When you’re hiking in the wilderness, come across a stream, and need to refill your water, what do you do? There are several treatment options: filtering, boiling, chemicals, and my personal favorite, UV light! That’s how water municipalities do it, so why not just do what the pros do?

The SteriPEN company has a wide range of UV “pens”. I first bought my SteriPEN Classic a few years ago, and since then, it has been upgraded to a SteriPEN Adventurer Opti.

How SteriPENs work?

All SteriPEN models operate the same way. You remove the lamp cover, then immerse it in the water (you’ve got to collect water from a stream if you’re hiking in the wilderness and get it into a bottle), then stir the SteriPEN in the water until the LED light turns green. The UV light kills 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.99% of viruses, and 99.9% of giardia and cryptosporidium.

SteriPEN has a new product called the SteriPEN Freedom, the smallest of all SteriPENs – it can fit right into your pocket! Unlike the other models, this one can be recharged. The catch? It has to be plugged in to a USB slot…so your laptop, or a wall outlet if you slip on the adapter. For those of you who travel abroad and are likely carrying a laptop with you or a wall charger (and the appropriate international converter), this handy little model is the way to go. Slip it into your purse or pocket, and it can be used to zap bacteria and viruses from your drinking water.

For hardcore backcountry hikers, the SteriPEN Adventurer Opti is still my favorite. I just bring along a spare set of batteries

Related Hiking Lady articles:

Hiking 101: Water Treatment
SteriPEN Adventurer Opti Put to the Test
How to Use a SteriPEN Pre-Filter

Happy trails!