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If you’re a survivalist or someone that loves spending time outdoors, you probably are familiar with the need for a water filter straw. The best water filter straw is going to keep you safe on your travels because it will provide clean water that’s nearly free of contaminants no matter how unclean the water may actually be before filtering!

You won’t always have access to clean water in every situation. Having access to water doesn’t mean much if it’s filled with parasites that could make you deathly ill. That’s where a water filter straw comes into play. Whether you’re in your backyard or a disaster zone, your straw will filter out the contaminants and make the water safe to drink.

After some product testing, we managed to find three of the best water filter straws on the market. All options are relatively inexpensive, lightweight, and easy to carry and take with you anywhere you travel. They also remove as much as 99.99% of bacteria and will filter hundreds to thousands of gallons of water before you need to replace them. So, if you’re in the market for one of the best filtered straws on the market, keep reading!


Quick Picks for the Best Water Filter Straw of 2022


Our Research


Our Picks for the Best Water Filter Straw

In order to find you the best available water filter straws on the market, we utilized hands-on testing, manufacturer data, and verified third-party reviews of actual users. You can learn more about our process in the How We Chose section, below.

Top Overall: Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System

Key Features: Fully portable; trusted brand; excellent reviews; weighs just 2 oz; good for 100,000 gallons

Price Range: $$

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The Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System is a filtration device that you can trust. With over 4,500 reviews and a rating over 4.5 stars, you can be sure that the product claims are accurate. The high-performance filter removes as much as 99.99% of all bacteria. This includes E coli, cholera, and salmonella, among other waterborne pathogens.

At just about 2 ounces, it will fit in the palm of your hand. Plenty of options are available to get your clean water. You can put this water filter straw directly in the water source. You can also attach it to an included drinking pouch, disposable water bottles, and hydration packs.

This straw comes with the 7-inch straw, a 16-ounce reusable drinking pouch, and a cleaning plunger. It is able to filter up to 100,000 gallons, so you’ll get your money back on this cost-effective water filter straw. Click here to learn more.

Budget-Friendly: LifeStraw Personal Water Filter

Lifestraw

Key Features: Removes bacteria & parasites; rigorously tested; long life filter; best-seller

Price Range: $

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If you’ve been looking for a water filter straw, you’ve likely already come across the LifeStraw Personal Water Filter. This is because it’s one of those most trusted, well-tested water filter straws on the market. All of the claims made by the LifeStraw brand are verifiable and pass the testing protocols that have been set for water filters by the EPA, NSF, and ASTM.

With proper care, the LifeStraw should last for a long time. It will filter up to 4,000 liters or 1,000 gallons. As water is filtered through the straw, as many as 99.99% of waterborne parasites, bacteria, and microplastics are removed.

Not only is this is trusted, inexpensive option, they also offer you a chance to do some good. When a LifeStraw is purchased, one child receives safe drinking water for an entire school year! Add that into a trusty, quality product with thousands of positive reviews and you can see why people trust LifeStraw to get cleaner drinking water. Click here to learn more.

Luxury: Survival Hax Water Filter Straw

Key Features: 1/2 pound weight; effective filtration; compass and other survival tools included

Price Range: $$$

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The Survival Hax Water Filter Straw is an excellent choice if you want something reasonably priced that has plenty of bells and whistles. While not expensive, compared to some of the other water straws on the market, it is one of the pricier ones. That said, it will clean up to 400 gallons of water and costs less than $20, so it’s well worth the money.

You can put the 7.5-inch straw directly into a water source or you can attach it to any standard size disposable water bottle. It weighs less than 0.5 pounds, so it’s lightweight and easy to carry. Like many of the other popular brands, the Survival Hax will remove up to 99.99% of bacteria and parasites from creeks, mud puddles, rivers, and other bodies of water.

As a bonus, your water filter straw comes with some added survival gear. You get a tourniquet, bear whistle, compass, signaling mirror, and a carabiner. Click here to learn more.

The FS-TFC Portable Mini Personal Water Filter effectively enhances the overall quality, taste, and odor of the water. 

The manufacturers have focused on the portability of the water filter straw, designing it to be sleek and compact, making it perfect for outdoor activities like hiking and camping. It comes with the emergency preparedness straw that eliminates the sediments and solid particles from the water. With this product around, you can purify up to 1,000 gallons of water. 

The triple filtration feature works well in extreme environments. The filtration mechanism consists of a combination of activated carbon fiber, filter straw, and a sediment prefilter which reduces more than 99% of the contaminants.

The complete kit comes with a faucet-mounted purifier straw, a silicone pipe, a universal adapter for a PET bottle along with free batteries, iodine, and chemicals. This water filter straw is ideal for purifying water from streams and lakes.

Membrane Solutions brings you a robust water filter straw loaded with a four-stage filtration mechanism. Sleek and lightweight, this water filter is ideal for travelling and outdoor activities like scouting and hiking.  

The 6.7-inch straw filter is compatible with any bottle, glass, or cup, considering its dimensions. Weighing only 2 ounces, the straw filter is made from food-grade plastics and BPA-Free ABS, which elevates the safety of your drinking water. This best water filter straw can filter up to 396 gallons of water.

The four-stage filtration mechanism consists of a PP cotton, coarse filter screen, hollow fiber ultrafiltration membranes, and coconut shell activated carbon. This combination effectively eliminates 99.99999% of contaminants. Besides removing organic chemicals, chlorine, odor, and pollution, it enhances the taste of drinking water. 

Despite its small pores, it maintains an optimal flow rate. The manufacturers have also focused on the size and portability of the product. Since they have a smaller frame, people find them more convenient to use.


Importance of Water Filtration While On-The-Go

The importance of having access to safe, tasty drinking is something that cannot be understated. People need clean water to bathe, clean, drink, and cook with. The lack of clean water can lead to serious health issues and in some cases, death. Currently, over 840 million people lack access to clean water around the world. Here are some additional reasons why a handy water filter straw will benefit someone:

Taste – Obviously you want your water safe to drink, but the quality of water can taste different from one water source to the next. Using a water filter straw to filter your water means a crisp, clean tasting water that has less contaminants overall.

Peace of Mind – You can’t ever be sure what contaminants are in a water source, especially if you’re hiking, doing something outdoors, or just in an unfamiliar area. A water filter straw is easy to use, and, in most cases, you can drink straight from the water source. The filter cleans the water and what gets to you is safe, refreshing water.

Safety – At the very least contaminated water makes you sick and at the most it could kill you. Even if you think the water is safe, it may not be. Using a water filter straw removes as much as 99% of waterborne types of bacteria and in some cases, it will remove protozoan parasites. Having the proper water filtration system can mean the difference between good health and unnecessary sickness.


How do Water Filter Straws Work?

Water filter straws are considered a more basic filtration system compared to filtered water bottles and water filters. 

Not only are they compact and lightweight, but they are also reusable. 

The majority of water filter straws are fitted with carbon filters. These help to remove protozoan cysts or harmful bacteria that can be found in a freshwater source. They also help to make water safe to drink, whether you are drinking directly from the water source or a bottle containing unfiltered water.

Along with the carbon filter, you will find many of these straws, including a hollow fiber membrane. This helps to remove any further bacteria from the water you drink. The membrane catches the bacteria in porous tubes, allowing the filtered water to pass through. 

Also, you will find that the majority of water filter straws contain a prefilter. This feature helps to remove larger particles from the water, such as mud and silt. Not only does it help to further clean the water, but it also helps to protect both the carbon and the hollow fiber membrane filters inside the straw.

Unlike a regular water filter that often uses a pump system, with a water filter straw you need to pull the water through it yourself. Unfortunately, you may find drinking from it can prove quite tiring, but since it is such a simple system to use, no prior experience is needed. 

Key Considerations when Buying Such Equipment

Do Your Research

Before you purchase a water filter straw, make sure that you do your research. This way you’ll be able to discover the kind of bacteria, parasites, and viruses that the water you may have to drink contains. 

When it comes to water filter straws, you should choose ones that aren’t only portable but are also easy to use and can protect you against any kind of bacteria found in the area where you are traveling. 

Look At The Micron Rating 

Most water filter straws come with a micron rating of between 5 and .01 microns. This number tells you the size of particles or organisms that will get blocked by the straw filters. 

Ideally, choose one with as low a micron rating as possible. This will help to ensure that more viruses and bacteria will be caught by the filter. Some bacteria found in water can measure as little as .02 microns. So opting for straws with a .02 micron or less rating will help to prevent such from passing through the filter.

How Long Will It Last

As with other water filtration systems, the lifespan of water filter straws is measured by how many gallons of water they can filter before becoming ineffective. 

Most straws you can filter anywhere between 20 and 100,000 gallons of water before they become ineffective. This is because most come with several different filters. It is important to note that one filter inside may expire faster than another. So make sure to make a note of what kinds of filters the straws you are buying include. 


How We Chose

Despite the fact that there are many options out there for water filter straws, we wanted to give you the best overall products. This is how we did it.

Filtration Technology – At Water Filter Data, we strive to pick products that will actually benefit you and keep you safer. When it comes to filtration technology, not all water filter straws are made equally. We used as many as we could to get a feel for the process. We also took into account where these water filter straws could be used and the rate of contaminants each straw is able to filter out.

Brand Recognition – Most companies will tell you that their product is the best, but that’s not always true. We focused on brands that have a reputation for supplying quality products. We considered products that we’d want to use ourselves and factored in user reviews to choose the most quality products available.

Quality – If you’re an outdoor enthusiast or survivalist you’re going to want something dependable. We considered how long each filter lasts and how much it will cost for you to replace them.

Price – Many of the top water filter straws are in the same price range and none of them are overly expensive. That said, we considered the price of the overall unit and we factored in what it would cost to replace it.

Maintenance and Durability

The straw is directly subjected to contaminated water, sometimes as sedimented as lake water. The tiny filter pores of these small filtration devices can easily clog up. Keeping this in mind, we have only selected products that have an easy maintenance routine and last through multiple uses. 

Filtration Speed

A good filtration speed allows you to filter out a large amount of water quickly which is great when you’re camping or hiking. Most products that we reviewed have a high filtration rate despite small pores that trap almost every type of contaminant. 

Quality of Taste

While you may not travel with a water test kit, you can certainly tell the difference through taste. Clean and pure water is tasteless. The straw filters listed above will not only filter out the contaminants but also enhance its taste in an instant. 

Portability

If you’re looking for a water filter straw, it’s obvious you’re shopping for one for outdoor use. Whether it’s regular travelling or camping, it needs to be portable to be convenient to use. That’s why we’ve ensured that all the products we listed come in compact, travel-friendly designs.

Hopefully you have everything you need to go out and pick a water filter straw, but if you have any questions we’re always here to help! You can ask your questions in the comments. You should also make sure to check out our guide for the best water filters!