LifeStraw vs Sawyer MINI: Best Survival Water Filters for Off Grid, Outdoor Rec and More [2023]

Written by Robert Brannon

Most of you are probably familiar with the Survival Rule of 3. You can survive 3 hours without shelter in extreme conditions, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.

In this article, we're gonna focus on the water part.

Whether you're off-grid by necessity or in the backcountry by choice, having a portable survival water filter at the ready can literally save your life. The best options are light weight and easy to use.

Most critically, they remove dangerous bacteria, protozoa and other pathogens when your available water supply is contaminated or of questionable quality.

Hell, even in the safety of your own home, your water supply may become compromised forcing the government to issue a boil water advisory. Well, if you have one of these babies handy, you and your family have a much better chance of riding it out successfully and confidently.

Three of the most popular survival water filters are the LifeStraw Personal Water Filter, the LifeStraw Peak Squeeze and the Sawyer MINI. To make your buying decision easier, we compared the pros and cons of each product, then picked the best option for several uses:

  • SHTF and Off-Grid Situations
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Preparasyon Ijans
  • Vwayaje

Ready? Let’s get started here.

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Robert Brannon

Robert is Survivalmag's Editor in Chief. His hobbies include: Archery, Trapping, Hunting, Fishing, Firearms, Reloading, collecting G-Shock watches.

Medya Mansyone

Sawyer’s spray offers an impressive 12 hours of protection against mosquitoes and ticks, and a little less (eight hours) against flies, gnats, and chiggers.

Korin Miller
Health, Lifestyle and Commerce Writer

Medya Mansyone

Sawyer’s Permethrin spray has also worked as promised.

Mark Melotik
Freelance Writer

Medya Mansyone

Sawyer, for example, checks to ensure that no pore size exceeds 0.01 microns, stating that “the filters are then checked four more times at crucial points of assembly for filter integrity before they make their way onto the shelf.”

Dan Hu
Ekriven