Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 Great taste, great protection, compact & convenient September 9, 2008
shri (Redmond, WA USA)
49 out of 49 found this review helpful
Our group used Polar Pure in the Boundary Waters and Quetico on a week-long canoe trip. At first, everyone was squeamish about using iodine and so we spent a lot of time pumping water with a conventional filter. But the filter leaked and so some of us decided maybe we'd try to survive the awful taste of iodine in the water. Color me surprised - the water tasted fine. It was convenient - just dip your water bottle over the side of the canoe to fill, add a capful of Polar Pure solution, shake, and wait 20 minutes. It tasted great. Could I taste the difference between Polar Pure and filtered water? Sure, on a side-by-side taste test I could tell a slight difference. But it was so much more compact and convenient than the water filter that I switched to Polar Pure for the rest of the week. Now I'm going to get bottles for the rest of the family so that we can take it on our hikes and trips in the Cascades and Olympics. A small bottle in a backpack and we'll never run out of water on those hot grinding switchback trails.
Serious water treatment November 15, 2009
Big Jon (U.S. Army)
28 out of 28 found this review helpful
I have used Polar Pure for a number of years, sometimes under difficult conditions. It's much better than any other chemical treatment I have found. I don't recommend drinking stagnant water from a swamp, but if you treat it following the manufacturer's instructions, you can do it and won't get a disease or parasite.
One bottle of this product will treat a LOT of water...at least in the thousand liter range. Most products are sold as little tablets and only treat about 50 liters. This is hands-down a better product.
Like all chemical treatments, it only kills living organisms. If the water is toxic, you are still out of luck.
Great product. I swear by it.
Great investment! May 27, 2008
Christopher C. Cantwell
32 out of 33 found this review helpful
Backpackers, outdoorsmen, survivalists, campers, all should own a bottle of polar pure. It is the best investment in water disinfection you could ever make. One bottle will last a lifetime, or 20,000 liters. Need I say more? It makes a fine addition to you first aid supplies as well. If you need more Iodine, you just fill the bottle with water and wait an hour. The convenient temperature bar on the side tells you how many capfuls of iodine you need to disinfect your water. As a survivalist and camper I think every household should have at least one bottle of polar pure in case of a water emergency. I also suggest a good hand pump filter.
Good but with cautions January 13, 2010
TucsonShopper (Tucson, Arizona)
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
Shri says, "Just dip your water bottle over the side of the canoe to fill, add a capful of Polar Pure solution, shake, and wait 20 minutes" - but this may be dangerous advice. The problem is any water left on the outside of Shri's water bottle was, of course, not cleaned by putting iodine inside the bottle. Since Shri didn't get sick, the water was probably never contaminated (often the case). Shri should have, perhaps did, "burp" the treated water bottle in order to clean the outside as well. Just as important, though, is to regularly clean hands and cooking utensils (since these are more often the sources of bacteria and viruses). You can reduce the minor iodine aftertaste by halving the dose and doubling the wait time - including doubling either dose or time if water is cloudy (easier with this product than tablets like Potable Aqua Water Treatment Tablets). Instead, I add an acidic sport mix to both counter (turns the iodine to iodide) and cover aftertaste (only after 30 minutes to next day wait to let iodine first do its work). I dilute powder with twice recommended water to aid faster digestion.
Issues being addressed are large 2-15 micron Protozoa and medium 0.2-0.6 micron Bacteria most likely to affect dehydration by causing diarrhea as well as rare small 0.02-0.03 micron Viruses from other humans (so, animal waste not really a problem) most feel are actually not likely in U.S. Issues not being addressed include very large 25 micron tapeworm eggs, etc from raw sewage contamination (dealt with by any filtration including with coffee filter or boiling). Tennimon's natural sand filter suggestion could take a week to work optimally (so, water should be treated anyway) and his claim of nasty taste (while never trying) is wholly unfounded. Just fill the Polar Pure bottle with water and shake. The solution will be ready for use in about an hour. The particle trap should prevent crystals from getting into the water - this is important as iodine in a crystal is poisonous and can burn tissue or eyes. Always refill the bottle so the solution will be ready for next use. Enough to treat about 2,000 quarts (compared to 50 quarts for tablets).
When camping, take water from the surface since it will be cleaned by the sun's ultraviolet rays while giving floc a chance to settle. Important to remember iodine is less effective (requiring more) if water is below "room" temperature, so warming water first can be useful (say, by leaving in sun). Best if water is filtered in any way (even if just with a coffee filter) as floc can shield pathogens from iodine (and no one likes to chew their water). Even the very best filters, though, can possibly leave some types of viruses (which are tiny dead protein fragments) but which iodine will destroy. I prefer this to other forms of iodine as well as chlorine (if just for the indefinite shelf life) - only other treatment product I would consider is Aqua Mira Water Treatment (1 kit) (good for 120 quarts). No treatment, of course, will affect toxins like industrial waste or heavy metals from mining tailings. Don't use if allergic to shellfish (since you may also be allergic to iodine). Good for foreign travel as well as backpacking. Homeland Security also recommends having at home in case of emergency, they prefer boiling or filtering AND treating water to be 100% safe.
A Great Solution January 13, 2010
The Good News
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I had read in books that one of the best methods for purifying water was by using iodine crystals, but I must admit, I didn't really understand the concept.
This is a bottle that is about 3 inches high, inside is a relatively small amount of iodine crystals that appear similar in size and shape to shotgun pellets.
The process is to fill the small bottle with water, let it sit for an hour, and then pour the liquid from the bottle (measured in capfuls using the bottle cap) into a liter of water for purification. On the side of the bottle is a simplified strip thermometer which indicates how many capfuls of liquid to use based on the temperature of the solution. The bottle has a built in mechanism (really just a tube but it is difficult to explain) that prevents the iodine crystals from being poured out of the bottle during the process.
The process is similar to using water purification tablets with the added advantage of indefinite shelf life and lower cost.
The bottle has all instructions 'painted' on the side which is an added plus. The product also comes with an short description of various purification methods, which is both interesting and 'transparent' as the company is not just promoting their own product.
The company's web site is basic and provides more details if you have interest; and, to give them credit, they responded to one of my e-mail questions within an hour.
If I was starting a basic disaster / survival kit, this would be one of my first four purchases; behind a flashlight, first aid kit, and a good knife.
Two things to note...the bottle is thick glass (I would guess relatively hard to break) and if you keep the bottle full of water, take steps to ensure that the water does not freeze as the bottle will likely break.
An interesting approach to water purification and a well-implemented product.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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