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Outdoor Life: The Best Backpacking Water Filters of 2025
I pumped hundreds of liters of dirty water to find the fastest and most reliable filter.
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I pumped hundreds of liters of dirty water to find the fastest and most reliable filter.
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The Best Backpacking Water Filters of 2025
A bacteria-filled beach. A muddy wetland. Glacial silt runoff. The best backpacking water filters have to be able to handle some pretty gnarly water sources without clogging or breaking. I tested the 20 backpacking water filters in this story by taking them to three different water locations, pumping three liters of water through each filter. After each round, I timed how long it took each filter to handle a liter of tap water before continuing to the next round. At the end of all three rounds, I weighed each filter.
Laura Lancaster
Hi, I‘m Laura. I’ve been editing and writing for nearly twenty years, covering everything from developing a seismologist’s first book to telling the story of my first deer hunt.
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