Very heavy. Very slow. Works like a raft pump - Ergonomically insane (takes both feet and both hands. Must be on flat, hard ground so spigot hits the bucket). I love Katadyn's smaller filters but the Expedition sucks. For the price and weight reverse osmosis is an option. Large parties consider boiling, chemicals. Gravity feed filters work but are very, very slow.

We use these in the Park Service for our Backcountry ranger stations, although they do the job very well, they dont do it very effeciently. Pumping can be difficult, lack of an out feed house makes putting it into a container cumbersome, the filter is to delicate to risk dropping of any type, and its weight is obscenly rediculous for any type of backcountry applications with out aid of pack animals or vehicles. I do recomend this for a filter to be used on expeditions that involve the use of vehicles and where large quantities of water while need to be used for long periods of time (large groups of people on long trips). This applies to very few people, but it fits that niche perfectly.

Similar Products Used:

Katadyn Pocket, Sweet Water walkabout, PUR hiker, 1st need.

I'm A rafter, not a car camper.
The Katadyne filter is slow, and somewhat of a pain ergonomically to use. It also works well for the absolute filtration of water from virtually any source. Perhaps more exotic technologies exist in today's enlighted era, but where I have been on trips where these failed, I will always carry my expedition since it has the lowest failure potential and does not fail in a mode that leaks impurities (like some). The ability to clean the re-usable ceramic filter makes this the unit of choice.

Customer Service

I have not had to replace the ceramic filter nor have any of the incredably durable stainless steel parts fialed.

Similar Products Used:

Hand (personal filters), electric (replaceable filters)