LifeStraw Go water bottle filter: Gear Review

SPECS for the LifeStraw Go water bottle filter:

Weight: 221gms

Dimensions: 22.85cm x 7.6cm x 7.6cm

Volume: 650ml

Filter capacity: 1000ltrs

PROS:

  • Easy and quick filtration method
  • No batteries or chemicals needed
  • Fits in standard water bottle cages
  • Easy to clean
  • Can be operated one handed on the bike (flip top mouth piece)
  • Comes with caribiner and attachment point for connecting to backpack
  • Replaceable filter

CONS:

  • Leaks when not upright
  • Small volume
  • Don’t get big gulps of water due to water passing through the straw fibers

OVERVIEW

On our previous cycle trip we relied on a Steripen U.V filter and iodine tablets to purify drinking water that we suspected was not clean and while both these methods worked fine, the Steripen is very time consuming and requires batteries and the iodine leaves a pretty funky taste in your mouth and doesn’t filter out any chunky bits so we were very excited when we came across the LifeStraw Go water bottle filter!

lifestraw bottle and straw
What the straw looks like out of the bottle

FUNCTIONALITY:

This a brilliant piece of equipment and integrates Lifestraw’s revolutionary Personal water filter into a water bottle for conveniently transporting filtered water instead of just being able to suck it up directly from a lake / stream river / puddle or whatever you can now fill up and filter on the move!

It uses hollow fiber membrane strands packed tightly inside the large straw to prevent pathogens and bacteria from passing through so you only get a mouthful of good clean H20 instead of all the other potentially nasty stuff that could be lurking in the water. It’s super easy to clean out only requiring you to blow out the excess water from the straw to expel any dirt or nasty stuff that his been trapped in the filter and you’re good to go again!

The manufacturer claims that the straw can filter up to 1000ltrs before being replaced which is pretty impressive and I’m guessing it might even be more than that depending on how dirty the water is that you use with this. We’ve used it collecting water from rivers and lakes across Canada that appear fairly clean so I think we’ll get at least a thousand liters out of it if not more as opposed to if it were being used in muddy rivers or ponds.

The most appealing part of using this water bottle for me is the fact that you don’t have to sit down and pre filter your full days worth of drinking water; you can simply fill all of your water containers with dirty water and just refill the LifeStraw Go water bottle filter with the dirty water throughout the day and filter it as you drink! Saves a lot of time and messing around and you don’t have to ration your drinking water if you haven’t filtered enough at the start of the day.

lifestraw bottle
Another photo of the lifestraw bottle

DESIGN AND DURABILITY:

The bottle itself is pretty sturdy and made from solid plastic, so not quite as convenient for cycling as a squeezy bottle, but that’s not what it was designed as so I guess you can’t hold that against it! A few weeks ago going over some pretty rocky cycle paths in New Brunswick the LifeStraw Go water bottle filter popped out of cage at fairly high speed and hit a rock on the side of the road. The bottle itself didn’t crack, but a small piece of plastic from the near the mouth piece broke away, I think it is made very solidly though and any other bottle would have probably sustained similar damage from the impact.

The bottle has a rubber seal around the top that doubles up as an attachment point for the included caribiner clip which is a very nice touch and would definitely come in handy for lashing to a pack when hiking or even clipping on to a pannier if you don’t have enough bottle cages on you bikes.

The mouth piece is a flip top with convenient thumb grip to get it open allowing you to use it one handed when on the go hiking or riding and has a soft silicone covering over the valve.

The straw itself is completely protected inside the water bottle, but if it were dropped when refilling the bottle I think it would survive pretty well as it’s constructed of hard plastic and feels solid so would take a fair bit of impact to cause it any damage.

There are only two major drawbacks with this bottle that I can see, the first is the volume of water it can carry, 650ml is not a whole lot really, but is still enough to keep you going for a short period. If LifeStraw came out with a larger volume version with a longer straw, like maybe 850ml that would be ideal for touring and hiking.

The second and most annoying drawback for this bottle is that it is not leak proof despite being advertised as such. The leak doesn’t occur from where the lid attaches to the bottle, rather from where the mouthpiece pivots to join the lid. It’s not a heavy leak where if you turned it upside down the water would flow out of the bottle rapidly, rather a slow leak where the water drips out gradually, but it is still enough of a problem that I don’t trust it in the tent at night or lying on it’s side for long periods. This problem occurs with both mine and Kelly’s bottle so I don’t believe it is simply a faulty bottle, I think it’s more of a design flaw…still not a major issue just a minor irritation.

lifestraw bottle and lid
What the lid looks like! You can also see the crack in the bottle lid from where I crashed on the bike.

SUMMARY:

I give the LifeStraw Go water bottle filter 4 out 5 due to leak issue, other wise this baby is a total life saver and an essential bit of kit for a world cycle tour!

This was one of those purchases where at the time we didn’t really think we needed it as we already had a filter, but since using it for the last 4 months cycling I cannot imagine living without it! It’s extremely convenient and totally reliable, as you won’t get caught out by batteries dying on you when you’re parched. Having the ability to filter ‘on the go’ is awesome and gives you a sense of security when cycle touring knowing that you can filter water in an instant and the fact that it happens to fit in my bottle cages is an added bonus!

I would definitely recommend the LifeStraw Go water bottle filter for cycle touring. (Amazon / Our Gear List)

Want more? Read my gear review on the Origin8 Classique Cargo HD Front RackEVO Low Rider Fork Mounted Front Rack and Goal Zero Rock Out 2 Speakers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *