgraded", USB mUV. Be sure to take some tablets with you!

Edited by jimlarkey on 09/01/2011 18:22:21 MDT.

Took it on a trip a couple of weeks ago. Did probably 3-4 liters a day and worked fine. I did have a time where it failed and the red light illuminated. It was within the first 15 seconds. Just hit the switch again and it went through the cycle as prescribed. I'm fine. Nice, easy light weight option. And the price was right when I got it on Sale at REI for $65.