The Bottom Line
Worth the money whether you're going to a foreign country where the tap water is questionable or you're heading into the wilderness for a week-long trek. There are three types of SteriPens: the Classic, the Traveler and the Journey.
Pros
- Sterilizes water in less than a minute.
- Uses ultraviolet light to purify instead of chemicals or pumping
- Much easier and faster than using iodine tablets or boiling water
- Does not change the taste of the water
Cons
- Need to be careful the glass tip doesn't get knocked around
Description
- The SteriPen Classic weighs 3.7 ounces, but jumps to 8 ounces when four AA batteries are installed
- Uses ultraviolet light to destroy waternbourne microbes
- The SteriPen slides into a tough nylon cover so it's protected in a suitcase or backpack
- The SteriPen Traveler weighs 3.6 ounces with its lithium battery
- The SteriPen Journey LCD weight 4.5 ounces with its lithium battery
Guide Review - SteriPen -- Easily Purify Drinking Water
The SteriPen is a wonderful travel aid, whether visiting a foreign country or camping in the wilderness, because it's easy to use when you want to purify water. Does someone on the trip have Montezuma’s Revenge? Odds are slim you’ll get it if you’re drinking bottled water during the day and using the SteriPen to purify questionable tap water in your hotel at night. Just fill a wide-mouth glass or a 16-ounce bottle with water, stick the tip of the SteriPen into the water and turn it on. About 60 second later the ultraviolet light has killed Giardia, bacteria and other nasty germs. The same approach works in the wilderness when you need to drink directly from streams. It comes in a case so you just carry it in your suitcase or a backpack.
I tested the Classic, but since then SteriPen has come out with smaller models that my friends own. They all use the same technology to destroy disease-eating bacteria. After bringing out the Classic, SteriPen brought out the Traveler version, which is half the size of the Classic, so easier to toss into a travel bag or backpack. The next version was the SteriPen Journey LCD, which earned the Travel+Leisure 2009 Design Award for "Best Eco Travel Gadget." This model has universal symbols, so it takes the guesswork out of the water purification process. The LCD screen displays the user's dose selection, battery status and countdown timers, as well as tracking the number of uses.
