Big Berkey ro Katydin filter

[stonewater]

emergency essentials had the katydin filters on sale last month, and I see the berkeys everywhere. both seem to have the same internal components, the birkey is stainless, and the katy is lexan I believe or polycarbonate, some kind of shatterproof plastic. I personally like the idea of stainless better, but i can save a bunch of cash with the katy...

any thoughts appreciated

stonewater

[Lowdown3]

JRH, the site sponsor here, has run Pocket filters, Minis and Drips on sale at special prices for forum members a couple times throughout the year. Look down the list of forums on the main page. The forum used to be called "Group buys, specials" but it made more sense just to rename it "JRH Enterprises Merchant subforum." We'll run sales on Katadyn's regularly. If nothing else call or email and mention your a part of the forums here.

Katadyns are recommended by the WHO, used by SF teams around the world for 40 or more years.

No one heard the word "Berkey" or "Berkfield" till the late 90's when Katadyn got extremely backed up due to y2k purchasing. If you search/look around a little bit, it seems like their has been a bunch of threads on various forums the last few months of various failures with "Berkeys", filters coming apart, some sort of recall, etc.

In 17 years of selling Katadyn, I never remember any "recall" due to manufacturing defects, nor any other reasons. Never even remember one person wanting to return one- that's pretty unheard of.

[protus]

i have the katadyn

hiker
mini
ceradyn drip

ive use then all from backpacking to dailey use.MY hiker has maybe 300 gallons through it....the drip is going on 9 months of use....
100% confidence in them!!!

[ComputerGuy]

This is an excellent thread. Thank you for the info

[stonewater]

thanks guys, the katydin is the way to go then!!

[brokedownbiker]

Great thread, this is something I've been considering lately. I have been saving up for a Berkey for home use as well as emergency use. I looked at the Monolithic home built set-up, it looked like the filters are identical, but I decided I'd rather get a stainless steel container instead of the plastic buckets, for longer life of the unit.

But now I'm a little confused, the posts above seem to indicate that Katadyn makes something comparable to the Berkeys? I went to our sponsors website and all I found were handheld filters, except for the $2000 Expedition unit. Am I missing something? Do they sell a counter-top unit like the Berkeys? Or am I just misunderstanding something along the line?

[610Alpha]

here is a link to the katadyn ceradyn: http://shop.katadyn.com/product/2110...&language_id=1 $250 thru Katadyn

Katadyn Drip Gravidyn: http://shop.katadyn.com/product/2110...&language_id=1 $220 thru KatadynBoth of these are drip filters. Hope this helps.


JRH has this Katadyn drip: http://www.jrhenterprises.com/produc...5&categoryId=8

Which looks suspiciously like the ceradyn and has the same price hmmmm.....most likely the same one.

[brokedownbiker]

Great, thanks elittle, not sure how I missed that on the JRH website. Seem that they are a bit more than the Berkeys and plastic, too. Have to think about this awhile longer, I guess.

[claymore]

I certainly wish this thread had been out a month earlier. I thought the Berkfield was supposed to be the best; so when I saw there was no waiting (back-order) at Amazon I jumped all over it. Everywhere I looked these were on a 1-2 month backorder; the S could have hit the F any day so I made the leap. Well at least its nice and shiny. (notice the sig line)

[Lowdown3]

We have used a Katadyn Drip daily for the last 5+ years at home. Other than wiping off the filters from time to time, we have not even had to scour the filters.

IMO, the Katadyn is the superior product. Their is definitely nothing that compares in the way of handheld, mostly indestructable filters like the Mini and Pocket.

The plastic used for the top and bottom section on the Drip isn't some hookey little bucket deal. It's very durable. One of the advantages with plastic of this type is that if it gets knocked around- say in a quick loadout during a bug out- it will "give" instead of just crush in and forever be like that, like a metal container- i.e, Berky. Also, we all know how once that sort of "stainless steel" is compromised via a ding that they usually rust at that point.

Like I said previously, the word "Berkey" meant nothing in the preparedness market until 1998 when Katadyn got backed up due to Y2K sales.

[WiseOwl]

I love my Katadyn Hiker Pro....it is rugged, durable, lightweight,and fits perfectly in a cargo pocket or in the top pocket of my hiking pack. North GA water tastes better than anything on earth through this filter.

[Grinnan Barrett]

Big thing with filters or purifiers is to buy from someone you trust. I have bought from JRH since 1998. I am sitting in my office right now looking at things I bought from them. I have three Katadyns now. One Pocket and two minis. The Pocket is great. I recently looked at the new Berkey's and they are pretty cool but I also have checked out the Katadyn. I would go with the best buy. Next one we buy will be from JRH. Support your friends and they will support you. GB

[claymore]

Big thing with filters or purifiers is to buy from someone you trust. I have bought from JRH since 1998. I am sitting in my office right now looking at things I bought from them. I have three Katadyns now. One Pocket and two minis. The Pocket is great. I recently looked at the new Berkey's and they are pretty cool but I also have checked out the Katadyn. I would go with the best buy. Next one we buy will be from JRH. Support your friends and they will support you. GB

I'll keep that in mind next time. One day I'll put the brown water from the swamp behind the house thru the Berkey and if still living a few days later I'll report back.

[1Admin]

Claymore- any filter should be able to do that. I'd just be careful if the swamp is down stream from a chemical plant, etc.

Last month I posted a vid on youtube about collecting rainwater and mentioned filtering it and then drinking it if you had no other options. I couldn't believe the amount of people that didn't understand that after filtering that water was fine.

I take a lot of information for granted, kinda assume "everyone knows that." But evidently not. I don't say that in a jerk'ish way.

At some point I'm going run some nasty water through a bunch of filters on video and drink it for the people that don't get it. Irony being of course that most of them are probably saturated with chlorine and flouride in their city water.

[ComputerGuy]

I have a Katadyn Hiker and have not used it yet.

Last week-end though, I took 2 of the LDS Seychelle water filtration bottles and was disappointed in the taste after the filtering. The water had an off taste to it. Almost bitter