First Need XL Portable Water Purifier
- All Natural Purification- No Chemicals
- Sealed Structured Matrix Canister
- Direct Connect Attachment to popular trail bottles
- Double-Action, field serviceable pump
- Hands Free Gravity Kit Included
Product Description
The First Need Deluxe Portable Water Purifier gets you pure water where and when you need it. It is independently certified to meet EPA Microbiological Purification Standards against cysts, bacteria, and virus. It purifies naturally and excels at chemical and aesthetic contaminant removal without chemicals, hold time, or double pumping. The unit's double-action pump has a top-rated fast flow rate and is field serviceable. Its “Structured Matrix" sealed canister re... More >>
First Need XL Portable Water Purifier
Incoming search terms:
Related posts:
My son is the quartermaster for his scout troop. We had 3 older (circa 2000) First Need water filters in our troop and they have been used on dozens of trips backpacking all over Michigan and the rest of country. When time the time came to replace the canisters we were not able to find replacements and the older systems had been well used. I came right back to First Need because I knew they worked and was not disappointed. I bought two of these this summer for a trip to North Manitou Island in Michigan for 10 boys & 4 adults. We filtered easily over 50 gallons of water over 5 days from Lake Michigan.. We also had 1 MSR MiniWorks filter… these First Need filters would fill a large Nalgene bottle in about 1 minute, where as the MSR takes 5-6 minutes. We would fill a 5 gallon collapsible water jug at the the lake, bring it back to camp and then, pumping from the jug, fill all the Nalgene bottles (about 15) and everyones water bladders in about 15 minutes using just two of these pumps. Also using the gravity filter option using the storage back works fine but it is slow.. if you have the time or are using a low volume of water, this is very nice feature.
On our trip, lake water has a lot of sand. The first line filter at the end of the plastic tube would plug with sand sometimes so you need to clean it and if the pump slows or becomes difficult to pump you need to back flush “FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS” to get it flowing. We only had to back flush one pump during the 5 days we were out. Make sure when you store them, you back flush w/a few drops of chlorine in the water, from a good water source before you put them away.
The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5, is the the pumps have started very minor leaking around the O-rings and I am concerned about longevity. I have followed the instructions to lubricate them since we got back, but have not had them in service long enough to be sure if there is a problem or not. For sure we will test them! Boy Scouts are known for being VERY ROUGH on equipment. If they don’t break it, you won’t using it for yourself.
PROS:
Fast
Efficient
Great tasting water
Fit Nalgene Wide Mouth Bottles & has adapters available to fit others
CONS:
Bulky
Heavier than competitors
“MUST BE BACK FLUSHED OCCASIONALLY AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS!!!”
Mike Cody – Troop 294 Richland, MI
Rating: 4 / 5
I loved and believed in my First Need purifier so much that I gave it as a gift to my soon-to-be sister-in-law as she set off for 2 years of volunteer work in Africa. This purifier is very easy to use, and pumps a bottle of water in no time. It also comes with a storage bag which doubles as a pouch that you can use to purify water by gravity–eliminating pumping altogether! In addition, the purifier removes bacteria and viruses without chemicals (such as iodine), which was a huge selling point for me. My water always tasted good, and I felt very safe drinking it!
Rating: 5 / 5
I have been looking for a water filter for two years. I am a scout leader and wanted something that was reliable. I am out two to three times a month on anything from dayhikes to several night stay overs. Some of my scouts have the MSR Sweetwater or Miniworks. These do work fine for one person, but when you have a group of five or more, it does take awhile to fill everyone’s bottle. I got mine in time for a one night beginner backpack trip. Our 3 mile in turned into a 7 mile in. Everyone had only enough water to last them till the lake. Thankfully there was a large stream halfway there and we were able to fill everyone’s bottles. There was 11 in our party. The First Need was so fast and easy. The floatation thingy is alright. I just wedged it between two rocks in the stream and wrapped no-see um netting around the end filter. No problems with clogging. I am going to make some modifications as suggested in one of the other reviews, a longer hose and additional filter at the intake point. Cleaning was very simple. I love the fact that it fits two different size bottle necks, because we had both. The taste of the water was great. It is a bit bigger than the others, but I won’t trade it for the world. I LOVE THIS FILTER.
Rating: 5 / 5