>>2836348but there are significant drawbacks of the filter, in that it can be contaminated, offers you no way of decontaminating the bottles you fill from or with it, the gravity fed ones don't really work in transit because they are far too slow, many of the hand pump ones may not actually work under gravity pressure if the pump fails. they aren't unitary, so can't be divided between packs etc.
It's a problem with turgid water, if the only water you have is really nasty, what options do you have to pre-treat it?
If your plan A is chemical treatment, makeshift filtration as a pre-treatment is dead easy and there are a bunch of ways you can do that. But if your plan A is filtration, pre-treating the water might save you backwashing your filter a few times and is still recommended, but as a setup it offers far less value.
How do you manage snow? you can just bottle snow with the aquatab, it will work very slowly but it will work while you are mobile. and you can then roughly filter it after it's been chemically treated. With a filter, where you store snow,whether you can pump it at all, whether junk in the snow will shit up your filter are all relevant issues.
Not liking the taste, given how important water is for your safety, is a complaint you get a slap for. grow up. put electrolyte salt in it, Gatorade powder, coffee powder, whatever.
I just don't see why you would chose a mechanical system as plan B, when the value of chemical treatment for backup is so obvious. It decontaminates found containers, contaminated containers, collection containers, is unitary so you can put two tabs in every bag.
And I question filters utility as a plan A on the basis of how much water you should probably be packing in originally, how reliable your collection sites are, your surplus margins, and how many of these filter systems would oblige you to camp/rest on a water source.
