I have been using the Water-to-Go filter water bottle for nearly two years now. It has been part of my kit on my hiking trips, including my 950-mile hike across Britain. Now it’s time to give my honest thoughts on using the Water-to-Go bottle whilst hiking!
Keep reading for my full Water-to-Go bottle review, I will tell you what I like and dislike about using this filter bottle and whether I would recommend adding on to your hiking kit list!
Ask me any more questions about the Water-to-Go water bottle in the comments.
Water-to-Go Filter Bottle
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What is the Water-to-Go Bottle?
First things first, if you’ve not heard about ‘Water-to-Go’ or seen me using it then here’s some information about this filter water bottle.
The water bottle has an in-built filter, which filters over 99.9% of microbiological contaminants and more.
Water-to-Go technology has been proven to filter some of the following bacteria, viruses, protozoa. It also reduces or removes the following: fluoride, chlorine, heavy metals and bad taste and odour. Visit the Water-to-Go website for more details.
Instead of carrying lots of bottles of water in your backpack, you can simply can one and fill up from natural resources, filtering the water you need on the go. A perfect piece of hiking gear for someone who’s outdoors a lot, like me I guess!
You then drink the water through the spout and the process of you sucking the water up through the spout filters it before you drink it.
Buy from Water-to-Go here (+ don’t forget to use my ‘Water-to-Go’ discount code)
How Long Do the Filters Last?
Each filter gives up to 200 litres of clean water, which is fantastic. The biggest challenge here is measuring how much water you’ve filtered.
On average for each day hiking I use my Water-to-Go bottle I refill it at least two or three times. For my 75 cl bottle (I took this on my hike across Britain) that is up to 2.25 litres per hiking trip.
On sunny UK days, yes we do have those sometimes, I would be drinking maybe 3-4 litres of water on a full day’s hike.
Read next: 15 Best walks in the Lake District
Based on these approximate calculations, the Water-to-Go bottles would last between 50-80 full hiking days.
Now, this is relatively easy, if like me you’ve done a 57-day trip in one go but it’s a harder to calculate if you are using for a mix of day hikes and weekend adventures.
The best way to keep track is to pop a diary note on a calendar when you started filtering water using the Water-to-Go bottle so you have a rough idea when you need to change.
Not an exact science, but that’s my suggestion, feel free to come up with your own trackers.
My Experience Using the Water-to-Go Bottle
The Water-to-Go bottle has been on numerous trips all over the UK with me, I’ve used it in the Lake District, Peak District, Snowdonia and of course, it came on my big hike across Britain.
One of the things that interested me, to begin with, was the filtering concept of the Water-to-Go bottle and how it would save me so much weight in my backpack.
A litre of water weighs 1 kg, that weight soon starts adding up. For a full day hike, I would look to carry at least 2 litres of water, maybe up to 3 litres on a hot day. Hmm, now by filtering my water on the go, this was a great way to save weight!
Using the filter water bottle, I was able to drastically reduce the amount of water I was carrying, which made a massive difference on hot days. But be aware, in warm temperatures, water sources can dry up.
On my hike across Britain, I carried two water bottles, my Water-to-Go 75 cl bottle and also a 1-litre Sigg bottle. If possible, I would fill my Sigg bottle with tap water and have it as my back up. I would then drink freely from the Water-to-Go bottle and top up and EVERY available opportunity. I aimed to never let is go too much below half full on most days.
Some of my hiking buddies have commented that they don’t like that you can’t guzzle water from the bottle, I actually liked that you couldn’t do that. I was taught from my guide who I hiked Mt Kilimanjaro with to sip water continually to avoid dehydration. The filter bottle works by sucking the water through the filter, then up the drinking spout.
Also, in theory, by keeping hydrated correctly you shouldn’t need to go to the toilet as much. I’m not sure I agree with this, I felt like I was going about 10 times a day, haha. But knowing I had plenty of water to drink gave me the confidence to keep myself hydrated.
Order your bottles from Water-to-Go
Where Did I Fill the Bottle Up?
Although I had confidence in the filtration system of the bottle I would still stick to my own rules for filling up water in the bottle. I would look for free-flowing streams and water sources, ideally filling up at the highest point on the walk.
Due to how you have to fill the water bottle up I found it was easier to use mini waterfalls or find streams that trickled over rocks to allow a tap directly into the bottle. If you are filling up from a shallow stream, you’ll only get a bottle that’s half full.
In addition, to streams which was my main source as they trickled across the paths on many occasions, I also filled up from rivers and even a Loch in Scotland.
How to Find a Water Source?
The obvious way of finding a water source to fill your bottle is to look on an OS map, look at where the blue lines intersect your footpath, or if they don’t cross then see where the closest one to the path is.
After deciding to stay at this bothy (pictured above) on the West Highland Way I found a water source right outside, don’t you love it when things are easy!
On my hike across Britain, I was very fortunate, the water sources were plentiful throughout the entire trail, with the exception of one place. Day 16 on the Pennine Way trail from Bryness to Auchope Bothy, this 20-mile section had pretty limited water supplies, we restocked up 3-miles in but then there was nothing.
This was one of those days when I had to carry more water than I would have liked!
As you’re walking, you can also look for signs of water sources to refill your bottle. The easiest one for me was to simply listen for the sound of water, even a small trickle can sound loud when you’re out hiking on your own.
Other options are to look at the land around you, streams tend to form gullies down mountainsides so they are easy to spot when they are coming up on the trail.
My favourite find was a freshwater stream on the beach, we had decided to set up camp for the night, a decision we hadn’t planned but when you’re on a gorgeous beach in Scotland it felt like the only decision! With saltwater all around us, I wondered how easy it would be to find freshwater to drink.
It turned out it wasn’t that hard, there was a stream running onto the beach, I did a quick test to make sure it wasn’t salty and perfect, I had my water bottle filled and enough sorted for dinner and a morning coffee!
My Final Thoughts on the Water-to-Go Bottle
What Do I Like About the Water-to-Go Bottle?
- Reduces plastic bottle waste, a big thumbs up for me
- I can get water for FREE
- Saves me from carrying extra water on a long hiking trip – therefore reduce my pack weight
- Can use when I’m travelling abroad too, safe filtered drinking water abroad
- Simple to use when hiking
- You can drink from it straight away, no waiting to filter
- Cold water from streams tastes amazing on hot days
- No worries about saving water, you can drink away knowing you can top up (check maps before you go hiking for water sources)
Read next 10 walks from Edale in the Peak District
What Don’t I Like About the Water-to-Go Bottle?
- Difficult to know how many litres of waters you’ve filtered
- Can be hard to fill up at low-level streams, difficult to get the angle right to fill up (pictured above)
- 75 cl of water doesn’t last long on hot days
- In hot weather, some streams can dry up, leaving you with limited options
- You can only drink to filter the water, if you want to use for cooking then boiling is the only option
- You can’t add energy powers or tablets to the water
- If the bottle was at an angle, it did leak slightly. (The bottle has a new lid which doesn’t leak now).
Would I Recommend the Water-to-Go Bottle?
As part of your kit, this filter bottle is a great addition. I know there are a lot of water filter products on the market and I admit I’m yet to try anything different at the moment but I have using this filter bottle for the last 9 months and really like it.
On my hike across Britain, it massively saved me carrying extra weight when my bag was already 15+ kg, I certainly didn’t want to increase it any more than I did.
I’ve drunk water the majority of times from streams and brooks during my time using the bottle, most of them were fast-flowing but a few were trickles, it depended on what I could find.
Since using the bottle, I’ve not knowingly been ill from the water I’ve drunk. Therefore, I’m happy to recommend this bottle, should you want to treat yourself to a new bit of hiking kit!
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I hope you’ve found this Water-to-Go filter bottle review useful. If you have any more questions please feel free to comment below and I will happily answer any more questions about the bottle.
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*Water-to-Go provided me with two filter water bottles featured in this review. However, all thoughts and opinions on the water bottle are my own.
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Thank you
Nice review. Thanks
I have the 50cl Water-to-Go bottle. The elastic gasket on the filter did not seal tightly, so some unfiltered water came out of the nozzle. I have solved it by wrapping Teflon tape around the thread of the filter, but since all the water that comes out of the nozzle now passes through the filter, you have to suck harder and less water flow comes out.
Hi Felipe, I’ve not heard of this before but I’m sure if you got in touch with them they would send you a replacement. 🙂