Platypus GravityWorks Water Filter Review

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

The GravityWorks system consists of 2 Platypus style water containers – a dedicated and labeled dirty and clean bag with a hollow fiber filter cartridge in between rated at .2 microns. The dirty bag has a heavy duty, zip type opening to easily fill the bag from a water source and a convenient webbing strap attached to the top, allowing one to easily carry the bag back to camp or hang from a height to filter. (A quick release buckle also makes this easy) An auto-shutoff quick connect is integrated into the bag just above the bottom, handy for trapping larger debris. When the hose leading to the filter is disconnected from the dirty bag, water will not flow out – handy for transport or for storing water overnight when you need to sleep with the filter due to sub-freezing conditions. When the hose leading to the filter is connected, (just insert until you hear a click) the flow will be activated...

In Issue 25, we review the GravityWorks Water Filtration System from Platypus - take a look at the full review below:

GravityWorks Filter Review

Issue 25 Page 1

[toejam]

That's a thorough review. Very nice.

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Thanks toejam and thanks for taking a look!

[HappyHour]

Nice review Aaron.  I switched to ClO2 drops years ago for solo trips, but still bring this when I lead groups.  Way better than pumping when you've got a dozen kids to filter water for.

[John B]

Aaron,

Your review was spot on.  I have owned this filter for 3 years no.  Only take it when I'm in a larger group.  When I have, those with other filters quickly quit using them after seeing this filter in action (i.e. get some water, dump it in the dirty bag, go on to other camp chores, come back in a few minutes and you have 4 liters of filtered water with very little effort.  Repeat if necessary!)

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Thanks guys...definitely an easy system to use and quite fast as well. Without the clean bag it's a little easier to justify on solo trips...I've considered rigging something using just the cartridge and my existing hydration system in an inline / gravity combo arrangement, but on the other hand I tend to drink / use quite a bit of water so the extra capacity and ease of filling is nice too.

[toejam]

Sounds like an arrangement used with a Sawyer filter. I know some passionate Sawyer fans who make all kinds of modifications to them to make them more useful. I don't like them because it's so hard to fill the dirty bag so I feel like they are barely useable off the shelf. But you can easily dirt-bag inline and gravity systems. I wonder how the Platy compares?

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Yeah, I used to run something similar with a Sawyer, shown in our review back in Issue 3:

http://www.trailgroove.com/issue3.html?autoflip=17

Very light as it added just a few ounces but filling the bag in my system was a bit tedious. I was using the lighter Platypus Hoser though, so something like the Big Zip could be used to solve that issue for a little more weight. I have tossed a couple of other filters in the past that I've dropped from what may have been too high or might have frozen though...love the integrity test on the Platypus. 

[Korey]

This is on my list of things to buy after I met a guy on the Superior Hiking Trail who was kind enough to share his water and I got a look at how it worked.