I have a very old water filter and am thinking of switching to a system where I treat water with UV, and have chlorine dioxide tablets as a backup. I'm still learning to go UL, and wonder how folks use the steripen with their water containers. Recently I'd been hiking with used 1L water bottles (I go to the store and purchase the cheapest bottled water, and use that). But the narrow tops seem like they wouldn't work with a UV source. So, pardon my ignorance, but how do you do it? Mostly I will be hiking in U.S. mountainous areas, if that helps. Thanks.

Hi Derek

I use a Steripen, and love its simplicity.

I have an old Nalgene Cantene 32oz soft bottle. I cut the top off it. When I need to sterilise water, I open the cantene out to form a large 32oz cup. It's great for scooping water. Then, you simply insert the Steripen and you're away. It holds its shape well, is tough, and when not in use, I put my steripen inside and roll it all up, holding it together with an elastic band.

I carry an extra cap to my gatorade bottles with a slot for the steripen cut out. See Tad's post about 3/4 the way down here: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=19105

It works great. I use a Traveler Mini (shorter Adventurer, basically)

Take a 2 liter soda bottle - lighter than Nalgene or gatorade. Or use a 2 liter water bottle which is a little lighter.

Cut off top.

Make marks at 1/2 and 1 liter mark. It should be cut off a little above the 1 liter mark to allow room for the Steripen and for the water to slosh.

Then, you can treat either 1/2 or 1 liter depending on what you need.

Maybe 1/2 ounce

I only use my Steripen Adventurer with my bike bottle for electrolyte drink. When I need clean water fast the Steripen is the best option.

For my Camelbak bladder I use Katadyn chlorine dioxide tablets. Keeps the hose clean as well.

In both cases I filter all water through a #2 coffee filter in a small funnel. Keeps out bugs, flukes and small children.

Here are some pics to help explain...



When full of water, it bellows out well, becoming easy to hold and quite sturdy, stable when standing on its own.



..you could probably shave another gram if you went to a lighter elastic band! ;-) (...so kidding)

Edit: Added another pic.

Edited by jase on 10/03/2012 17:57:15 MDT.

Ahhhh - I thought you meant old Nalgene hard bottle

You might just win the ocntest for lowest weight

Fill it with 1/2 liter and make a mark on both sides, then 1 liter, and you'll be calibrated for Steripen

That's a smart system, might have to copy that off you. I only use my steri when I backpack with the kids but after seeing this, I might be inclined to bring it along on my jaunts.

I use the Steripen with the wide mouth soft-side Nalgene's and its a good system. A bit heavier than the Platy's but need the wider bottle opening for the Steripen. By the way, since you're filling the container with unsterilized water, I squeeze the container until the water reaches the top while sterilizing. That way no germs are left on the inside of the container above the now-sterilized water line. I continue to squeeze the bottle so that water gradually flows over the threads so those are washed clean by the newly sterilized water as well. All quick and easy.

Great to see your various ideas!

I use gatorade bottles. They work if you fill the bottle all the way to the tippy top so the sensor touches.

Brilliant idea to wrap the soft container around the Steripen to protect it.

I kicked all kinds of things around and you will find a bunch of threads buried here with cut down Platypus containers, beheaded Smart Water bottles, and so on. I swear that every time someone found a trick recycled drink bottle that would fit a particular model of Steripen, the drink manufacturer would change the design.

You could use a beheaded quart milk jug, which is flexible for scooping, handy in camp, can store the Steripen along with soft goods, etc. Quart sized plastic mayonnaise jars work great too and are 2.2oz with the lid (great for storing dry grains and the like as well).

I liked using the HDPE Nalgene bottles which are a couple ounces lighter than the transparent Triton or polycarbonate ones. I've always wondered why Steripen doesn't make a mating PET bottle or a top to fit the large Nalgene threads.

Many people use their cook pot, which wins on several levels: no extra stuff, multiple use, no problems stirring, etc.

Edited by dwambaugh on 10/03/2012 18:22:18 MDT.

...I used to do that, but having to empty it and get it out of my pack (my preference is to hike with my pot and cook gear in my pack) became a pain in the a*s.

Nowadays, I simply leave my steripen set up in the front mesh pocket of my pack....better for 'on the fly' use...for me that is.

Most 700ml cook pots will fit around a one liter bottle and can sit in a side pocket with the bottle inside. Or you could throw all caution to the wind and stash your cook pot in the top of your pack ;)

"Real" men get a big mouthful of water and just put the Steripen in. If you see someone with a sunburned tongue, that's why [snicker] Then again, the batteries will probably fizzle before you fry yourself [SNORT]

Don't try this yourself kids-- leave it to the experts!

I use the Steripen Classic with Snapple or Gatorade bottles and a modified bottle cap. Works well.

Gatorade cap with tapered hole.


Together with SteriPEN, inverted.


Inside of tapered adaptor before cleaning it up a bit.

"Real" men get a big mouthful of water and just put the Steripen in. If you see someone with a sunburned tongue, that's why [snicker] Then again, the batteries will probably fizzle before you fry yourself [SNORT]

That is simply hilarious....made my day.

I do exactly what Jason does except that I use a cut down platypus instead of nalgene and also have a small section of bandana that I use to filter the water with and I roll that all up.

One word of advice: cut the patty larger than one liter because if you are scooping water from a shallow source it's hard to totally fill the platty.J

+1 on the bandanna

I use my Buff for pre-filtering if need be.

Similar to Daniel's suggestion, I cut my Nalgene Soft Cantene as high as possible to make scooping easier. Plus, you can then fill up to the 32oz line on the cantene...you can see that in my pic.

Lots of ideas. When I was using my Steripen, I used it with the original stainless steel Klean Kanteen. More than a water bottle, it doubles as a pot to boil water in too. Use for tea in the morning, water bottle by day, and water boiler in the eve. If one wanted, they could leave their "cooking pot" at home. That was the direction I was headed but have since decided to sell my Steripen.

I use my 1.5 L Ti cooking pot. I've got it anyhow, for cooking for the 2 of us, so using it adds 0 g weight.

Cheers