Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter Review

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Gimmicky products are easy to spot. They feel cheap to the touch, perform even worse, and generally become more of a nuisance than a help during any outdoor activity. One place you don’t want a gimmicky product is in water filtration. You want to be assured of the fact that the water you drink from any outdoor source is safe for consumption.  In this review, we’ll be talking about a recently tested Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter.

To begin with, getting, storing, and consuming water is one of the most important activities on any backpacking/camping excursion. Water is heavy – you don’t want to carry much with you at a time. Weighing in at only 7.2 oz, the Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter is so lightweight, you pretty much forget it’s in your pack. I’ve carried a few different water filtration systems, and while there are pro and cons to each one, none of them surpassed this system in ease of use, portability, and the ability to supply large groups of people with fresh drinking water. What more could you want from a water filtration system?

The entire kit folds into a bag the size of a large can of beans. Zipper compartments on both sides allows you to store the dirty bag/hose on one side, and the clean bag/hose/filter on the other.

First Impressions of the Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter

My first impression of the system was to marvel at how simple the system is. The folks at Platypus make you release quick that you’ve been working way, way too hard to get water all those years. With no pump, you don’t have excess filling chambers, spare rubber grommets, fold away plastic handles, alternate foldaway plastic handles (don’t ask), and that dread you get at the bottom of your stomach when you realize you stored the dirty pump in with the clean hoses all winter. Just saying.

The complete kit all laid out. Notice all the attachments for various water carrying devices.

The Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter complete kit comes with just about every attachment you’ll need. It’s easy enough to use without any attachments (it has a pop top mouth which screws on to the clean reservoir if you want to hog all the water for yourself), or you can outfit it with a rubber funnel which adapts to any small mouth bottle, a screw on top which fits *most* wide mouth water bottles (I have so many Nalgenes running around that I wasn’t about to head out and buy an alternate wide mouth bottle, if any exist – sorry platypus), and even a nozzle which fits inside the tubing of your favorite hydration pack. This makes it possible to fill your hydration pack without even stopping to remove the inner bladder. Allow me to geek out for a moment – that’s pretty awesome.

Testing

With no imminent backpacking excursions on the horizon (having small children at home tends to curtail backpacking activities, at least until they can carry their own packs – those child carriers are cute but HEAVY), I was somewhat at a loss as to how to test the Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter. Should I just walk down to the closest stream and give it a go? It may filter out just about every bacteria known to mankind, but I didn’t really feel drinking a mixture of sewage, road runoff, oil/grease from every self propulsion beast known to mankind… you get the picture. So I simply took it trail running with me on three different excursions over a couple of weeks. While it is a bit of a drive to get to my favorite creekside trail (with water running in it I’d actually try drinking), I was willing to make the sacrifice for my testing career (ha).

The first test of the gravity bag – I wanted to see if it really filtered 2L of water as quickly as claimed. Three different tests revealed times of 1:54, 1:50, and 2:00. I back flushed on each one to simulate usage in the field. The water had no detritus in it; water with particulate in it will slow down the filter action, but not by much if you back flush frequently. Back flushing is simple; just hold the clean bag up above the dirty bag to reverse the flow. This is also how you clean the filter to extend it’s life.

In short, the Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter worked. That’s almost enough said for a filtration system. Since this is a review, however, I’ll elaborate just a bit more. Not only did it work, it worked extremely well. My favorite part of this product is that it completely eliminates hand pumping. I can’t tell you how many times I rolled up to a stream, stuck the suction hose down in, started pumping… and got nothing. The hose wasn’t long enough. The water wasn’t fast enough. The water isn’t deep enough, and I keep sucking silt into the pump, eventually clogging it completely. The dirty reservoir just dips in the water, and fills in seconds. The only thing you have to worry about is falling into the stream – this may sound funny, but you have to get within arms reach of the water to use the Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter, and that can be dangerous, depending on your conditions.

Check out the wide mouth on the dirty bag – filling it from a stream was easy as could be.

Once filled, the dirty water reservoir hooks into the filter hose with a satisfying click, and you’re done. Seriously. While it only takes a bit to fill up the entire clean reservoir (and by a bit, I mean my friend couldn’t even get started filling his nalgene with a pump system), you don’t have to watch it to make it work (although I did, since I’m a nerd like that).  You simply hang the dirty bag up, lay the clean bag down, and walk away. This may be an exaggeration, but it seemed to me that pumping water for everyone on my last backpacking trip took hours. This reservoir was enough water for three really thirsty guys after a long, hot trail run. And it would’ve lasted longer, if someone hadn’t dumped out the clean water before I was done drinking. The bright side is it only takes a bit to refill.

Final Thoughts on the Platypus GravityWorks 2L Water Filter

All in all, the Platypus Gravity Works 2L Water Filter is a must have for any backpacking or camping excursion. It’s lightweight, easy to use, and per their website, filters up to 1500 liters of water on one filter. It allows you to quickly provide water for your entire camp, meaning only one person on the excursion has to actually carry it. At $109.95, it might be the best purchase you’ll make for your backpacking kit. As an added bonus, Platypus also sells carbon filters on their website if you’re looking for that crisp filtered taste. For more info on the GravityWorks Water Filter and other Platypus products, visit https://www.platy.com/home or www.amazon.com/platy.