There are many different water filters on the market, all have different levels of filtration and offer their own pros and cons. Today I’m going to be reviewing the LifeSaver Liberty; a portable water filter and purifier bottle which is the only one on the market which has an inline pump combined. This makes it really useful and means that it can be used in a whole heap of situations which other filtration bottles can’t be.
Firstly, in terms of filtration, the Lifesaver Liberty removes:
- Virus – 99.999%
- Bacteria – 99.9999%
- Cysts – 99.99%
This means that it can make almost all water completely safe to drink. A really obviously brilliant feature when travelling, especially when you get further off grid. When we were recently in Vietnam, we were very dependent on purchasing bottles which was often only available sporadically and using single-use bottles of water is pretty tragic for the environment. Further to this, the Liberty has some really nice design elements such as a hook on the lid for a carabiner and a transparent window to see how full (or empty) the bottle is.
The major feature that I really like about this bottle is how you filter the water before you drink it. The vast majority of filtration bottles require you to suck the water through the filtration system. In past experience, I have found that this is quite difficult when trying to drink as they often feel like when you try to suck a thick milk shake through a straw. With the Lifesaver Liberty Water Purifier you gently pump the water through to purify it; this means that when you drink the water it has already gone through the system and it is exactly the same as drinking water from a regular bottle.
The cartridges last for a really long time and can filter up to 2,000 litres. This means that this is an excellent purification system for taking on long adventures. Its filter cartridge is replaceable so even when it does run out it is easily replaced.
A really great safety feature of this bottle is the FailSafe technology which means that once the filter is blocked, water can no longer pass through it, meaning that you are never able to drink unclean water through this purification system. The Lifesaver Liberty is more expensive than other personal water filter bottles but it is this large filtration volume and ability to filter large quantities easily which make it worth its price.
So as I explained in the begining of this review, the LifeSaver Liberty has one big feature which no other filter bottle has. An additional inline hose for tapping directly into water sources. Basically this 5ft scavenger hose plugs into the side of the bottle and means that you have much greater acccessility to water and you can easily filter large volumes in one go and all without getting your hands wet. You just attach the hose to the Liberty; lower the end piece into the water and pump the bottle as usual.
You can then fill the 400ml capacity of the bottle or pour this freshly purified water into additional containers. This means that Lifesaver Liberty could easily produce clean water for a whole group of people. With the really quick flow rate of 1.2 litres a minute, you can quickly produce enough water for a whole camp of people. The pumping action required is very light and easy and almost effortless. All of this is without the need for chemicals or electricity!
To summarise, the LifeSaver Liberty may not be the cheapest or most light weight (it’s 0.425kg) filter bottle on the market, but it does offer a very compact and affordable solution to a much more serious market. I’d whole heartedly recommend this bottle for individuals and small groups of travellers and adventurers to foreign lands, which do not have safe or readily available drinking water. The huge filter capacity, speedy flow rate and ability to not only suck up water using a hose, but also to filter to extra containers, really does put this purification system in a league of its own.
