Why Hasn’t Anyone Come Up with a Better Water Filter Design?

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If you’ve gone shopping for a new water filter recently, you know that trying to differentiate between the various options isn’t an easy task. The market is saturated with straw-style filters—lightweight tubes that look like they’re jammed full of vermicelli noodles and meant for squeezing or sucking water through. They come in slightly different colors and lengths, but fundamentally, they’re all the same: hollow fiber filters that use thousands of hair-width tubes covered in microscopic pores to strain out bacteria and sediment.

Ten years ago, it was easier to differentiate between gizmos. There was no mistaking a ceramic pump filter with a UV pen. Straw filters were the minority, with Lifestraw and Sawyer making the two dominant versions. Not only do today’s most reputable brands make very similar water filters, but the market for copycat water filters is rampant on websites like Amazon, where you can find dozens of Lifestraw knock-offs for cheap.

Why do all water filters look the same—and does it really matter if you buy a $5 no-name lookalike? We dove deep into the highly-competitive, incestuous, and increasingly stagnant world of water filters to better understand the modern market.

The Design Bottleneck

The main reason for the water filter design bottleneck is simply that a three-inch tube of hollow fibers is the magic ratio for weight, size, and flow rate. You can make straw-style filters shorter or skinnier, or fatter or longer, but they come with trade-offs in terms of ergonomics and flow rate. If you’re a backpacker in the United States shopping for your next filter, you can’t do much better. Until a new, game-changing medium for filtration comes along that does the job faster, is lighter, or easier to clean, the market has reached its plateau.

In some cases, brands are literally using the same, rebadged water filter. Last summer, Backpacker’s editors tested Hydrapak’s 42-millimeter hollow fiber cap filter—it screws inside pouches and bottles instead of onto the outside. Instantly, we recognized the design from the Salomon’s Soft Flask XA filter. Except for the bite valve at the end and red coloring, they are identical.

Jon Austen, Vice President of Product at Hydrapak, oversees the company’s research and development, including product engineering and manufacturing: Austen confirmed that Hydrapak was indeed behind its production: “It’s the same manufacturer, process, supply chain, hollow fiber spec, and housing.” He also noted that creating the filters to be sold under Salomon’s branding allowed them to perfect their approach before releasing a cap filter under the Hydrapak flag.

In Short: It’s cheaper for brands to use the same tried-and-true manufacturer—why reinvent the supply chain when it already exists, especially for such a simple piece of equipment?

Knockoffs and Copycats

But what about off-brand, copycat filters? For every Katadyn, Lifestraw, or Platypus, there are a handful—if not dozens—of knockoffs. Kurt Avery, the founder of Sawyer, says that keeping designs and technology legally protected is tricky for this category.

“We didn’t do a utility patent,” he said. Doing so would have necessitated a disclosure of their proprietary hollow fiber technology that could’ve enabled competitors to reverse-engineer the filter. In terms of patenting design, Avery says there isn’t much point: “People will get around it by adding knobs or nozzles.”

On top of patent issues, Avery explained that chasing down counterfeit products, for example those produced in China en-masse, is a difficult endeavor, and litigating against overseas companies is a challenge. Rarely, as was the case with a Sawyer Mini counterfeit that used fake Sawyer labeling, does Avery actually find resolution.

“We found them quickly, because they didn’t work, and Amazon recalled them,” he said. “We have a transparency code on our filters so you can scan them and know that they’re authentic.”

According to Avery, it’s relatively easy for counterfeit filters to pass U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, explaining that they were established in the time of ceramic filters, long before hollow fiber technology emerged.

“The standards are soft, a very low bar to get over,” he says. For example, Avery claims that there isn’t a single filter on the market that could withstand a backflushing pressure test—important for cleaning most hollow fiber designs. Avery says that Sawyer’s proprietary tech allows for such pressure and the brand’s crazy-high 100,000-gallon lifespan.

Given that it’s your health on the line, it’s pretty clear that you should avoid the no-name knock-off filters, no matter how tempting the price tag may be. But things get murkier with more established companies. Hydroblu has a devoted following with thru-hikers. Their Versa Flow is identical to the Sawyer Mini both aesthetically and in terms of its 100,000 gallon claim. It’s also slightly cheaper and has a faster flow rate thanks to a fatter, longer design. Hydroblu, which has its headquarters in Utah, but has filters manufactured at a Guangzhou, China-based factory, denied any intentional similarities between the two products, although the VersaFlow postdates the Sawyer Mini by several years.

So, how should you go about buying your next water filter in this mucky market? Here’s what to look for:

Check for transparent quality-control standards.

While the EPA has set certain standards for water filters, it doesn’t actually check these products—domestic or foreign—for compliance. You read that right: Those standards are merely guidelines. But the biggest names in filtration are transparent about their testing. 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.” HydraPak performs “100-percent testing on its assembled filters to confirm that the hollow fiber filter media is fully intact and that there are no leaks in the system.” HydroBlu stated that it conducts point-of-manufacture quality assurance and then samples random, completed filters for testing.

Look at third-party testing data.

Several major brands, like Sawyer, actually upload third-party testing data to show that its filters work rather than asking the consumer to simply take their word for it. Like Sawyer, LifeStraw is among the most transparent we’ve found, providing detailed information on its performance and test results, including descriptions of quality control and third-party laboratory reports, stating the company “owns and operates its own fully equipped ISO certified water laboratory,” and “tests all products through external internationally recognized labs.” Katadyn provides the names and locations of the third-party laboratories who test its filters for many products, but does not share the actual reports. Others, like HydraPak and Hydroblu will only provide reports on request. If a manufacturer’s website does not provide third-party testing data, consider making a request to see if they will share the reports.

Read real-world reviews.

While manufacturing processes and laboratory validation are important, reviews from trusted sources will tell you simply if it works and how well. Claims made on paper don’t always translate in real-world conditions, like when you’re filtering chocolate milk-colored water from a recently-grazed section of the Continental Divide Trail. More than once, we’ve field-tested a filter with great specs, only to have it break on first use in the backcountry. Backpacker’s editorial team rigorously evaluates filters every year for its Gear Guides, processing hundreds of liters of water in just about every climate you can imagine. Want to know which water filters we’d take into the backcountry? You can find our top picks for 2025 right here.