www.camelbak.com, one pound, one ounce
Anyone who has paid the price for drinking questionable water knows the peace of mind that bottled water brings. But when you’re on the go, especially in the backcountry or traveling, pure stuff can be hard to find. The CamelBak All Clear offers a great solution. The All Clear employs a built-in UV-C light bulb that kills all illness-causing organisms in just 60 seconds.  I really like the simplicity of this system. The lid, which houses the UV bulb, battery, display, and charging port, only has a single button. Push the button, the UV light goes on, you wait a minute, and the bacteria and viruses are zapped. The light and bottle do all the work, with an easy-to-see LCD display that counts down the time remaining, so you know when your water is ready. It’s that easy. One big difference between the UV purification and more traditional filtration is taste, color, and particles. With UV purification systems (like the All Clear) the water you put in the bottle is exactly the same as the water you get out—only it’s safe to drink. If you’re drinking from puddles and swamps, you might prefer a standard filtration system that not only purifies the water, but cleans it as well. But, as our testers found, most of the time they weren’t limited to pond scum or mud puddles as a hydration source.  The bottle is slightly heavy for backpacking and does take five hours to fully charge but it’s ideal for any trip where the prospect of drinking local water sends a shiver up your spine. I also found that it works as lantern in a pinch, even if it does only runs for a minute at a time—likely the longest it’s taken me to pitch my tent after dark. When you first charge the All Clear, you need to do the full five hours—otherwise you’ll get an error message (and the UV light doesn’t glow).
-Chris Boyle