Shine Hai Water Straw

Camping is one of my favorite activities and when I go out, I love to test out my skills and new gadgets.  In the past, I've relied on tablets for water purification.  And to be honest, I've never really had to fall back on those as I usually can carry enough water for every trip.  I take pride in being able to budget water, but it's important to have a fall back just in case.  Because, ya know....Zombie Apocalypse.

Anyway, I was able to try a Christmas give from a colleague of mine and fellow zombie prepper, Steve.  I guess he wants to keep me around.  I received a Shine Hai Water Straw.  I've never heard of this brand, but many companies have produced their own version of the Life Straw.  The filter technology has gotten much cheaper, as most of these types of filters retail around $20.

	Shine Hai	Life Straw
Weight (oz)	3	2
Micron Filter	0.01	0.01
Particle Removal	99.99% of Protozoa 99.99% of Bacteria	99.99% of Protozoa 99.99% of Bacteria
Virus removal	X	X
Chemical/Heavy Metal Removal	X	X
Filter uses (Liters)	1000	1000-4000

The Shine Hai is comparable to the Life Straw, though Life Straw has a host of other options available. A few of those will filter viruses and chemicals.

As far as testing and reviewing, there isn't much difference.  You can see the Water Straw in the video below.  It has the same features of a Life Straw, being able to be used directly by sticking it in a water source and attaching to a screw top bottle.  The one area I had an issue with was the seal on the screw top.  During the use of the Water Straw, unfiltered water began to leak out of the screw top.  It was a bit concerning. If a seal there was not fitted properly, what might be wrong with the filter inside. But here I am a week later, no problem.  Plus, I could see that it was at least clarifying the water.  That is not in any way an accurate way to test water.

While I don't have a problem using this in the future, if you have concerns there are plenty of other brands out there at reasonable prices. I highly recommend having one of these around because they are very convenient.  Great for backpacking when you are trying to cut weight.