Discussions
Reply to: Best water purification tablets (and other portable purifiers) Posted July 13, 2020

Just a few points and questions: 1) “If you only treat water through purification, you’ll likely still have particulates floating around. You’ll survive, but that can gross out a lot of people.” Ain’t that wrong? The more turbid (“dirty”) your water is, the less effective chemical purification is, up to ineffective if turbid enough. Particulates not only shield pathogens from the UV light, but use up the active oxidisers, so there might not be enough left to kill all the pathogens. You should always use clear water if possible, not even with UV, but chemical purifiers as well. Pre-filtering will also extend the life of any filter. 2) When using chemical purifiers, it seems ClO2 is better than chlorine products and more effective against crypto? They seem to work differently (it’s still an oxidiser, but) e.g. https://www.lenntech.com/library/clo2/chlorine-dioxide.htm 3) It looks like Katadyn Micropur MP1 tablets, Potable Aqua ClO2 tablets and possibly Aquamira Water purifier tablets (not so sure about these) are all the same product, made by one company with the same active ingredients (source: EPA database). 4) For removing pollutants (not pathogens), you mention flocculants but forgot activated carbon filters? These would complement each other nicely with more polluted water. 5) If you are using chlorine products (not ClO2), ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) can neutralise residual chlorine taste (but add it just before drinking). It’s even used industrially for that. 6) Remember that none of these treatments are suitable for water that’s going to be stored for long. Pathogens can multiply, after all. 7) Proper boiling is still the best against pathogens, it’s just the huge energy needs…

Reply to: Best survival movies Posted April 22, 2020
Reply to: Best bug out bag backpack Posted February 21, 2020

A big plus for simple “technical” (or preferably, hiking) packs for me is actually the comfort. Something that works for expeditions also works well for situations, if you expect to carry pretty heavy survival gear, food and water for weeks in the wilderness on your back. Few points: 1) Carrying system. Deuter, Arcteryx and other good expedition style packs are way above any tactical packs in how much better distribute the weight over your body. Even much better than most GI army packs (the old Arcteryx would be an exception). Even in 30-liter size the carrying system makes a big difference and most of the tactical packs in that size are awful compared to their civilian counterparts. 2) Front opening. I tend to disagree. It’s a common failure point. Any big front opening zipper is bound to fail and impossible to repair in the field. At most, some (Deuter Guide and others) have a simple side zipper that allows easier access inside the pack or a separate front compartment for commonly used light items. I put my first aid kit near the zipper, and I could get it out in seconds the last time I had to treat a wounded friend during a mountaineering accident. The rest is all about good organisation of your stuff. 3) A good compromise could be some of the high end army packs, Arcteryx tactical range, Tasmanian Tiger (Tatonka), Deuter Guide tactical and the cottage industry ones. But only the bigger ones that inherit their civilian carrying systems. Maxpedition, 5.11 – no. While tacticool, carrying one a whole day will hurt your back. 4) Mind the difference between types of “technical” hiking packs. Some are are ultralight and made for one purpose (climbing, UL thru-hiking, etc.). The expedition style ones are more universal, without MOLLE or PALS but plenty of strong attachment points nevertheless.

Reply to: Best portable solar chargers Posted December 18, 2019

Nice test! Although would have really appreciated if you addressed these questions, at least informally, as they might affect the real world performance a lot: 1) Intermittent sun charge recovery – while it can be surmised from the graphs over time, some panels allegedly recover pretty badly from just a short shading (some versions of Big Blue 28W IIRC took longer if ever to get to full charging current after a brief shade, I had to unplug and plug it again usually). Might be just an issue with actual devices and possible USB power renegotiation, not visible on a load tester with power and gnd only? 2) Both USB ports – would be quite interesting to see how the devices cope with both ports loaded to the max at the probably nice solar flux you had. And people do use both ports simultaneously. The 3A you tested select devices with is still only 13-15W dep. on V, compared to marketing claims of at least 20W with some (not mentioning the likes of 28W, which is purely theoretical I guess). 3) Did your load tester adhere to any USB power standards (I know, there have been many, incl. proprietary), or just Vbus and GND connected? Could it confuse some panels with ICs to detect a higher draw device like iPad or USB PD or not? Just wondering how some of these spiked so much 🙂

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Reply to: Best water purification tablets (and other portable purifiers) Posted July 13, 2020

Just a few points and questions: 1) “If you only treat water through purification, you’ll likely still have particulates floating around. You’ll survive, but that can gross out a lot of people.” Ain’t that wrong? The more turbid (“dirty”) your water is, the less effective chemical purification is, up to ineffective if turbid enough. Particulates not only shield pathogens from the UV light, but use up the active oxidisers, so there might not be enough left to kill all the pathogens. You should always use clear water if possible, not even with UV, but chemical purifiers as well. Pre-filtering will also extend the life of any filter. 2) When using chemical purifiers, it seems ClO2 is better than chlorine products and more effective against crypto? They seem to work differently (it’s still an oxidiser, but) e.g. https://www.lenntech.com/library/clo2/chlorine-dioxide.htm 3) It looks like Katadyn Micropur MP1 tablets, Potable Aqua ClO2 tablets and possibly Aquamira Water purifier tablets (not so sure about these) are all the same product, made by one company with the same active ingredients (source: EPA database). 4) For removing pollutants (not pathogens), you mention flocculants but forgot activated carbon filters? These would complement each other nicely with more polluted water. 5) If you are using chlorine products (not ClO2), ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) can neutralise residual chlorine taste (but add it just before drinking). It’s even used industrially for that. 6) Remember that none of these treatments are suitable for water that’s going to be stored for long. Pathogens can multiply, after all. 7) Proper boiling is still the best against pathogens, it’s just the huge energy needs…

Reply to: Best survival movies Posted April 22, 2020
Reply to: Best bug out bag backpack Posted February 21, 2020

A big plus for simple “technical” (or preferably, hiking) packs for me is actually the comfort. Something that works for expeditions also works well for situations, if you expect to carry pretty heavy survival gear, food and water for weeks in the wilderness on your back. Few points: 1) Carrying system. Deuter, Arcteryx and other good expedition style packs are way above any tactical packs in how much better distribute the weight over your body. Even much better than most GI army packs (the old Arcteryx would be an exception). Even in 30-liter size the carrying system makes a big difference and most of the tactical packs in that size are awful compared to their civilian counterparts. 2) Front opening. I tend to disagree. It’s a common failure point. Any big front opening zipper is bound to fail and impossible to repair in the field. At most, some (Deuter Guide and others) have a simple side zipper that allows easier access inside the pack or a separate front compartment for commonly used light items. I put my first aid kit near the zipper, and I could get it out in seconds the last time I had to treat a wounded friend during a mountaineering accident. The rest is all about good organisation of your stuff. 3) A good compromise could be some of the high end army packs, Arcteryx tactical range, Tasmanian Tiger (Tatonka), Deuter Guide tactical and the cottage industry ones. But only the bigger ones that inherit their civilian carrying systems. Maxpedition, 5.11 – no. While tacticool, carrying one a whole day will hurt your back. 4) Mind the difference between types of “technical” hiking packs. Some are are ultralight and made for one purpose (climbing, UL thru-hiking, etc.). The expedition style ones are more universal, without MOLLE or PALS but plenty of strong attachment points nevertheless.

Reply to: Best portable solar chargers Posted December 18, 2019

Nice test! Although would have really appreciated if you addressed these questions, at least informally, as they might affect the real world performance a lot: 1) Intermittent sun charge recovery – while it can be surmised from the graphs over time, some panels allegedly recover pretty badly from just a short shading (some versions of Big Blue 28W IIRC took longer if ever to get to full charging current after a brief shade, I had to unplug and plug it again usually). Might be just an issue with actual devices and possible USB power renegotiation, not visible on a load tester with power and gnd only? 2) Both USB ports – would be quite interesting to see how the devices cope with both ports loaded to the max at the probably nice solar flux you had. And people do use both ports simultaneously. The 3A you tested select devices with is still only 13-15W dep. on V, compared to marketing claims of at least 20W with some (not mentioning the likes of 28W, which is purely theoretical I guess). 3) Did your load tester adhere to any USB power standards (I know, there have been many, incl. proprietary), or just Vbus and GND connected? Could it confuse some panels with ICs to detect a higher draw device like iPad or USB PD or not? Just wondering how some of these spiked so much 🙂