MSR Sweetwater Review

"I purchased this product upon the recommendation of a friend. Product works great! With any filter, keeping the cartridge clean is key. Also, I have found that placing the suction hose in a submersed cup keeps the prefilter from clogging and extends the life of the cartridge. One drawback is that the prefilter is too light weight and tends to float unless secured."

"I, too, bought my Sweetwater before MSR bought them and I have always been impressed with it's performance. Also, I worked at an environmental laboratory where we helped perform some testing during the R&D period of its development. On a trip into the high Uintas, we filtered water from a murky, brown-colored, mosquito larvae infested pond. The water tasted like it was from a pristine mountain spring. I'm on my third relacement cartridge and need to get another one!"

"After extensively researching water filters, I bought MSR's Sweetwater. The first (and last) time that I used it was on an eight day canoe trip into the Boundary Waters. There were four of us. After a couple of days out the filter became increasily slow to the point that it was not worth the effort to try to pump water through it. All this notwithstand multiple cleaning of the filter and repeated cheking of the system. For the majority of the trip we drank boiled "smoke" water and collected rain water, which we called "sweetwater" having forgoten the name MSR gave the filter. All and all, the problem with the filter was a real letdown after the work that went into researching its purchase and the money spent on it. The filter problem, with having to drin all that "smoke water", was the low point of an otherwise excellent trip. Even if I get it pumping as it should again, I will never be able to depend on MSR filters in the future."

"I bought this filter at the begining of this summer and have used it on 4 weekend trips solo to four people. I have pumped a lot of water through it since we usually make sure to bring some powdered beverages and a decent amount of liquor for the evenings. This results in the need for a lot of water at night, and the next morning. The sweetwater is still pumping as quick and easy as the day I got it.

While it doesn't pack down as small as some. The extra length on the pump handle gives good leverage so your arm doesn't tire so quickly when it's your turn to run down to the river to fill three Nalgene's and a three liter Camelback.

No real complaints from me."

"Easy to use,clean and store. I've had mine 10 years, before msr bought sweetwater. I did have a filter crack in the freezer (recommended storage) so be sure to pump it out before storing"

"I'm on my second one! (the french broad river ate my first one) But the fact that I didn't even think for a second about which filter I should repurchase says something. Very happy"

"I purchased a Sweetwater Guardian to take on a weekend backpacking trip with 19 people (mostly teens). The pump worked out great, just kept pumping and pumping. It slowed down some and clogged but I followed the cleaning instrusions including taking some of the water I filtered to rinse out the inside of the filer area while brush cleaning it and it was back to normal. For the most part it is a great filter.
If I had to I would buy another sweetwater filter before going to some of the other filters I have used."

"I am on my second MSR Sweatwater filter. I love the ease of pumping and the flow from the filter. I used my first one on two week long backpacking trips and two week long canoe trips. It worked very well every time. I did break the first pump when I opted to pump harder when the filter started to clog instead of cleaning it. I purchased another MSR Sweatwater filter and will probably purchase another when the time comes. I have used other filters and they were hard to pump and the flow was so slow I decided to use iodine instead."

"This filter was one of the cheaper on the market that I could find and, being financially challenged, I picked it up. I used it on every weekend trip I went on for the following 4 years and was amazed at how little maintenance it required. A friend of mine had a look at it and noted that there were some deep grooves on the filtering surface which likely channelled water directly through without proper filtration. Not sure how this happened, but it explains why water never came out of the overflow spout at the top. When I purchased a replacement filter, it was clogged after nearly every use. To conclude, good price, easy to use, you can freeze it between uses, and it's relatively easy to clean the filter. On the negative side, cleaning can be a hassle and I'm still not entirely confident that my first filter was actually doing the job."

"I've had my MSR in use for a few trips and has performed well. Even at my Last watering hole, which was a scum pond, the water came out clear. It did require several brushings to get 5 liters."

"Just returned from a trip, I with my sweetwater, my chum with his Katadyn. It is drought like here and our only source was not a good pond I would choose normally. Though they both were easy to use and clean, I noticed that the Katadyn water still had a really pondy odor and taste, I was actually worried we may get a little sick from the water, so the second day my new best friend, the sweetwater, produced the best tasting and smelling water I have had, with any filter I have used before.

It was better than bottled water"

"I purchased a sweetwate about 1 year ago. I spent the summer working in Yosemite. I filtered somewhere between 20-30 gallons before the relief valve started to spray. I then took it to the boudary waters for a week. I was able to use it for 3 or 4 gallons. Frequent cleans havent really made too much of a difference.

All around it way better than the katadyns I've used. Easier action, faster fills, and it tells you when its time to fix it instead of just getting harder and harder to pump. Gotta love the lever action!"