Product Description
Katadyn Base Camp Water Filter: Sports & Outdoors. After lubricating the o-ring, the cartridge slid in with moderate effort. From Backpackgeartest.org The Katadyn Base Camp filter is a gravity feed filter system that utilizes a bag that is filled with unfiltered water, hung, and allows gravity to feed the water through the filter media into a water container. It is one of Katadyn's Backcountry Series of filters. Initial Impressions The Katadyn Base Camp filter arrived at my home packaged in an attractive display box. The box contained the filter bag, filter cartridge, lock ring for filter cartridge, hose, hose valve, and a small plastic bag containing the instruction book, a small tube of silicone lubricant, and a sponge. My initial impression of the product, based solely on its appearance and packaging, was that it seemed to be an attractive and well-designed unit. The bag is similar in construction to a dry bag (a nylon material coated on the inside, with a top that rolls down and buckles to close). The bag has a plastic insert at the bottom to accept the filter. I find the bright blue color to be attractive, and feel it strikes a good balance between being unobtrusive during an outdoor experience, yet still bright enough that I'm unlikely to lose it by not noticing I left it in camp. A close examination of the bag revealed what appears to me to be soundly welded seams in the bag, good stitching where the straps and buckles are located, and a well-constructed unit. The filter itself is a pleated material (much like an air filter in a car) mounted in an otherwise plastic cylinder. The manufacturer's website describes this filter material as a glass fiber. Over the pleated surface was wrapped what the manufacturer refers to as a filter protector (a very fine mesh screen) that is held on by a cylinder of plastic mesh. The filter and filter protector seem to be constructed in keeping with the simple design of the unit as a whole. The shutoff valve is a simple plastic clip that slides over the discharge hose, and can be pinched to stop the flow, or released to allow filtration. Reading the Instructions The instruction manual was very straightforward, with good line drawings and text explanations. There are two omissions I noticed. First was the lack of an explanation surrounding the installation and operation of the hose valve, though I found this to be self-explanatory. The second omission was any explanation of the purpose of the sponge provided, though I have been told it is for cleaning the filter protector. Instructions were included in English and French, and covered product set-up, normal operation, field performance tips, long-term storage, cartridge capacity, replacement cartridge installation, product registration, and warranty information (along with basic information on water filtration). In the field performance tips section the manual describes how to temporarily clean the filter cartridge in the field should it become clogged, a process I hope to try out while testing this product. In addition to the manual, there is a label titled Important Field Tips inch sewn to the top of the bag that provides 6 line drawings that explain how to assemble and use the filter. At the manufacturer's website additional information is found in the Frequently Asked Questions section. In this section I found several helpful tips, including allowing sediment to settle out of water in another container prior to filtering it, and wrapping a bandana or similar item around the filter cartridge to extend its life when filtering very dirty water. Trying it out I found assembly of the filter to be fairly straightforward. While at first I didn't think I would need to use the silicone lubricant to insert the cartridge into the plastic insert in the bag, I quickly realized I would need to. Insertion of the hose onto the filter barb took a couple of tries, as the filter barb is recessed into [6604] The best water system for base camps, family and group camping.
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
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