Worry about dirty water when you're traveling, biking or hiking and don't want to fuss with a complicated, heavy filter or pollute the taste of your drinking water with chemical treatments? This new Naked Filter from Liquidity promises to remove "99.9999%" of bacteria and protozoa as you sip.
There's obviously already a ton of water treatment options available to dedicated outdoor folk. But, even the lightest filters require you to carry a separate and often complicated piece of equipment. Even the best chemical treatments alter the taste of your drinking water and require a lengthy waiting period for them to take action. UV lights require batteries and are fragile.
What makes the Naked Filter bottle unique is that you can just scoop it full of questionable water and sip on it immediately, with the water being cleaned as you do so. That functionality is totally contained within the bottle itself and doesn't slow the rate at which water flows out. I'm sipping from an early prototype as we speak and can report that it's as easy to drink from as a standard water bottle.
Also unlike other filtration equipment, it'll fit seamlessly into the bottle cage on your bicycle or into a bottle sleeve on any bag or pack.
Liquidity tells us that the filter should be good for "20 to 30 gallons" of water before it needs to be replaced. And, unlike most other filters, it'll simply clog up and stop working when it's reached the end of its service life. You'll never be able to drink contaminants through it.
The Naked Filter is effective against bacteria and protozoa, which are the most commonly-found stuff you don't want in your body from natural sources of water. It eliminates Giardia, E. Coli, Cryptosporidium and the like. The one problem with the bottle is that it is not effective against viruses. Hepatitis A is commonly found in open water sources like lakes, rivers and streams around the world, but you'd have to additionally treat your water with chlorine dioxide, iodine or by boiling it to eliminate the virus.
Having said that, Naked will be an ultra-convenient way to clean your drinking water day-to-day. Riding your mountain bike? You'll simply be able to stop at any stream you cross, fill up the bottle, and drink from it right away. And you'll be safe in the knowledge that you won't get a nasty case of the runs from doing so.
The Naked Filter will go on-sale later this year.
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