I purchased my Steripen Opti right after Christmas. Like any gear nerd, I brought it home and promptly "tested" it in a glass of tap water. Cool! I had a new toy!

And I tested it again, and again, in different containers. My lamp was working since I could see the blue light, right? Well, something sat uneasily with me. The light seemed a bit dimmer than pictures I had seen. This was probably just my imagination, and different cameras will show light differently.

But still something inside me wasn't convinced. So I brought my concerns to various parties, including the store at which I purchased it and to Steripen directly. I even sent in pictures of the lamp in use and the tech support person said the photos looked like the lamp was operating normally. Everyone I talked to assured me the lamp was fine.

*Knock knock* Who's there? My hunch.

Luckily I was also having other issues with the unit at the same time. There is a tiny o-ring that sits underneath the head of the thumb screw that presumably helps seal the opening where the thumb screw goes through the battery cap and into the unit. This came out after only a few openings of the battery compartment, and being brand new it was covered under warranty.

I had been dealing with Rich from Steripen about these issues. He offered to replace the end cap for free and if I was still concerned with the UV lamp on my unit that I could send it in and they could test it. For $5 shipping I wanted the piece of mind and to finally put that nagging feeling to rest.

As a note, I would like to mention that dealing with Rich was nice. He was quick to respond to my emails and offered to rectify the situation by replacing the faulty endcap without hesitation. So Steripen's customer service is a plus.

I sent my unit off for repair, and I got this reply today:

"Hi Travis, I'm sending you a replacement steripen today. Your concern about the UV was well based; you had a faulty lamp.
Good luck with your travels.

Regards,
Richard
--------------------

Sometimes you just gotta follow your gut feeling.

Edited by T.L. on 02/24/2012 12:48:03 MST.

Good for you to follow through on your "hunch"!!

I hope you got a decent gift card -- or at least a reimbursement for postage? :)

Thanks for posting this Travis. I just bought one so time to test it.

How will I for sure know that the lamp is working based on the proper 'brightness?' I have never used one.

David:

I have one that works pretty normal... so hard to say precisely the difference in brightness. Suffice to say, like a mini florescent light tube -- you can pretty much tell if the light is working normal -- versus a tube that is 'struggling' and dimming like. Maybe Travis can describe the latter in better terms.

Thanks. I have a trip coming up and will take it but some additional Katadyn tabs just to be safe. An extra ounce that I can handle...; )

Since Travis has pictures of a bad one and will be getting a new one, perfect opportunity to show a side by side comparison.

David, that's a tough one to judge. My lamp looked a bit dull and hazy compared to photos I found online. Other than that, there's not much else I can say. I would suspect that the vast majority of units are fine, but every product line has its lemons. Steripen did say they test their units during QC, but I'm not sure if that's every unit or a certain percentage.

I'll try to dig up the photos I took, but I think I deleted them.

Edited by T.L. on 02/24/2012 13:58:16 MST.

Thanks guys.

Thanks for posting that Travis

I've had one for about a year and it seems normal, but now how would I know?

What I hate is that with water treatment there's no way to know if it's working.

Water is usually good, so you're just preventing a rare event of getting some infected water. The fact that I don't get sick could just mean that I didn't happen to encounter any infected water.

And if I did get sick, it's similar to routinely happening intenstinal problems that could be caused by exposure to bad food or fecal contamination. Only rarely does someone get very sick that doesn't go away without treatment.

Oh well, I debate just not treating water so I'm no worse off than that.

O-ring issue






Lamp







Sorry for the sideways photos. iPhone pictures like to do that. The little LED light is supposed to blink during the entire purification process, so some of the light you see in the pictures is coming from that.

Edited by T.L. on 02/24/2012 14:04:35 MST.

Yay - thanks for the pics.

Are those photos from a good lamp or a bad lamp?

This is the bad lamp, and I should be receiving the good one in a few days. Do note that the Steripen Rep said the lamp looked ok from these photos. As I was typing my response to Jerry, I got an email from Steripen:

`````````````````````````````
Travis, it was emitting about half the UV energy we expect. Every pen is tested on a UV radiometer before leaving the factory, so presumably the lamp went bad in the shipment to the store and to you. We keep improving the strength and connections of the lamps, but unfortunately they still fail sometimes.

Regards,
Richard

Edited by T.L. on 02/24/2012 14:14:45 MST.

After contracting amoebic dysentery (fatal W/O antibiotics) from eating Kinilau - raw fish & veggies - in Cebu, Philippines in Jan. my internal medicine doctor there advise me to use my Steripen even in commercial FILTERED water unless it was distilled water.

I looked strange to the wait staff in restaurants as I stirred my (iceless) water with the Steripen but if you ever had amoebic dysentery you know it is agony and anything you can do to avoid a repeat you'll do. Yeah, don't consume ice in ANY form in 3rd world countries B/C you don't know the source of the water it was made from. Freezing only puts the bugs to sleep. Then they wake up in your nice, warm, dark tummy and go to work multiplying expolentially. And the agony begins...

The Steripen worked flawlessly several times a day for over a month and I'm really glad I had it with me. The lithium batteries held up well and I didn't need the backup batteries.

Edited by Danepacker on 06/04/2012 16:26:46 MDT.

"I looked strange to the wait staff in restaurants as I stirred my (iceless) water with the Steripen"

But imagine the look on the same wait staff if you had pulled out a First Need pump purifier instead...

Eric, if you don't mind my asking... why is your doctor advising you to zap even commercially filtered water?

Edited by ben2world on 02/24/2012 14:45:28 MST.

Thanks for this thread Travis! I have a new Steripen Opti which is going to undergo some thorough testing soon!


I wonder how we'll know when the bulb is worn out from use if it wears out before the electronic use count tracker thinks it's worn out....

Edited by AndyF on 02/24/2012 15:12:51 MST.

Just wanted to add a note on my customer service experience with SteriPEN. Just today I sent an email
to them to ask for the battery capacity of my Freedom unit (info for another thread in gear forum actually) and got a response back so quickly I didn't even read it at first as I assumed it was an auto-response. Actually it was an answer to my question from Rich Avery. Maybe a slow day or a fluke, but as far as I'm concerned that was stellar customer service.

Edited by 7sport on 02/24/2012 15:23:49 MST.

Andy:

As soon as the visible bulb shorts out, the UV circuity will stop working as well. The visible bulb is the "safety switch" so to speak.

The ultimate would be a self-diagnosing unit that has a built-in UV sensor on a separate circuit that can actually detect if the UV lamp is working at an acceptable level.

And just what is going to check on that UV sensor? :)

I have to say that although I've been very happy with my Steripen and it has worked flawlessly since I stopped using rechargeable batteries (the rechargeables let me down when the temp dropped), that since UV light is invisible, I am always left wondering if I'm just waving a flashlight in my water.

I take the leap of faith that Ben has alluded to, that the Steripen folks have built in safeguards to prevent this but in Travis's case, how would you know if the UV light was failing if the flashlight lamp was still illuminating your steripen?

Good detective work Travis, it would have been easy to assume all was well as long as it was still glowing.

Edited by skopeo on 02/24/2012 15:48:50 MST.

>And just what is going to check on that UV sensor? :)

I was thinking a dedicated global satellite network that constantly monitors the unit's monitoring system. :)

The photos that you posted look like a normal fully functioning unit, but a photo can deceive.

I know you have to be in shade to actually see the bulb on a sunny day. The bulb doesn't give off a lot of visible light, it is the invisible UV that does the job.

From all the experience stories that I have found, the system is more reliable than other systems, short of boiling your water.

The fact that you see the faint white/blue light tells you that it is emitting UV and it doesn't take much UV to do the job.

I don't know what the company thought was defective about it? Or maybe they saw something else and decided to play it safe.

I wonder if the light will look any different when you get the new one?

>I don't know what the company thought was defective about it? Or maybe they saw something else and decided to play it safe.


Because I had a concern and because Steripen would rather play it safe than risk a lawsuit, they offered to actually test my unit. They used a radiometer to see how much UV was coming out of it, and they found it was only emitting 50% of what they expect.

The unit I had may look perfectly normal, I don't know. But I had a pretty strong hunch to really determine if it was operating at full strength, and whether it was luck, karma, or divine intervention, my hunch was correct.

Considering the quality control steps that Steripen takes, I'm not doubting the technology or their product. I happened to get a lemon, and that's the way it goes sometimes. I don't think people should be afraid that their unit is working properly--most likely it is, but if something doesn't seem right, maybe check it out. That goes for any product.

@Travis, That makes sense.

I suspect that even if it was working at 10% it would still do the job, but you paid for 100% and you should get it from a new unit.

I know people out there that use the 1/2 liter timing when they treat 1 liter without issue.

I have no doubt about how well UV works, but silt can block UV and some larger organisms may need more UV in some cases.

I found I really appreciate the Steripen and many people who have hiked with me now use them.

Chemicals may be lighter, but have many disadvantages that can become annoying after many days on the trail. Filters are either too heavy and/or unreliable.

I'm hoping you meant "tests" instead of "testes," although it does make a steripen thread more interesting! :)

Well, I just went to check my steripen because of this and I had a couple problems myself. First problem was dead batteries. Ok, so they're a couple months old so I guess that's fine. Next problem, my little o-ring just popped out just like yours! I don't like that because like you I've only had the battery cover off <5 times!

Anyway the picture:


Looks brighter than yours did... I think. I suppose I need to email customer support about that o-ring though. Or maybe take it to REI.

Edited by pdcolelli42 on 02/24/2012 17:41:48 MST.

My Filipino doc said some of their commercially filtered water still had > one micron microorganisms AND viruses, as per their gov't tests. Nice huh?

I also had some Katadyn chlorine dioxide tabs in case the Steripen broke. Belt-and-suspenders, ya know.

Or, the UV sensor could adjust the exposure time up til the required dose is delivered

But to Ben's comment, if you add a UV sensor, then there's one more component to fail which makes reliability worse

I really love the steripen idea. Love it. And I travel a lot in parts of the world where it would be really helpful. But the reliability of it just sketches me out. Too many moving parts.

"I really love the steripen idea. Love it. And I travel a lot in parts of the world where it would be really helpful. But the reliability of it just sketches me out. Too many moving parts."


Too many moving parts? Where? I count the cap, the battery screw cover, the on/off switch...

I've owned my Steripen Adventurer since 2009, and have used it very regularly (most often daily) on the following trips:

o 2009 - RTW trip, taking in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia and China - 7 months
o 2010 - Burma and Bangladesh - 2 months
o 2011 - Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia - 3 months

My Steripen (paired with my Nalgene hard plastic water bottle) have saved me from buying literally hundreds of bottles of water while on the road! Aside from treating hostel tap water, I've also treated water from the taps of some of the filthiest bus and train station bathrooms! And I have NEVER gotten sick.

No one drinking water from filthy Bangladeshi, Chinese, Russian and Ukrainian taps for months on end escapes unharmed on luck alone. No one.

I have seen the UV LIght and I am a Believer! :)

Edited by ben2world on 02/24/2012 19:40:28 MST.

Yeah, and that on/off switch is a real doozy of a switch. The REI reviews are way too schizophrenic for me to ever consider it. A filter has a pretty darn close to zero chance of messing up. Doesn't get viruses though, which is why I want to love the steripen. They just don't seem to have the build quality down.

Well, Ben, if a sum total (thus far) of 12 full months of almost daily usage without mishaps or problems of any kind is still too doozy for you, then I suppose you'll need to continue buying bottled water -- because I fail to see how mechanical filters with a heck of a lot more moving parts and rubber seals could come to a "zero chance of messing up". But then, I bet if you could witness the "manufacturing process and conditions" of some of the bottling plants around the world... you will find that the Steripen has a lot fewer variables to go wrong.

I once saw, with my own eyes, kids filling up empty bottles from a train station spigot blackened with mold -- then expertly popping "sealed" caps back on. I didn't see them actually selling those bottles to anyone... but I'm sure those two scrawny street urchins weren't capping those dozen or so bottles for their own use.

YMMV, of course.

Edited by ben2world on 02/24/2012 19:50:27 MST.

I don't need a lecture about water quality. I've lived in Egypt, Syria, and Thailand--I know. The build quality just isn't there, and the reviews back it up. This thread is a great example of high-quality customer service, which is awesome. Now if the build quality gets more dependable, I'll buy one in a heartbeat.

"The build quality just isn't there, and the reviews back it up. "

Where are these reviews of the Opti?

Not sure where I lectured you about water quality. Feeling touchy today, aren't we?

Steripen's quality or lack thereof is entirely a personal judgment. But the one point I certainly don't share with you is your notion of any mechanical filter being "close to 100% mess free".

http://www.rei.com/product/799003/steripen-adventurer-opti-water-purifier


The reviews are totally schizophrenic. If you're backpacking in the US, water filters work. If ain't broke, don't fix it.
If you're abroad, go for it--it's better than those nasty tablets. If it works.


Unreliable at best

Works when it wants to

Don't Waste Money or Take Back-Up

Undependable

Failed second time out

Good Concept, Terrible Design

(I could keep going, but you get it, I won't belabor the point)

Mmmm. Thanks Ben. I haven't used mine but will take some form of back up with me. I wanted it for ease of use - quick purified water, rather than wait up to 4 hours with the chems.

Some reviews here @ MEC. Only one was bad. FWIW:

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/WaterTreatment/WaterPurifiers/PRD~5024-196/steripen-adventurer-opti.jsp

David:

Re. backup - I'd say the same should go for any critical piece of electronic gadget we bring out to the backcountry.

I've never used Steripen in the backcountry actually -- preferring a "do it all" system that will also clarify water and remove potential bad tastes.

My posts above re. travel use -- tap water usually comes out pretty clear and OK tasting -- just need to treat the microscopic "baddies". And on my travel (hosteling) trips, bottled water would be a ready source of back up -- although knocking on wood, my Steripen has been consistently reliable over 3+ years of regular use. Have fun with yours.

Edited by ben2world on 02/24/2012 20:15:12 MST.

"The build quality just isn't there, and the reviews back it up"

Not Ben T's review, which I will second. Mine has performed flawlessly, with far less hassle than any filter I have ever owned, for the past 2 seasons.

" if you ever had amoebic dysentery you know it is agony and anything you can do to avoid a repeat you'll do."

A huge +1 Definitely one of Mother Nature's nastier creations.

I have owned 4 Steripens. The first, the "heavy" Classic , worked great and never let me down. Sold it to getter a lighter one.
Since then I have gone through the Adventurer, the Opti and the Traveller: all failed me. The only reliable part has been that I can count on them failing every other trip, pretty much. I wish I kept the Classic.

Also something to consider. Look at the dates on the REI reviews. Earlier versions of the steri pen did have problems. They have since been updated to solve some of the problems over the years. Also, not saying that the average person that writes those reviews is dumb or anything... but alot of poor reviews IMHO are written by people who either don't understand the product or the way it's supposed to work.

Now, I have had a problem with the o-ring but for all I know I could have just tightened it too much. I asked the representative in an email if there was anything I could do to prevent this from happening again so we'll see what they say. Aside from that my steripen has worked flawlessly and even missing that o-ring it still works flawlessly.

Kat, I'd be curious to hear about the 3 failures you experienced in as much detail as you're willing to type.

The one thing I have learned from internet reviews on ANY product is that you will ALWAYS have people that are disappointed for any number of reasons. I could have easily not gone through the process I did, returned the product, and slapped up a negative review online somewhere.

Also remember that some people just are kinda....not smart. What I mean by that is "user error" is something not many people are willing to man up to.

My general rule of thumb is if the product gets ~70% positive reviews, then I'll give it its fair shake. Below that and its just too risky.

No, not Microput tablets... but Android tablets!

I've been lucky with both -- my Steripen and my Asus Transformer tablet. Both provided me trouble-free service (wifi connection and all) during the 3 months that I was in Asia going from hostel to hostel to hostel. Completely flawless!

And yet, it would be foolhardy to ignore the VOLUMES of complaints generated by others! No foolproof way to know for sure, but I think when it comes to electronics... one has to really test them out multiple times ("rehearsal uses") before starting on any real trips. I believe that when it comes to electronics, most problems crop up early. After that, one can essentially expect a lifetime of trouble-free service -- or until the warranty expires.

Finally, with electronics this day and age, are there really products with next-to-zero complaints? I had to return my #$@* iPad to the Apple store 3 separate times! I think 'schizo reviews' are the norm nowadays.

Edited by ben2world on 02/24/2012 20:40:46 MST.

Phillip, all of them have acted about the same. First trip they seemed to work fine. I would use them on maybe four or five quarts. I get home, remove the batteries and store them in a good place, dry etc. Another outing, batteries still quite new: push the button once or twice, according to amount of water. Most of the problems have come after the light blinks that it's ready, I put in in the water and either the red light ( depending on model) or sad face comes on. I would dry it and start over. Sometimes after a half dozen tries it would work, sometimes after a dozen, sometimes not at all. Next morning could be fine, or not, about 50% chance. Other times the problem would show the moment I pushed the button. I was careful to keep the probes dry, not get any other part wet, store it correctly, not drop it, buy the recommended batteries etc . It has been a very frustrating experience for me. I never had any problem at all with the Classic, then my search for lighter gear made me sell it to buy something that did not work, again and again and again.



edited to clarify that by "keeping the probes dry", I obviously don't mean when i am using it, but after I use it and put the cap back on, and in between tries when it's failing me.

Edited by Kat_P on 02/24/2012 20:43:43 MST.

"What I mean by that is "user error" is something not many people are willing to man up to. "

I'll man up. It was definitely user error that caused me to return my first wife.....

I know exactly what you mean. I read in detail tons of reviews before I got my steripen and most of the bad ones talk about the same problems you had.

I'd also be curious to know when you purchased your adventurer opti. I know that earlier steripens were known to have the exact problem you described. I'm pretty sure that is not an issue anymore, maybe not though.

Also, the taking the batteries out thing. I know on older versions the steripen had way more current draw than it should in the off state. This caused the batteries to drain fast even when not in use. I know that steripen has since updated the circuitry to make it have less of an off-state current draw. The removing of the batteries is no longer necessary.

Now even though IMHO steripen has since corrected the issues you had, I sure don't blame you for not buying another one. I probably wouldn't either.

One Steripen reviewer listed as a 'Con': "Filtered water doesn't taste good".

Wow.

Wow, indeed.

Phillip, I bought the Opti 8 months ago. I bought it on Ebay from a seller that had about 50 of them. It is possible that he got a deal on a bad batch and passed the "deal" onto me. I would love to have one that I can count on, really. The Journey was a present, so I had no recourse. The adventurer I bought on BPL new in the box and it was the first that failed me and I figured it was my problem and not the seller's. I don't even have an alternate method yet, I may just have to bring all three and hope one of them might work ;)

WOW! Sorry if you haven't figured this out yet but never buy anything electronic or the like off ebay! They always sell shoddy usually outdated products that most stores wouldn't even sell anymore. That's how they sell it so cheap, they sell the old version that nobody wants anymore. At least that's been my experience with ebay.
EDIT: I've even had this problem with things I bought off amazon. If you get a cheap price, there's usually a reason why. Most of the time I just pay up for the product because I've learned the cheap ones are old or defective. This even applies to stuff like clothing or other gear too. It's probably last years model or something.

I also wouldn't buy anything but the steripen adventurer opti. The reasoning for this is because it is the most recent version (I think) and it has been updated the most. It should be the safest one to go with.

If you did decide you wanted another that would be the advice I would give. That and buy it from REI or some other reputable dealer so that you can return it if necessary.

Edited by pdcolelli42 on 02/24/2012 21:04:33 MST.

I got Opti about a year ago

Run about 40 pints without problem

When I uses rechargeable batteries they failed very quickly, but then when I switched to non-rechargeables it was okay

Of course, that switch is really difficult to activate, but at least it doesn't come on accidentally

@Kat P.

You didn't mention what kind of batteries you were using in your Steripens when they failed. I'd be very interested in knowing.

I originally used rechargable batteries in my Steripen when I first got it and it failed after only a couple of liters. I changed batteries and the same thing happened (failed after a couple of litres). Rather than return it for a refund, I tried top quality, disposable Lithium batteries in my Steripen and it has worked without issue for well over 3 years of use. I think the quality of the battery used can really create an issue for the Steripen.

I often see reports of failures very similar to mine (and yours) but the type of battery in use is never mentioned. I know you are supposed to be able to use rechargable batteries but I think the residual drain from leaving them in the Steripen and cold temps can make them drop their charge to a point that they no longer work.

> You didn't mention what kind of batteries you were using in your Steripens when they failed.
There are cheap rechargable Lithum batteries which simply do not have the current capacity to drive a Steripen. They will fail early. Always.

Using brand-name lithium primaries (ie not rechargable) has always given good results. They are the ones which are not cheap - guess why?

The high current drain while not in use was fixed after the first generation of Adventurers, but removing the batteries between trips is always smart.

Cheers

The only time I've had the batteries fail in my Steripen was with the ones which shipped with the unit - on their second outing. I did some research and bought a pair of high quality rechargeables from Lighthound. I charge them immediately before each trip (Li-ions last longest when stored with a partial charge) and they've never let me down. I still carry an unused pair of Eveready primaries as backup, and ClO2 tablet in case the unit breaks.

I never used the rechargeable batteries. I bought the expensive brand name ones.
Like other posters pointed out, I most likely bought older, faulty batches.

The only failure I had with fairly new batteries was when i must have had a slight oxidation on the battery contacts.
I took the batteries out rubbed the tips with my shirt and they worked fine after that.

These kind of issues do happen. I have had as many problems with other methods of treatment, filters and chemical are no more reliable.

The big advantage with the Steripen is the weight reduction and convenience when compared with the other methods.

One thing I like about the Steripen, is I treat only drinking water - 2 or 3 pints of water a day.

The rest of my water I treat by heating it, to make soup, oatmeal, coffee,...

I haven't experienced any battery failure with the Steripen. I was referring to a bad batch of Steripens, not batteries.
In general, oxidation on batteries is something pretty easy to spot.

My faith in them has been tested of late as well. I always use Energizer batteries. Same brand that it came with. My first Adventurer was great and gave me a number of years of trouble free service. I was saddened to realize that I had jettisoned it out of a pack pocket after taking a tumble off trail in the Trinity Alps.
Bough a replacement. Never got a low battery signal like you are suppose to. Would sometimes work and then sometimes not. Turned out that the electrical contact to the lamp were faulty. I had no more light and a sizzling noise came out of the unit. Not good. Was given a replacement. This one the lamp has a different color to it, more yellow than blue. It also seems to have a two stage start to the lamp. It turns on, but takes a couple of seconds to get to full brightness.
So two out of three have issues for me. Not good odds. Have some Aqua-Mira handy.
Too bad the Camelbak version is built in rechargeable battery only. I like trail commodities, like food and batteries, firestarting aids.

I have no idea how you guys are claiming it's "older batches".
Click sort by "newest first" and the first page of reviews are


Great Concept - weak on performance

Solid red light issues

Got Giardia

Won't travel without it!

I guess it works???

Useful Gadget

the pits

Awesome device!

Useful tool with problems

I've really tried to like this device


Those are all from October and November of 2011..

My experience has been similar to Kat's. I had a Journey LCD model fail after several trips. A few seconds after turning it on, the frowny face would appear and that was that. I was following the instructions to the letter and new batteries made no difference. I also had problems with the large o-ring sealing the battery compartment (not the small one around the screw).

I got a replacement for the Journey and I'm testing an Opti. I like the idea of the Steripen and I'm hoping for the best, but I'm not yet ready to fully trust it.

I wish the Steripen had fewer automatic sensors and safety interlocks as I suspect those are what cause many of the failures. Just give me something simple I can stick in the water, turn on, and count the appropriate number of seconds myself. Too bad they would never be allowed to bring that to market and even if they could would be sued as a result of user error.

So what are you going to use instead.

I agree with Ben F that the reviews are absolutely mixed. Which calls for caution (or maybe even avoidance for the risk adverse).

But I disagree with Ben F in his assertion that "a filter has a pretty darn close to zero chance of messing up". Not to be picking on you, but a statement like that just invites ridicule! Take the MSR Sweetwater filter -- which I believe many of us would view as a quality, reliable filter made by a respected brand. But pretend you have no experience with this filter, and you read the REI reviews (sorted newest first). The first page alone (10 reviews) shows the following cons:

1. poor quality
2. flimsy bag
3. --
4. poor quality
5. poor quality
6. poor quality - prone to breakage
7. --
8. --
9. not functional, poor quality
10. --

Notice that I didn't use the MSR Hyperflow as my example, simply because that one already has a spotty reputation.

The faulty filtering here is actually the mental one that concluded Steripens as "doozy" and filters as "pretty darn close to zero chance of messing up".

Edited by ben2world on 02/25/2012 11:54:49 MST.

Difficult to interpret reviews, for example

"got giardia" - did the person really get giardia or was it fecal contamination? did the person carelessly drink some untreated water?

"Great Concept - weak on performance", "Solid red light issues", "I guess it works???", "Useful Gadget",... - not specific enough to know if their problem is applicable to you

if there were 10,000 units sold, and 10 of them had problems so they wrote bad reviews, you would think it was a bad product, but statistically you shouldn't have to worry

some people may just like or not like the company and write a review based on that

etc.

I find that a very high percentage of web reviews are BS.
Many are written by people who aren't qualified to give a review, either they didn't really test the product properly or their ignorance and/or stubbornness was the problem.

Some people are just compelled to write bad reviews to be malicious.

Most people that have used the Steripen extensively continue to use them. That should tell you something. They may not trust it 100% , but no treatment system should be trusted 100%.

Ive had 3 pos steripens and one good one that went bad after three weeks of use.

One thing that I've learned from this is to really be gentle with Steripens. If every unit is tested before leaving the factory, that means many are getting damaged in transport and/or the circuitry scrambles after little use.

Something we'll never know, but I wonder how many of the lamp malfunctions were due to rough handling.

Cameron - what models and may I ask why you kept using them?

Both styles of adventurer, and a journey.

I like the concept.

Since no one mentioned it

Buying the older "Classic" is probably not a good idea - electrical contacts that detect that you're in water have been reported to fail

Th newer ones with the LED, like the "Opti", don't have this problem

I have the old style Adventurer -- with metal contacts that will turn the UV unit on only when they detect water (a safety feature). The water needs to have some conductivity for this safety feature to work. For example, my Adventurer will NOT operate in pristine, distilled water. Luckily, this is never a problem with tap water coming out of third (or even first) world countries!

Edited by ben2world on 02/25/2012 14:27:01 MST.

This thread made me think of other products I've consistently heard people have issues with and I realized that I haven't met anyone that has purchased a new Steripen or a new Range Rover that hasn't had it in for repairs in the first 6 months. True story. :)

Besides a reputation for failure (from users I've encountered), the OP's experience outlines that if you do in fact have a faulty Steripen, you may not know it, which could possibly be more dangerous than knowingly choosing and drinking untreated water sources .... at least you have a chance to choose a cleaner source if you are knowingly drinking untreated water. If you are using a Steripen, you may not be as choosy in your sources, which could go against you if you are in fact using a broken Steripen.

Edited by tracedef on 02/25/2012 17:50:10 MST.

^That's not entirely true. The steripen's LED light signals if the lamp is malfunctioning and it goes on to say that the other alternative is that the lamp doesn't even light up indicating a malfunction also.

The OP's problem was that the light wasn't at full output and this is the first I've seen that that happened (who knows though). So we'll say that most of the time you'd know if the lamp wasn't working properly. Also, if you compare pictures to the OP's steripen and my assumed normally functioning one there clearly is a difference in visible light output. So in conclusion all failure situations are noticeable to the eye. I suppose however that it would be possible to not notice the dimmer light.

> other products I've consistently heard people have issues with and I realized that I haven't
> met anyone that has purchased a new Steripen or a new Range Rover that hasn't had it in for
> repairs in the first 6 months.
Can't comment on Range Rovers (big $$ there!), but my Adventurer and Opti have performed excellently all the time.

Many of the reports are due to either user error (it happens a lot!) or the first batch of Adventurers. Yes, I do read all the ones posted here at BPL.

Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 02/27/2012 15:21:28 MST.

Trace:

Swing my beautiful So Cal and I'll show you my 3 year old Steripen Adventurer that has performed flawlessly without exception.

As for the Range Rover, yeah, that one, you're right. English crap through and through. No user error there.
































(Kidding about the Range Rover!)

Ben 2 W and I both have used Steripens in nasty conditions and stayed well. We found the Steripens we used to be reliable. I have used it on Filipino well water that I was sure was contaminated and still had no problems. Believe me, we westerners are Very sensitive to bad bugs in our water. Any bad bugs would have given me the Shanghai $hits within an hour or so without Steripen treatment while I travelled in the Philippines.

YMMV but AS OF NOW the Steripen appears to be the state-of-the-art in water purification for travellers needing an easily transportable, easy-to-use purifier that gives fast tesults.

The Range Rover , like most British Tin and Motorcycles was really designed originally to be tinkered with by its owner every other weekend.Must be a nightmare with computers on board. Having worked on leaky old British BSA's and Trumpets , you developed a fondness for the gods of various failures. Lucas, maker of the electrics, got labeled the Prince of Darkness. I have both a Steripen Adventurer and Opti -working well so far .

Edited by Meander on 02/26/2012 18:30:54 MST.

I just pulled out my (never used on a trip) Steripen Opti, and the lamp looks dim like the photos Travis posted rather than bright like the photo Phillip posted. :(

I just figured it was supposed to be that bright until I read this thread.

I might have to go back to drinking untreated water. I never had any problems until I decided to start treating it! ;)

Edited by AndyF on 02/26/2012 22:37:55 MST.

Bear in mid that what matters is the UV given off: the visible bit is irrelevant. Also, different camera sensors will see that blur visible light in different ways. Comparing photos from cameras in this case is not reliable at all.

Cheers

Yes, Roger, that is the odd thing here because there isn't necessarily a correlation between the UV and visible light.

Could there have been some type of malfunction within the lamp that caused UV output reduction in conjunction with a dimmer visible light? Or are the two so exclusive of each other that I'm looking at one hell of a lucky guess?

I don't know the nitty gritty details of how the technology works.

Roger, I never thought of that. That makes perfect sense. I have heard before that some cameras can capture IR light and some cant so like you said I'm sure some cameras can capture UV light more or less so. I wonder if there's some simple test to see how much UV light you're putting out. I did a quick search but UV radiometers seem to be pretty expensive.

If you have access to a college science lab you might be able use their spectrometer. Dunno if that would work but it sure would be interesting.

Also consider the amount of ambient light when the picture was taken.
If you take the picture in pitch black it will look very bright. Take it with some ambient light and it will look faint. It will be invisible in bright sunlight.

Keep in mind that the UV light is blocked or reflected by the walls of the container and by the water/air interface. Sensitivity of the camera to UV light isn't an issue, but different sensors and different color temperature algorithms will react very differently to the deep-violet light which does come through. Any instrumentation used to measure the UV would have to work under water, or a quartz container would be needed (rare and expensive), or the safety features of the Steripen would have to be bypassed.

I wonder if it would be possible to roughly calibrate the lenses of a pair of Transition glasses?

I wonder if there is a liquid or paper that reacts to UV light and gradually changed color. Like it will turn from red to blue after a particular dose is received.

Another thing is, the more dose is delivered, the more the bugs die. After half the dose maybe 95% of the bugs die. Maybe it isn't that critical.

Actually I don't think UV kills as much as it sterilizes the bugs so they can't reproduce, correct?

@ Tim: correct.

Jesus, so it doesn't even kill the bugs? Now that I'm reading, I've never come across this caveat before in regards to the steripen:

UV-treated water must therefore not be exposed to visible light for any significant period of time after UV treatment, before consumption, to avoid ingesting reactivated and dangerous microbes.

(from Wikipedia)

So if you're using a clear water container, you could be setting yourself up for trouble?

edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification#Ultraviolet_purification

Edited by tekhna on 02/27/2012 14:00:59 MST.

There is some confusion here with semantics. The Steripen does not REMOVE the bacteria, viruses, and cysts (etc) from the water but DOES destroy them at the cellular level (99.9%) redering them dead and useless. And not harmful.

The only thing it doesn't kill is worm larvae. Muhhahhahhaha.

Interesting point on the killing vs stopping reproduction .... the steripen site says it "kills" but then refers to "treating" water .... can't find further clarification: http://www.steripen.com/glossary

Couple other things I learned from their site: If you are using platypus bottles: "Because the playtpus bottle you mention is not uniform in shape, there is concern that microbes could posssibly hide in a crease in the bottle and the UV light does not hit the microbes in the crease. " https://steripen2.zendesk.com/entries/20818602-steripen-journey-with-platypus-soft-bottles

Why you shouldn't use zip lock bags as they might hurt your skin / eyes: https://steripen2.zendesk.com/entries/20826283-can-purify-water-with-my-steripen-using-a-zip-lock-plastic-bag

There is the possibility of crosslinks being reversed.

For some definitions of life, it renders things dead, for at least some time following treatment.

Light based reversal of crosslinks is intensity dependent.

Visible light passes through plastic quite well, but UV doesn't.

Mostly a CYA, but inside a clear bottle the amount of radiation that reverses crosslinks is much greater than the amount of crosslink inducing radiation.

Edited by redmonk on 02/27/2012 14:40:53 MST.

"So if you're using a clear water container, you could be setting yourself up for trouble?"

If you're using a clear water container and it's exposed to sunlight, the solar radiation (different wavelength of UV from the mercury lamps in the steripen) actually works to inactivate the microbes in a slightly different, but similarly effective way. And if the water temp is raised to 50 deg. C or higher there is added benefit.

In fact you can treat a couple liters of water in a clear plastic soda bottle in direct sunlight in only a few hours. Helps if you shake the water up first to aerate it. If the water is relatively clear, there's no need to filter or treat beforehand.

So presumably, by using a clear plastic container you might actually be increasing your factor of safety, rather than having cause for concern.

Regarding: "In fact you can treat a couple liters of water in a clear plastic soda bottle in direct sunlight in only a few hours. Helps if you shake the water up first to aerate it. If the water is relatively clear, there's no need to filter or treat beforehand."

UV light can not penetrate clear plastic or glass bottles.
Visible light stimulates repair of chromosomes and can actually repair cells. Which is why beer is usually put in tinted bottle.

There are are some cells organisms that can't survive visible light, but don't count on it.

So yes, try to keep treated water out of direct sunlight.

UV light can most certainly penetrate clear soda bottles. Look up SODIS system.

"In fact you can treat a couple liters of water in a clear plastic soda bottle in direct sunlight in only a few hours."

@Nathan: Something else I've learned today, very cool .... SODIS recommends 6 hours, metal roof, etc., but you're saying 2 is good? Where are you getting that number from?

"@Nathan: Something else I've learned today, very cool .... SODIS recommends 6 hours, metal roof, etc., but you're saying 2 is good? Where are you getting that number from?"

The 2 refers to the number of liters if you re-read what I wrote. The system works for volumes as high as 10 liters, but the guidelines call for using 2-liters per bottle. This is probably due to the commonality of 2-liter soda bottles. In general, the shallower the water the more efficient the treatment. Note that SODIS relies on both UV-A as well as heat from sunlight to work according to the guidelines. In lower light situations the treatment time needs to be increased. I would guess you could reduce the volume/depth in your container too.

Note that this method relies on a different UV wavelength than the steriPEN and other commercial UV lamps rely on. The mercury lamps are designed to directly inactivate the microbes, whereas the sunlight UV causes a reaction with the oxygen in the water which in turn inactivates the microbes.

SODIS is a completely different mechanism of treating water, not a supplement to UVC treatment.

Edited by redmonk on 02/27/2012 14:57:22 MST.

"SODIS is a completely different mechanism of treating water, not a supplement to UVC treatment."

That's correct. Each stands on its own as an effective method of treatment. I don't think you'd see any real gains by combining the two (assuming both were done properly).

Read up on the guidelines of using UV to treat water.
I have read the medical docs and this is what I have found.

UV-A is not effective against all organisms. The SODIS system doesn't make sense and I suspect it is not very successful. I wouldn't rely on it.

Steripen uses UV-B which does not penetrate clear plastic or glass. It reflects off the surface.
This explains why you don't go blind by looking at the bottle while using a Steripen.
Look it up.

And as stated, there is a reason why beer bottles are tinted. Beer(and food) in clear bottles goes bad much quicker from bacteria growth when exposed to sunlight. I won't go into the biology as to why.
You can look this up as well.

One of the guidelines of using UV-B to treat water is to avoid direct sunlight for long periods after treating.

The Steripen docs even mention this fact.

> UV-treated water must therefore not be exposed to visible light for any significant period
> of time after UV treatment, before consumption, to avoid ingesting reactivated and
> dangerous microbes.

I don't know who put that in Wikipedia, but it sounds like crap to me. Bugs don't recover that easily from having their DNA damaged.

Yes, UV 'sterilises' the bugs so they cannot multiply in your gut. That is standard, normal, and sufficient. That is what the EPA requires.

Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 02/27/2012 15:15:37 MST.

"UV-A is not effective against all organisms. The SODIS system doesn't make sense and I suspect it is not very successful. I wouldn't rely on it."

Just so nobody jumps to conclusions based on your first stament there, UV-C is not effective against all organisms either. I'm currently tasked with finding cost effective ways of removing and treating waste in developing nations and one of my biggests obstacles is Helmenth eggs. UV light is completely inneffective at treating them.

Also the SODIS method has been proven effective and is recommended by the WHO.

Edited by 7sport on 02/27/2012 15:30:49 MST.

Dude, it's sourced from a peer-reviewed journal.

Qiu X, Sundin GW, Chai B, Tiedje JM (November 2004). "Survival of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 after UV Radiation Exposure". Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70 (11): 6435–43. doi:10.1128/AEM.70.11.6435-6443.2004. PMC 525172. PMID 15528503.

So does anyone know how long it takes for genetic reactivation after a Steripen dose?

We talkin' minutes, hours, days? I highly doubt it is of any concern because any treated water usually gets consumed within 12 hours. If I collect water in the morning, it is often gone by at least dinner time, if not earlier.

Edited by T.L. on 02/27/2012 15:23:40 MST.

> Steripen uses UV-B which does not penetrate clear plastic or glass.
Correction. Steripen, and all other UV systems for treating water (up to the municipal level) use UV-C, at 254 nm. To quote Wikipedia:

"Ultraviolet disinfection of water consists of a purely physical, chemical-free process. UV-C radiation in particular, with a wavelength in the 240 nm to 280 nanometers range, attacks the vital DNA of the bacteria directly. The radiation initiates a photochemical reaction that destroys the genetic information contained in the DNA. The bacteria lose their reproductive capability and are destroyed. Even parasites such as Cryptosporidia or Giardia, which are extremely resistant to chemical disinfectants, are efficiently reduced. "

UV-B is not reliable. It causes sunburn, but does not really sterilise water.

Cheers

For over 40 years I used nothing in many mountain streams, iodine tablets, or occasionally boiled really nasty water. For the past 3 or so years I have used micropur tablets exclusively. Never had a battery failure, light failure, o-ring failure, clogged filter, mechanical failure, or water-born illness. Not to mention the lightness of my purification methods.

:)

The UV light acts on their dna so they don't reproduce. Just like if there was no ozone layer on Earth, we would get a lot more skin cancer (dna mutations).

So the microbes can't be "reactivated".

FWIW, my Steripen Adventurer has worked great, have had it for the past 4 years or so.

I recently printed a small copy of what all the blinking light patterns mean and keep it in my pack.

Steve

Thank you Roger for debunking the myth of the reactivated organisms... Clearly blasphemy.

"I recently printed a small copy of what all the blinking light patterns mean and keep it in my pack."

That's excellent advice. I stored a PDF of the entire operators manual on my iphone and emailed myself a copy too. I do this PDF method with most of the stuff I buy that has any sort of complexity to it (like my altimeter/compass watch for example) just in case I experience a brain fart in the field or in less than ideal situations where I just can't think clearly.

"UV-B is not reliable. It causes sunburn, but does not really sterilise water."

Source?

OK, I'm at work. So don't have all my facts correct. It is UV-C that the Sterpien uses.
And it is a well known fact in the purification world that some chromosomes can be repaired by exposure to visible light for long periods of time.

Visible light also stimulates reproduction of many living organisms.

I will admit that SODIS can work because of the combination of heat and UV-A, but I'd bet the water temp has to be at least 120deg. F or higher.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification

Edited by brooklynkayak on 02/27/2012 16:09:34 MST.

Here's a copy of the article cited by wikipedia...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC525172/

Try to make sense out of that... I read about half of it and I must say it's pretty confusing. Easy to see where the writer of the wikipedia article got confused.

Here's a couple quotes from the article I liked:
"Our investigation on the sensitivity to DNA-damaging UVC and UVB wavelengths centered on the NER system of MR-1. This system is probably functional, as organisms harboring mutations in NER component genes (e.g., uvrA, uvrB) are typically exquisitely sensitive to UVC (41)."

"Relatively little is known of the interrelationship of genetic systems and mechanisms involved in repairing cellular damage caused by UVR and ionizing radiation in organisms other than D. radiodurans."

"Despite possessing the relevant repertoire of oxidative damage repair genes, the results of our study indicate that S. oneidensis MR-1 is one of the most UVA-sensitive organisms known."

Interpret as you wish, but my understanding is that the cells capable of "reactivating" are highly sensitive to UVC. Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like if you're gonna go slapping sources down like that you ought to at least give them a read first.

Edited by pdcolelli42 on 02/27/2012 16:06:47 MST.

http://www.healthline.com/health-blogs/outdoor-medicine/steripen

Another paragraph from that article.

Solar UV radiation (UVR) is lethal and potentially mutagenic to all organisms at species-specific levels. The stratospheric ozone layer absorbs UVC (<290 nm) effectively; however, both UVA (320 to 400 nm) and UVB (290 to 320 nm) wavelengths penetrate to the earth's surface. UVR-induced damage is greatly dependent on the sources of radiation and the time of exposure. Photons of UVB and UVC wavelengths cause direct DNA damage by inducing the formation of DNA photoproducts, such as cyclobutyl pyrimidine dimers (CPD) and pyrimidine (6-4) pyrimidinone (37). The accumulation of DNA photoproducts can be lethal through the blockage of DNA replication and transcription. UVA can cause photodamage to a variety of molecules as well as physiological processes directly or indirectly by inducing the production of reactive oxygen species (5, 6, 17, 53). Distinct differences between far-UV (UVC) and near-UV (UVB and UVA) damage have been observed in both bacteria and bacteriophages (6).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photolyase

Regarding Photolyase, be aware, I suspect it isn't much of a risk, but probably good to not store Steripin treated water on top of an exposed rock for several ours:-)

Edited by brooklynkayak on 02/27/2012 16:27:15 MST.

Read the above posts. Leaving your steripen treated water out in the light indefinitely is no risk. The wikipedia article you linked in the caption under the picture says
"A UV radiation induced thymine-thymine cyclobutane dimer (right) is the type of DNA damage which is undone by photolyase." Referring to UVB damage, the steripen uses UVC.

Edited by pdcolelli42 on 02/27/2012 16:20:51 MST.

“Could there have been some type of malfunction within the lamp that caused UV output reduction in conjunction with a dimmer visible light? Or are the two so exclusive of each other that I'm looking at one hell of a lucky guess? ”

I would not think they are exclusive. The lamp probably puts out (I’m guessing) light in the 150nm to 550nm region. The 150-300nm renders the microbes useless while the longer wavelength allows our eyes to see some of the beam. So if the visible portion dims, most likely the UV portion ‘dims’. And I don’t think steripen uses mercury lamps since we can see some of the radiation.

For the past 18 months--- I’m a steripen Opti user and it has performed great. Of course I can only judge by blue-light strength and how I feel 2 weeks later. I like the quickness over tablets and the weight savings over a filter.

But this lighter version (2.6oz w/ batteries) sure has caught my eye for short trips: http://www.steripen.com/freedom-travel

-Barry
The mountains were made for Teva’s

WOW, six pages and still going strong!

I am pretty sure that if UV were ineffective, there was no way I could have remained free from any water-borne sickness after drinking 3rd and even "4th" world tap water for months at a time -- seven month in my longest stretch. IF UV were ineffective, then hospitals would be the first to know. But I guess some hikers here believe they know much more about the science than hospitals.

My conclusions:

1. Steripen works.
2. Steripen also has quality and reliability issues -- perhaps more with the older models, but still enough of a problem apparently even with current models.

Time to move on (for me anyway)

That freedom must be new. I would love to get my hands on that thing. I've been looking into rechargeable RCR123 batteries and a portable USB charger for them and it ain't easy to find. This little puppy would be lighter and I wouldn't need to fuss with the batteries.

I wonder if I could find anyone to buy my opti :) doubtful that I'd get enough money back to make it worth while.

Edited by pdcolelli42 on 02/27/2012 17:24:13 MST.

Yes, there is a small bit of mercury in these lamps.

The article states the DNA damage is the same for UVB and UVC radiation.

I'm not sure if they're exactly the same but it does say that UVB and UVC damage the DNA. The cells that "reactivate" though cannot recover from UVC but they can recover from UVB with photolase. I think...

Edited by pdcolelli42 on 02/27/2012 19:15:18 MST.

I just decided I'm going to take my adventurer opti back to REI due to the o-ring failure and see if they'll let me swap it for one of the rechargeable freedom models. Hopefully I'll have that baby in hand tomorrow and I'll let you guys know how it is.

Phillip, did you blow your o-ring like I did? ;)

Seriously though, did yours break the same as mine?

Yeah, I went to put in batteries so I could take a picture for this thread and when I screwed the top back on it ripped. I suppose I tightened it ever so slightly too much. Hasn't been a problem for the first 6 months though.

Now I'm gonna hopefully test out this freedom which has a built in rechargeable that I can power from my portable battery pack.

Having suffered from Giardia for over three years, that physicians obstinately refused to diagnose and treat, and having had to trick them into doing so, I feel OK making a comment.

"What I hate is that with water treatment there's no way to know if it's working."

Unfortunately that's true of other methods also.
And with a filter, there is also the danger of cross-contamination between the input and the output.
As for tablets, I went for years without knowing that chlorine treatments would not address some cooties that iodine would. And what if you don't wait long enough after use, or let the tabs go too long without replacing?

There is some bias for me against those of you traveling in the third world, as I was forced to witness exactly how we 'westerners' have treated people in that world -in the most graphic detail for a prolonged period of time; but if i were you, i would use the steripen, but only as a redundant precaution after others were taken.

Limiting my treks to North America, I am OK with a Sweetwater Walk-About, with the inputs and outputs carefully kept separated, and using iodine and/or boiling also whenever in any doubt. Thankfully, no more Giardia for over a decade. My system is not broke, and I'm not going to fix it with a steripen that may or may not work.

In the Steripen faqs they mention that a dim light can signify a device that is not working properly and should be returned.

Perfect, so all bases are covered. If the light is dim, it doesn't work, if you get the red light doesn't work, no light doesn't work. So really you should be able to tell if it's working or not in ALL situations.

I've only had one (Classic) and it's so spotty that I'm likely moving to another purifier. It was perfect for three weeks and then would only work once every couple days, despite new batteries and always being cared for well. Red light 90% of the time.

Edited by Simco on 02/28/2012 01:01:59 MST.

The older steripens had problems working in water that was too pure. You use to have to add a pinch of salt to get it to work. I had a friend use a classic for a PCT thru-hike. It stopped working in the High Sierra and then started working again when he moved into lower altitude further north. He couldn't figure out what the problem was until reading a product comment on REI's website.

I got my new Steripen in the mail today, with a letter explaining my old one had a "faulty ballast circuit."

Eager to compare my new pen, I took a few photos with the same camera, the same glass, and the same lighting conditions. With the vast difference in visible light output between this new pen and my faulty old one, I can conclude with some certainty that there is a direct correlation between the UV output and visible light. Please note that this is only ONE case of direct comparison and that my conclusion may not be 100% correct. (But most likely it is).





Hopefully this can help people stay healthy in their travels.

Update: According to Steripen, there may not be a correlation between UV and visible light. Mine was kind of a special case.

Edited by T.L. on 03/02/2012 15:50:45 MST.

Yo, Travis, cool Steripen lighting effects.

Dang it, though, I wish there were some drops or something that would verify the water's good. Add two drops and the water turns green if it's good and red if it's bad. In a perfect world.

I guess I'd better look at the level of light output on my Steri the next time I go out.

Now, stove geek that I (admittedly) am, I will say that boiling is the most reliable method for biological contaminants that I've heard about. So everybody run out and get a stove. (kidding) :) Seriously though, boiling is easy to determine: "big bubbles, no troubles" is the old adage.

Now, even though I'm a stove freak, do I want to carry more fuel? No. But in circumstances where boiling is feasible, it is really reliable for biological contaminants. Pesticides, industrial run off, etc? No.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving

I thought that you don't even have to get all the way boiling to kill bugs

Most of the water I drink is heated - soup, oatmeal, coffee, tea,... so for this I don't bother to purify, boiling is better like you say

Earlier in this thread, I wrote:

I just pulled out my (never used on a trip) Steripen Opti, and the lamp looks dim like the photos Travis posted rather than bright like the photo Phillip posted. :(

I just figured it was supposed to be that bright until I read this thread.

Edited by AndyF on 03/24/2012 22:08:51 MDT.

Andy, I'm glad this thread helped!

Yes Travis, thanks for posting this! I did take it on a trip (to the Porcupine Mtns) before sending it in, but I doubled the treatment time.

I am really thankful for this thread because I am now in the same boat, although I just used mine for a week. Compared to three others in my group, my new Opti had a noticeably dimmer bulb. We changed out batteries to no avail. I have sent a note out to Steripen. Hope to hear back shortly.

We have a 'Tutorial and Survey on Water Treatment METHODS' coming in a little while. Yes, it has been completed and submitted. It does discuss the UV process along with all(?) the others. It won't appear immediately as there is a queue.

Cheers

Looking forward to it!

Hurry up...; )

Great news, Thanks, Roger!