The advantage of the MIOX Purifier is that it doesn’t have issues with turbidity, and it can purify larger batches at a time.

On the downside, you have to let the water sit (up to 4 hours to kill cryptosporidia). But then you just develop a 2-bottle system: already purified water, and another bottle undergoing purification.

They have this new solar charging kit that comes with a pair of rechargeable CR123 batteries, and a charger that works from 110 or 240V outlets. And if you really find yourself “off the grid”, the built-in solar panel can recharge the batteries in two to five days, depending on solar conditions. Also available at MEC.

I used this steripen during my year-long round-the-world backpacking trip. I admit we probably only used it for about 50-60% of the time. The main downside to this is that it doesn’t affect the taste at all, so if the water tastes gross, it will remain gross tasting even after purifying it.

Other than that, it’s light, compact, easy and fast to use, and between the two of us we probably ended up saving hundreds of water bottles. Highly recommend it, not just for travel, but for camping as well.