Steripen Adventurer Opti (Water purifier)

I guess this is becoming a electronic gadgetry blog. This product worked great when augmented with antibacterial wipes.

You fill up a 1 liter Nalgene or water container in the river or stream. Push the button once to purify a liter (quart). When the green light starts flashing, you stick the glass tip into the water up the handle, the UV light turns on (take the lid off first). You swirl the water every once in a while and 90 seconds later, all the bad stuff is dead by the ultraviolet light. I could never figure out how you killed the bacteria and viruses on the rim so I use antibacterial wipes on the rim, threads and inside of the cap of my Nalgene. I used it for 2 days while hiking Segment 3 of the Colorado Trail (http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=256318). At 4oz, it is a lot easier to use and a lot lighter than my pump type filters.

I had a little trouble at first, green light turning red. I think it was because I wasn't putting it into the water all the way up to the handle.

You can use the same device to kill the bad stuff in your water in 3rd world countries.

My Review of SPOT Connect Personal Locator Beacon

Originally submitted at Eastern Mountain Sports

Combining the technology of the Smartphone with the communication ability of the SPOT satellite system means you can keep everyone updated and safe when out of cell signal range.

SPOT Connect Personal Locator Beacon

Love the product overall

By ManiacJWJ from Colorado Springs, CO on 5/16/2011

 

4out of 5

Pros: Share trip with friends, Tracking, SOS ability, Sends messages to family, Analyze trip later

Cons: Missed sending one messag, Tracking inconsistent

Best Uses: Hiking in remote areas, Backpacking

Product tracked most of the time. It had two gaps where it didn't send. My first message that I sent to my family was never delivered. It did send my second message to my family and posted it on Facebook. It sent coordinates. I liked being able to export my trip to Spot Adventures, document things I learned and add pictures.

I'll have to figure out what to do with my cell phone's battery life going down quickly even though it was in Airplane Mode most of the time. I took my Droid out of airplane mode to check my status. It took too long to turn back on if I turned it off completely so I only turned it off completely a few times. Note later: I found out that turning it on and off was what drained the battery. Staying in Airplane Mode made it last a lot longer.

(legalese)