Finally Available in the United States!!!

[John Harper]

Been wanting one of these for several years, were only available in Africa and other 3rd world countries:

http://www.campingsurvival.com/lifestraw.html

Should have it before Saturday. No more dayhiking with a waterbottle. The site I used for purchase is a family owned business, I ordered this morning, called them, and they are putting my order out today, for delivery Friday. I encourage anyone interested to purchase from these folks, great customer service, so far.

John

[darrin terry]

Cool, but you do know that Amazon sell them too, right? At .02 micron filter size it will filter contaminants above viral sizes.

[tomsakai]

I tried a Seychelles straw for a couple of weeks and returned it. There were two drawbacks to it. First, I had to bend so far down to submerge the tip of the straw that it was a pain to use it. Secondly, I found that I liked a bottle of water for those hikes to or from the stream. Seychelles was great about it and gave me full credit toward a filter bottle.

[John Harper]

I tried a Seychelles straw for a couple of weeks and returned it. There were two drawbacks to it. First, I had to bend so far down to submerge the tip of the straw that it was a pain to use it. Secondly, I found that I liked a bottle of water for those hikes to or from the stream. Seychelles was great about it and gave me full credit toward a filter bottle.

Good points, I wondered about the first issue, we'll see. Especially with the low water this season.

I've already got a Bota filter bottle too, which is pretty handy.

John

[RichardCullip]

I tried a Seychelles straw for a couple of weeks and returned it. There were two drawbacks to it. First, I had to bend so far down to submerge the tip of the straw that it was a pain to use it. Secondly, I found that I liked a bottle of water for those hikes to or from the stream. Seychelles was great about it and gave me full credit toward a filter bottle.

Good points, I wondered about the first issue, we'll see. Especially with the low water this season.

I've already got a Bota filter bottle too, which is pretty handy.

John

Looks like it's built for use with a wide mouthed water bottle. Just fill up the water bottle, stick the straw in and drink. Just remember not to drink directly from the water bottle and you're good to go.

[John Harper]

That's a great idea, you can carry it empty and light until you need or want to fill it.

John

[NorcalBob]

Looks like a pretty cool product. Please report back when you get a chance to use it. I'm interested in how much "sucking" power is required to get a good drink of water!

[Pete]

Looking like something that would work great in a survial pack Sort of like we should all carry in our trucks or keep around in case of an earthquake. Wouldn't take the room of a filter bottle.

[Papasequoia]

Looks like a pretty cool product. Please report back when you get a chance to use it. I'm interested in how much "sucking" power is required to get a good drink of water!

That shouldn't be a problem for you though, right Bob?

Ba da BOOM! Sorry, Bob, I couldn't resist. But you did kind of leave yourself open for that one.

[DrCreek]

Good pick, John.

I have the Seychelle filter straw placed permanently in my lumbar pack in case I ever (again) lose my regular filter bottle. The straw thing is a great idea for emergency matters or just because you might want to save some extra room inside or outside your pack.

[John Harper]

Good pick, John.

I have the Seychelle filter straw placed permanently in my lumbar pack in case I ever (again) lose my regular filter bottle. The straw thing is a great idea for emergency matters or just because you might want to save some extra room inside or outside your pack.

I remember seeing you use one at that now dry and dusty creekbed that used to have some decent fish. That's what gave me the idea, although having to observe your backside in the air while sucking water was a sight best forgotten.

I'm also interested in the difference between "squeezing" my Bota versus "siphon" filtering systems like the straw. I like the Bota, but it takes some squeezing and going to a smaller bottle for easier use. So far, the Bota seems pretty simple, but no longer made. You can buy the filters under a different brand and use a Nalgene ATB bottle.

John

[flocktothewall]

We just used this on our recent trip with Wanderingblues to fish some high elevations for Goldens... I was jealous of not just having a bottle and filter at the end of the day as we had to basically put our mouths to the streams to drink anything and it takes a good deal of 'sucking' pressure to get it started through the filter.

That being said, it IS something great to carry if you want to go light, or for emergencies.

[DrCreek]

Ya, butt up in the air... but did you like my Tom Selleck shorts???

Brand name means really nothing anymore. As much as I love Seychelle's products, I've found out that their customer service sucks more than a wasted prom date. I really need a couple of replacement O-rings from them. I'm a paying customer - this is not a freebie request, but they still can't seem to send them. It's been three years now. Repeated phone calls, repeated emails, etc... and I even threw in the "Hey I included you in my book" card. Still, lip service is what I get. Unfortunate. And there are other products out there that (claim to be) as good and reliable as Seychelle - which makes me somewhat interested.

BUT... The science behind Seychelle's filtration system totally proves that their filtration systems are the best. I researched portable water filtration for months. And by "the best" I mean SAFE quality filtration with the finest and highest micro-filtration available. You'll never have questionable water worry with Seychelle. So even though I'll keep sucking from their products, they will probably keep sucking at customer service.

[darrin terry]

I agree on Seychelle's cust. service. I tried them because of Dr Creek's review a few years ago. When it came time to order a replacement filter, they had redesigned the advance filter bottle. The new version was ordered and arrived with a broken filter. The new design had a plastic housing surrounding the actual filter and when mine arrived the filter was rattling around inside, obviously it could not work in this condition. It took several calls to get this resolved and I still had to pay for the replacement. I do keep one of their straws in my emergency bag but am looking to other companies for future needs. Currently looking at the Sawyer system. I've seen and read some good things about the Lifestraw though as well. I think my biggest worry is how the filter will hold up in subfreezing conditions as many filters can be destroyed if frozen.

[NorcalBob]

Somehow, I knew that was coming from you!!!!

Looks like a pretty cool product. Please report back when you get a chance to use it. I'm interested in how much "sucking" power is required to get a good drink of water!

That shouldn't be a problem for you though, right Bob?

Ba da BOOM! Sorry, Bob, I couldn't resist. But you did kind of leave yourself open for that one.