Gear Review Steripen Adventurer Opti

Nick

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SteriPEN Adventurer Opti
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MSRP: $89.95
Price paid: $79.95
Purchased from: Amazon
Manufacturer's Website
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

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I've tried about every type of water filter under the sun. When I first started backpacking, I used an MSR Miniworks. It was a good pump but it was slow, required frequent cleaning and I once lost some parts while on a trip trying to clean the silt out of it. After that I tried the MSR Miox. At the time, it was a revolutionary piece of ultralight water purification gear. I suppose it still is if you don't mind your water tasting like chlorine. Yuck!

After having the Miox kill the wonderful flavor of mountain streams for a season or two, I went back to a pump, but this time I went with the First Needs XL. The First Needs remains my pump of choice to this day. It weighs about a pound and pumps close to 2 liters per minute. You can find a pump that weighs a few ounces less but good luck finding one that is so fast and so easy to maintain.

But then in the spring of 2011, I went backpacking with a friend who brought along this fancy new gadget called the Steripen Adventurer Opti. I'd heard of them before but never used one. It was fascinating but quite nerve racking at the same time. We just dipped his 1 liter pot into the stream, swirled the pen around for a minute or so and drank. No chemicals, no pumping, not a single thing between me and any 'floaties' or harmful organisms that might be swirling around in that water.

For the next few weeks, every time I had the slightest inkling of discomfort in my stomach, I thought "oh crap, here it goes, that damn Steripen made me sick!". But I never got sick. So naturally, I went out and bought one for myself. I have been using the Steripen almost exclusively ever since. Just for reference, I had 51 bag nights in 2011 and 54 in 2012. This thing has been thoroughly tested! I have used the Steripen in turbid rivers, clean mountain streams, high alpine lakes, slot canyons and even a nasty, stagnant pothole in the desert (not reccommended!).

I found that the Steripen's biggest strength lies in high alpine hiking and backpacking. I never really think twice about which filter to bring on those trips anymore, it's always the Steripen. The water is almost always clean and clear with very little to no pre-filtering necessary. We did have one night at a lake where the wind had blown a lot of debris up to our shoreline and covered the surface of the water with tiny debris. At first I would just use my hand to clear the surface of the water. After a while, we had the idea to use a mesh stuff sack as a pre-filter. We have used that a few times since then but it is generally not needed.

One of the clear downsides of the Steripen is the need for batteries. The Adventurer Opti uses 2 qty CR123 lithium batteries. The official specs from Steripen say that you should expect 100 treatments from one set of disposable batteries and 40-50 treatments from one set of rechargeable batteries. A little misleading as they are considering a treatment as 1/2 liter. Sure, the Steripen will do half liter treatments but who really does that? As for whether their estimates are correct, I get about half out of my disposable batteries as they claim I should get, almost exactly what they say I should expect out of rechargeables which I have not had any luck finding in the CR123 size.

Regardless of how many treatments I usually get or how new my batteries were, I ALWAYS carry an extra set with the Steripen. You're asking for trouble if you don't as the batteries die quite suddenly. I also strongly recommend keeping a backup water purification method such as tablets in your first aid kit. I've never had to use my backup but it is always there. And that advice would be the same for a pump or any other filter.

Ultimately, the Steripen Adventurer Opti has become one of my most valued and most reliable pieces of hiking equipment. It will never become my only method of purification, but when clean, clear water is available, it is by far the most convenient and pleasant way to prepare water for drinking.

Pros and cons:

Pros
Super light weight
No pumping
No chemicals
Very small
No maintenance or cleaning

Cons
Requires batteries
Not good with silty or murky water
Won't remove bad flavors
Care must be taken to avoid 'floaties'

Photos:

The color of the bottle you use matters with the Steripen. Blue bottles in particular make it very difficult to see that the light is on and working.
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With clean, clear water, it's as easy as dipping your bottle in and swirling the Steripen around in it.
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The Steripen in it's case
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I totally agree with you and the Steripen in a blue nalgene bottle. I used it with my blue one and really had a hard time to see the light.
But beside that I'm really happy with my Steripen(using the same model). Here in WNY we have a lot of silty water and I use coffee filters to filter out the stuff first.
I'm not sure about those prefilters some stores are offering. They should fit all types of Steripens.
 
I think the primary difference is the optical sensor that lets you know you've completed the cycle successfully or if you screwed up. Not 100% sure though. I know this much, if STP is selling the other for $35, there is a good reason. If it weren't something that could make me violently ill for weeks, I might skimp and go that way, but since it is, I'd spend the extra $40.
 
So it looks like the "opti" is the newer optical sensor that tells the steripen it is in water or not. Apparently the steripen will automatically shut off after 15 seconds if it detects that it is not in water. From what I have read ther are occasions when the steripens with the metal sensor would not detect that they were in water. Most of the situations had to do with the water being really cold and/or not having any minerals in it. Also the UV lamp life of the Adventurer Opti is 8,000hrs and the Traveler Mini is 3,000hrs. Looks like it's worth it to spend the extra money and get the Adventurer Opti.
 
So it looks like the "opti" is the newer optical sensor that tells the steripen it is in water or not. Apparently the steripen will automatically shut off after 15 seconds if it detects that it is not in water. From what I have read ther are occasions when the steripens with the metal sensor would not detect that they were in water. Most of the situations had to do with the water being really cold and/or not having any minerals in it. Also the UV lamp life of the Adventurer Opti is 8,000hrs and the Traveler Mini is 3,000hrs. Looks like it's worth it to spend the extra money and get the Adventurer Opti.

The Opti will also turn itself off and tell you to start over if you bring it out of the water for even a second during the purification process.
 
Thanks for the review. I've been waiting for something like this, and decided on the CamelBak All Clear + Prefilter. Although I really like the size of the SteriPEN.

The Out N Back combo included:
  • 1-All Clear Purifier (MSRP $99.95)
  • 1-All Clear Pre Filter (MSRP $15.00)
  • 2-Elixir Berry Flavor (MSRP $19.90)
  • 1-.6L Eddy Bottle (MSRP $13.95)
  • Combo Value $148.80
  • Dirt Cheap Price: $99.99
Here it is on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Camelbak-Purifier-Bottle-1-Liter-32-Ounce/dp/B006ZV62H8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337006410&sr=8-1
 
#1-Has anyone tried it with the solar charger? I am leaning that way (I can justify with my wife that this is for our bug out bag w/ the solar so we dont have to carry tons of batteries!)

#2- What kind of rechargeable batteries does it use if you havent been able to find the CR batteries in the rechargeable style?
 
Just bought a Steripen Traveler with 4 batteries and water bottle for $50 at Costco in St. George. Should I keep it or take it back?
 
I think it's worth it to spend a bit more and get a the Adventurer Opti, especially if you snag it on sale. I think I might have a 20% off code to CampSaver kicking around...
 
Oh No!! I love my Steripen Journey LCD. I call it my magic wand. Used it the last two years with probably only three sets of batteries including a crossing of the Uintahs east to west. First trip down Dark Canyon three weeks ago it sterilized two liters and promptly quit working. It uses the metal probes to sense water immersion using conductivity. It failed by immediately showing the frownie face after the 1 L "start" signal. No battery display came on. Tried blowing off and then drying the electrodes. Tried new batteries (the ones in it were brand new as well). I could get it to work in about 1 out of 20 cycle initiations. At home, testing it is still acting flaky. Sometimes it cycles OK and ends with a smiley face and a smiley on the battery symbol showing near full battery charge but about 4 out of 5 it won't start the process. It doesn't even illuminate the light. Not trustworthy. In Dark we had backup pumps. I often only have backup pills.

I am not sure what to do at this point. The web is full of similar problems but not much input from the manufacturer. Some people buy new pens some abandon the magic wand.

Sorry to be a bummer. No one is more disappointed than I. I haven't decided what to do at this point. Have a contingency plan is one lesson.
 
One other input, from a credible source I've read it will work with murky or silty water up to the consistency of lemonade... I've wanded silty and lived but not that silty....
 
Art - I've heard a lot of stories like that about the other Steripen models. I've also heard a lot of stories that the Adventurer Opti has largely solved most or all of those glitches. I specifically remember some reviews when it came out saying that Steripen had finally figured out how to make these things work on the trail with this model. I've used mine a lot the last few years and haven't had any issues.

Magic Wand is nice but I prefer Smokey 's name for it. I believe it was 'techo magic water blessing stick' :lol:

I've wanded some seriously foul water with mine. Check out this trip report and read up right above this photo:

"That dead animal silt funk feces stew hit my gag reflex like a semi and I about puked immediately."

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/threads/swett-creek.760/

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I am not sure what to do at this point. The web is full of similar problems but not much input from the manufacturer. Some people buy new pens some abandon the magic wand.

Mine started acting flaky after several years, so I sent it back to Steripen and they sent me replacement.
 
Art - I've heard a lot of stories like that about the other Steripen models. I've also heard a lot of stories that the Adventurer Opti has largely solved most or all of those glitches. I specifically remember some reviews when it came out saying that Steripen had finally figured out how to make these things work on the trail with this model. I've used mine a lot the last few years and haven't had any issues.
"That dead animal silt funk feces stew hit my gag reflex like a semi and I about puked immediately."
Whoa, that is one colorful description. Maybe I will try another or try returning it. From past experience I need one with a display. All the flashing lights and number of flashes and colors are really hard to remember in the field :)
 

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