Filtering Straw?

Has anyone ever used one of these water filtering straws?
The first one I found through cabelas http://www.cabelas.com/p-0013055515228a.shtml


Another being the aquasafe straw
http://www.aquasafestraw.com/_product_40609/AquaSafeStraw.

Just wondering if how well they work, what the water taste like from a random river or lake or wherever it is you may have used one. If they are as good as they claim, they could make for an awesome safety tool while hunting/camping.

 

well idk about those but i was always taught to use either tablets or a device for straight up filtering

 

they claim to filter just about 100% of everything, down to 2 microns whatever that means.

 

Talk to Bear Grylls. He'll make one with a reed and charcoal.

 

This is true, he is definitely the wilderness MacGyver.

But let's say I don't live in an area with reeds and typically don't carry charcoal. It's a little messy

 

I see. If you can't get ahold of Bear, I guess I would buy one if it was somethin I would be needin. Most lake water is just nasty. Not sure if I'd drink out of most lakes even with the filter straw. Moving water like a creek or something is usually pretty clean anyway, at least around here, but I guess you could use it to be extra safe. Around here I just drink out of whatever creek I may find in the woods, as long as it's moving water.

 

I cant speak for the straw as I normally use tablets. A reminder though, be careful as to what streams you are drinking out of. I can think of a few areas throughout Colorado in particular where there are highly contaminated streams due to old mines that are no longer operational because of the high amounts of contaminates that have been leached into the soil and nearby streams.

 

There are definitely a lot of unused mines in Colorado. Not that I plan to use one of these straws as my only source for drinking water. I would only use it in emergency situations.