Steripen Classic 3 UV Water Purifier, Camping, Travel, Hunting, Preparedness

Works well. Instructions easy to follow. Size and weight right for travel.

As someone who already owns a lot of NiMH batteries, I wanted to buy this sterilizer over the other version with a built in Li-Ion battery. The user manual said I should be able to get 100 uses out of a set of 4 NiMH’s before needing a recharge, however, once I got the unit, I realized that I could only get 25 uses until the batteries require a recharge. I’ve learned that this unit requires a high discharge rate out of batteries, which NiMH or Alkaline are not great at. Lithium batteries are ideal for high discharge rates (and they are conveniently lighter than 4 AA NiMH’s). I think the only reason to get this version over the lithium ion version, is that this one can accept single use lithium batteries. Single use lithiums can handle extremely high and low temperatures, making them versatile for backpackers who work outside of the ideal working temp ranges of lithium rechargable.

This was quite handy to have for my Amazon Adventure in Ecuador! Super lightweight and easy to use

I purchased this as insurance for a long hike in the Andes of Peru. Fortunately I never needed to use it. I had packaged it with padding inside a water bottle. After the trip was over I removed it from the bottle. I heard strange rattling coming from it. I opened the battery chamber and found loose springs, loose battery contact metal pieces, and loose broken pins that held a round piece in place at the bottom of the battery chamber. The springs were to hold the batteries. Batteries were never installed after I removed them in preparation for the trip. I had purchased too many weeks before the trip to be eligible for return or replacement.

I bought my unit when they first came out for backpacking and trips to less developed areas of the world and it served me very well. I got sick and had to stop travelling for 5 years. I recently brought the unit out for travel again and it is still fully functional. I tested the result on an agar plate and got no growth after 5 days. I admit they are fragile and you can't rely on it in rough country as your sole purification just because it is glass, but with much travel behind me it's never broken I am really happy with the product, though recent editions may have changed.

This is my 3rd or 4th Steripen. If I recall, at least one of the unit's UV bulb burned out, which is to be expected after thousands of uses. Others I damaged, including the one just replaced. The turnaround from order to receipt was 24 hours, shipping from Colorado to New York with standard shipping. Hats off to Certified Brands! My product comment refers to the original pen having flatter sides, rather than the newer models being somewhat rounded. This doesn't affect me too much for household use, but I wonder about outdoors people trying to treat water drawn from a stream, and while gathering the water, the pen rolls off the streamside rock it was resting on. The old flat-sided design would be more stable at rest on irregular, tilted surfaces.

I tested if this product works as advertised. I added 5 ml of log phase EColi culture to 495ml of water. Took a .5ml sample and plated it (1st plate) as a control, untreated sample. Next I sterilized the water in the bottle with the steripen exactly according to instructions once (2nd plate), twice (3rd plate) and three times (4th plate), using the same procedure and plated 0.5ml from the bottle after each “sterilization” cycle. There was every indication, according to instructions, that the sterilization procedure worked. After incubating the plates for 24 hrs at 37C I concluded that the steripen did NOT affect the bacterial culture at all. As you can see from my second picture, there is no difference in the bacterial growth in the treated and non treated plates. I have NO confidence that this device works.

I bought the Steripen classic 3 because of the compact size and nice design. I used it about 10-15 times on a few trips and it seemed to work fine. Then I stored it, climate controlled, with no batteries for about 3 years. Took it back out for a backpacking trip and the UV light would not come on. It would operate as though it thought it was working but no UV light. Useless. Do not depend on this device.

An dem Gerät gibt es optisch nichts auszusetzen. Es könnte leichter sein, aber dafür gibt es vom Hersteller auch eine Alternative. Die Bedienungsanleitung weist auf alles wichtige hin. Soweit alles in Ordnung. Zur wirklichen Funktion kann man als Laie nicht viel sagen. Da muss man den Aussagen von Fachspezies glauben. Ein Vorfilter zusätzlich ist sehr wichtig, da das zu bestrahlende Wasser klar sein muss. Die Kombination aus gutem Filter und diesem UV Licht sollte schon trinkbares Wasser gewährleisten. Die UV Lampe allein tut auch sicher gute Dienste im Ausland, wo eine nicht so gute Wasserqualität wie bei uns ist.

This is a compact and useful device to have when traveling. I have a micron hiking filter the filters out bacteria and particulate matter but not viruses. Using this device will kill the viruses making the water very safe to drink. Yes, the water could still have chemical contaminants but at least I will not get violently ill from infections. This makes a one / two punch for safety.

Lo utilicé este verno en Cuba y aún así pille ecoli. Sería por otra cosa pero solo bebía el agua que potabilizaaba con la lámpara.

This can be easily packed in one's panners or back pack.

I used the purifier 2 times, after that the pen indicated that the batteries are out of order, I changed, but it still keeps indicating the same and does not work.