How I Became a ‘Filter Guy’ After a Lifetime of Tabs

Tim thought he was Team Tablets 4lyf. If it ain’t broke, why fix it? But a snap decision to get a Katadyn BeFree filter bottle changed everything.

I remember camping at Cooyoyo Campground in the Budawangs around 2017, back when the East Coast was busy drying itself out ahead of the Black Summer bushfires. As we made the small trek down to the creek to get water, some hikers were climbing back up.

‘How is it?’, we asked.

‘Nothing Katadyn can’t fix’, came a jolly reply.

Oh, how we laughed. But sure enough, we were treated to a stagnant pool of water that desperately required ‘treatment’. This was the routine. Pop a Katadyn Micropur Forte tablet in a litre of water, wait half an hour to kill bacteria and viruses, feel guilty about not waiting two hours to kill Giardia, and sip away.

There were other things to feel guilty about too. Like how I had no real solution if the water was anything less than clear, or the number of times rows of tablets were lost, squished in my pack, and headed straight to landfill.

But filters? Pah! We had one when I was a kid. It weighed nearly a kilo and had a little hand pump. It was a nightmare, and there was no way I was adding such a thing to my base weight. I was a tablet guy, man.

Past me: ‘yeah waiting half an hour to drink water is fine’ | @heatoburrito

How I got (Be)Free

Earlier this year, I hiked the Overland Track with my wife for our honeymoon (it was excellent, thanks for asking). This meant a few trips to ye olde outdoor store to hone our set-up. It was in Paddy Palin that I came across a 600mL BeFree water bottle, with an inbuilt filter.

It was collapsible, lightweight (76g!), and promised quick filtering so you could drink from it naturally. Most importantly though, I could swish the filter clean without fancy cleaning methods, and it was going to last for 1000 litres. That’s a lotta hikes.

The lush Overland Track is perfect for a filter bottle newbie

‘What the darn heck’, I thought, mischievously, and threw it on the pile.

Read more: Comparing Different Methods of Treating, Filtering, and Purifying Water on the Trail

Overland Learnings

I’d squished the BeFree into the side pocket of my backpack, nestled next to one of the two trusty Nalgene bottles I always hike with. It was January and, if I may be frank, farken hot, but we were regularly skipping over delightful mountain streams.

On day two, while leaning down to refill my Nalgene and ‘vibe check’ whether I was going to bother with a tablet – or rely upon the gods of fresh rain and wombat poo to keep me safe – I remembered my BeFree. I scooped up 600mL of water with my new bottle, took a huge gulp, and was on my merry way.

Zero to ‘ahhh’ with the BeFree AC is unmatched | @heatoburrito

I still used my other bottles, particularly at meal time when I needed bulk water or somewhere to stash the excess I’d just boiled. But on the trail? The BeFree was my new buddy. Every stream became a chance for fresh, cold (!) water, and by checking the map for water crossings, I could safely reduce my pack weight too.

I’d converted, but would it last?

The Opera House Hut

The next month I tackled a very different hike. If the Overland is one of the icons of Australian hiking, then the journey to Opera House Hut is the equivalent for crusty, off-track hikers. It’s an insanely challenging route that took us down one of the creeks of the Snowy Mountains Western Faces, and back up another.

Read more: I Hiked to the Same Kosciuszko Hut as Hadi Nazari – Here Are 6 Things We Can Learn From His Mistakes

You’d think the water couldn’t get any cleaner than at the top of Australia. It’s not like it can come from much higher than a few kilometres away on the Main Range, and many people run the risk. But me? I’d heard a horror story from Kate Donald, a We Are Explorers contributor and esteemed regular at Kosciuszko National Park, about how she once got outrageously sick after drinking untreated water straight from the Snowy River.

Whether the sickness was thanks to a dead animal or some dodgy toileting from other hikers, the result was the same, and I wasn’t taking that chance. It came with another plus too: I never carried more than 600mL of water at a time.

But I did find myself craving that ‘mountain water’ taste.

The BeFree AC has an activated carbon pellet to improve taste | @heatoburrito

Safety disclaimer, please don’t sue me: You should always carry enough water; this is only a benefit when you’re very confident that water will be easy to find, like it has been in NSW for a few years now. 🌧️

Enter the BeFree AC

Some water purifying tablets are awful. There’s nothing worse than hiking deep into nature, only to feel like you’re drinking from the local pool. The Katadyn tablets, bless ‘em, have a pretty mild flavour. It’s not nothing, but I get used to it very quickly and probably couldn’t tell you which water has or hasn’t been treated by taste alone.

The BeFree, on the other hand, tasted a bit plasticky. The water goes through an EZ-Clean Membrane to filter out sediment and nasties, and this always gave my water a slightly unnatural flavour. Again, not a dealbreaker, but some room for improvement.

Hence why I was stoked when I heard about the BeFree AC. The AC stands for ‘Activated Carbon’ and it’s a secondary filter designed to take out unpleasant odours and tastes. It’s been eight years since the first BeFree came out, and this upgrade is seriously nice (and I was already converted). I grabbed a 1L bottle and set to drinking. The only drawback is that the carbon filters only last for about 200L, but you can buy replacements in packs of three.

The activated carbon filter ‘pellet’

There are a few other neat changes too. The lid has been overhauled and now has a sturdy handle you can clip to a carabiner. There’s a fliplock lid to keep dust and dirt out, and the mouthpiece is silicone and removable for cleaning.

So, that’s it after 20 years, so long, good luck?

What happened to tablets 4 lyf? Will you never use them again? Do you even have principles?

My friend, por que no los dos. Two things can be right at once! In fact, if water is particularly nasty, you’ll want to filter it, then treat it with a tablet (or boil it) to kill viruses. If water has too much sediment, disinfection treatments such as tablets or UV won’t work correctly, and most filters, including the BeFree, won’t filter out viruses, as they’re super small; however they’re generally more of a risk in developing countries, rather than the bush.

The BeFree AC flow rate is made for drinking, and pushes through around 2L of water a minute. This means it works pretty well as a bootleg gravity filter or squeezey bottle, if you need to filter water for mates or prep it for further treatment.

For a hundred bucks, it’s pretty affordable too.

It’s available in a 500mL flask or 1L collapsible bottle | @heatoburrito

What will you do now?

Well, I’ve got a lot to think about. As a fledgling filter guy, I’m looking at options for my home. Do I filter my tap water, or just begin at the mains? Surely filtered toilet water makes a difference? I reckon I’m worth it.

Until then, I’ll be out filtering in the bush, even on trail runs, where drinking water I’ve just scooped from the stream makes me feel like MacGyver in fancy shoes.

Best friends forever | @heatoburrito

Feature photo by @heatoburrito