Katadyn Micro Bottle

Specs:
Weight: 6 oz.
Dimensions: 3 x 11 inches
Filter: activated carbon and microfilter
Bottle capacity: 26 oz.
Capacity with filter: 21 oz.
Expected lifetime: 26 gallons (160 refills)
MSRP: $39.95

Pros:

The integrated filter and bottle cap prevents dirty water from flowing around the filter cartridge if the cap is not tightly sealed. Replacement filter is available. Polyethylene bottle is 100-percent BPA free.

Cons:

Opaque bottle makes it difficult to tell how much water is remaining. Lack of a drinking tube cover makes it easy to contaminate, so water must be squirted into mouth and not sucked from tube. Difficult to fully empty last few ounces of water by squeezing the bottle.

Review originally published as part of In-Bottle Water Filters comparison review.

Best $15 filter I bought for kids to use. Simple to use and gets the job done.

As filters go it was handy and nice to have available. We picked it up at REI in clearance for $15. Don't think I would have bought it for original retail, or I would have at least returned it. With new versions available I will be upgrading once our filters are done.

We too were able to get about 2/3 of the bottle to filter. It isn't for anything high capacity. We still have the system and it gets used when the kids have backcountry hiking trips and want something to get water when the other filters aren't set up. It's quick and easy to use. Kids were dunking the bottle into lakes and creeks all over to get water for drinking. Simple for a 10-year-old to use and understand.

We have some pretty muddy lakes around here and filtering was not an issue.

We have had the filter system for three years. Checking to see if the system is still working for mico and it still cleans.

Cleaning were easy and we would just set the filter out to dry. In our low humidity environment that has never been an issue.

I bought the Micro Bottle while living in California for a two backpacking trip with my 8-year-old son. It worked great. We had an excellent supply of water on the creekside trail and though I am fairly certain the water was fresh, it was certainly worth the piece of mind to know my water was safe. I have since used the water filter in California, Okinawa Japan, and Hokaido Japan. The only drawback is that now that we have started backpacking as a family (4 humanoids and 1 quadraped), I could use a larger bottle/reservoir for those times when water is scarce (Okinawa, Japan). All in all, it is a great solo backpacking water filter.

I bought this for a backcountry elk hunt. I has very disappointed in its function.

First, due to the design, I could only get about 1/3 of the water out of the bottle.

Second, due to the design, you cant turn the bottle upside down to fill other bottles or Camelbak bladder.

I ended up removing the micro filter and just using the charcoal filter to remove sediment then filled other bottles and treated with iodine tablets instead.

I used this about a month ago, and I still have the filters setting in the sunny window sill trying to dry. (seems like a bacteria factory to me. )