Etekcity Water Filter Straw Review

As of this writing, there are 395 customer comments and 69 answered questions for the Etekcity Water Filter Straw.  I've read the customer feedback, and then condensed the results into this review.  I hope that this helps you when shopping for a portable water filter.

Item Specifics

The Etekcity Water Filter Straw includes a pre-filter, antibacterial activated carbon filter, and 0.01 Microns hollow fiber UF membrane inline filter.  These three filter stages will remove 99.99999% of waterborne bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera, and E.coli.  It also removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium.  This water purifier has been tested by the TüV SüD Institute and meets EPA Water Quality Standards.  The pouch complies with the FDA's Food Contact test in accordance with 21 CFR 180.22 to ensure maximum quality and safety.  This portable water filter kit comes with a foldable water pouch for collecting water, a longer straw to attach to the filter, and a syringe for cleaning and lifetime extension.  The Etekcity Water Filter Straw is ideal for backpacking, camping, hiking, scouting, and more.  This filter will provide up to 1,500 liters of safe drinking water.  

Great for Emergencies

A lot of the customers who bought this portable water filter used it for emergencies when they needed safe drinking water.  When hurricanes and earthquakes damaged people's homes, customers said that this water filter was exactly what they needed.  Although it works just as well for camping and small trips, according to customers this is a must-have for emergency kits.   Here is a comment from a customer who bought this for his emergency kit, "As a former park ranger, I have used these in the backcountry and found them far preferable to iodine tablets. I bought this one for my emergency pack at home. With all the news about hurricanes this year, it just seemed like a good thing to have handy. The efficiency of the filter is very impressive. I like the ability to attach a water bottle."

Difficult to Suck Water Out

A lot of straw filters are difficult to suck water out of, and this is one of those filters.  A lot of customers complained that this was very difficult to suck water out of.  Here is one customer's experience, "It's HARD to draw water from this. You might die of exhaustion before you get 100ml of water in your mouth. Plus, the water has to be prefiltered and very clear or you won't get any water at all through the filter! Even little pieces of ~0.5mm will block the filter flow. So there's a few prefilters included, use them, or this won't work...With clear water, you still need to suck on it and pressure the bottle to help to get a half-decent flow of water (which won't be fast, plan 5 full minutes to drink a small glass of water)."

3 Stage Filtration System

This portable water purifier has a 3 stage filtration system.  This means that it goes through a filter three times, which means you won't have to worry about any bacteria passing through.  Here is what one customer had to say, "My favorite thing about it is the fact that it has 3 stages, but in most cases will be used as a 2 stage filter. The activated carbon and the hollow fiber makes this a strong competitor to the Sawyer filters. It's going to filter much smaller particles than is necessary in my opinion, but the extra assurance of it getting everything out that could make you sick in most cases is a nice bonus. I wish the flow rate was more, but you can only push so much water through at a time due to the two stages."

Filter Can Become Damaged If Frozen

It is important that you try to avoid having this portable water filter in freezing temperatures, because the filter can become damaged.  Customers commented that they just held the filter close to their body when they were hiking in cold temperatures.  This customer explained, "The only downside is they tend to be fragile, so you shouldn't let them freeze or drop them. I kept this one close to my body on two of the nights of my trip as temperatures dropped below freezing, but otherwise, I didn't baby it too much."

Good Price

Portable water filters can be as expensive as $100, so the price for the portable filter is great.  A customer explained, "For the price, I'm not sure you could do better. If your building a budget bug out bag but want to keep up with a level of quality you can trust, I'd suggest this kit for you."

Bag Isn’t Too Durable

The included drinking bag is not too durable according to customers.  Many customers said that it ripped and did not work.  Here is what one customer had to say about the water bottle bag, "I took this on a 3 day back packing trip and it worked great the first 2 days, on the 3rd day the bag broke near the filter system as I was making filtered water for my 8 mile decent. It made it impossible to filter out water. Very disappointed in the quality of the bag."

Etekcity vs LifeStraw:  Etekcity Is Slightly Better

The LifeStraw Personal Water Filter is a well known water straw.  The LifeStraw is considered the most popular water filter, and for some it is considered the best survival water filter.  When compared to the Etekcity water filter, most of the customers thought that the Etekcity was better.  However, the Etekcity does have some flaws.  Here is a comment about the Etekcity vs Lifestraw, "I like this product but when compared to the lifestraw (obvious competitor) it's hard to rate this more than 4 *s. The main difference is in shelf life, this product says 1 yr and lifestraw now pretty much says eternal (though at first they also said one year, so perhaps this is just a testing thing). It is a little harder to draw water through than the life straw, but not excessively so IMHO. This item is also usable for 1.5x the capacity as the lifestraw (and supposedly filters better to boot.) At the same price I'd likely buy this one over the life straw if the shelf life is extended as really that's where 99% of these purchases will go."

Too Small for Some People

Some customers thought that the bag and filter were too small.  It was not enough water for them to drink when they went on long trips.  Here is what one customer commented, "Super cool, however this is very misleading because it looks like a large water bottle sized item, but it is actually very tiny!"

Lightweight

Although there were some complaints about this water filter being too small, a lot of customers liked that this was lightweight to carry.  Backpackers especially liked that it is lightweight, because it doesn't add much weight to their backpacks. Although there isn't an exact weight, customers thought that the whole kit weighed 4 ounces.  The filter itself is thought to weigh 1.9 ounces. Here is what one customer said about the weight, "If you are the type to backpack into the wilderness then this is a great device to through into your pack. It is lightweight so will not add to what you are carrying and could prove invaluable in case of an emergency."

The Etekcity Water Filter Straw features a pre-filter, antibacterial activated carbon filter with a 0.01 microns hollow fiber UF membrand inline filter.  This portable straw water filter is made to remove bacteria such as salmonella, cholera, and E. coli.  It also will remove giardia and cryptosporidium.  Included is a foldable water pouch for collecting water, a longer straw to attach to the filter and a syringe for cleaning.  Customers found this portable water filter straw to be good for backpacking, camping, hiking, and keeping for emergencies.  It will filter up to 1,500 liters of water that will be safe for drinking.  The downside according to customers is that this portable water straw filter may become damaged if frozen, and it is difficult to suck the water out of. Other than that, most of the comments were very positive.  The price is low so it is affordable for a wide audience of people.

Here are some top questions that I found for people considering buying the Etekcity Water Filter Straw.