Deeps wrote:I like my Sawyers, you can drink straight from whatever source you can get
Out in the wilds, sure you can, if your mains water isn't working at home then there's a chance that water sources could be contaminated with human waste, due to flooding or whatever, and if you drink water straight from a sawyer, (or any other filter that has the pore size measured in tenths of microns rather than hundredths.) then you risk hepatitis A, among other things, some are even worse.
For a backpacker, sawyers are ok if you're away from human habitation, for a prepper, they're not good enough on their own, they leave possibly fatal viral pathogens in the water, that can be solved if you have a large saucepan, but it does need to be said, they don't filter out everything.
A lot of people think a Sawyer in their bug out bag is enough, it isn't, you might even need it because of an epidemic, if a Sawyer is all you use then you're betting your life on it not being caused by a waterborne virus.
That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.