I've seen several kinds out there (Chlor-Floc, Aquamira, etc). I'm just wondering if any of the brands are better than the others. Do all the brands remove and kill the same viruses, bateria, etc? Thanks for any help!

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Please don't take my avatar to seriously. I'm really not a bible thumping armageddon prophet.

The short answer is yes, they all work. Now for the long answer, It depends on whether you are allergic
to shell fish or not. If you are , don't use iodine based water treatment. Next is taste.
What i do is use my MSR MiniWorksII. Why? Because at present, I am not worried about virus'
in our waters. If things change, then I will use the water treatment tablets and then run it thru
my filter to improve the taste.

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certified pistol, rifle, shotgun, home defense Instructor
NRA Life Member
Survival & Disaster Preparedness Instructor

The only problem i have found with the tablets is their short shelf lives. most will only last 2 years and are susceptible to heat.

Really? Can I ask where you learned that they had a two year shelf life? I figured that individually wrapped in their sealed packages they would have a longer shelf life.

Most water purification tablets are iodine tablets (tetraglycine hydroperiodide). I should have said 4 years if at room temperature, but 120 degrees decreases shelf life to 6 months (one of my BOB's is in my jeep, hence the 120 degree reference). Every time you expose them to air their potentcy will decrease by about 1/3. My references are "crisis preparedness handbook by jack spigarelli" and my own Remington's Pharmaceutical Chemistry book. By the way this applies to iodine crystals and tincture of iodine also. Yes they do work and yes sealed they will keep better than a bottle of tablets but the same chemistry applies to all. Not trying to rain on anyones parade, just trying to help.

I don't think you're raining on anyone's parade. It's good to have accurate information. Now what are your thoughts on the Chlor-floc type of tablets that are chlorine based rather than iodine based. Any difference?

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If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

Some difference. Chlor-floc is really chlorine with a flocculating component(this helps remove sediment which can hide small microorganisms, kind of like food hides worms in you dog's stomach from worm treatments). Developed by the military, it works pretty good except for cryptosporidium and some cyst type microorganisms. 2 major problems, 1. you have to have 2 containers to use this, because once you remove any sediment you must filter that out to put the water in your canteen. 2. Chlor-floc is rated as stable at "room temp" for 3 years, but free chlorine is very temp sensitive(notice on the directions for chlor-floc that is the water temp is cold you must use 2 tablets), the heat factor on chlorine has not been established (except exteme heat does sharply decrease potency). hope this helps

What about Water Filtration Bottles are they better than water purification tablets.

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Water filtration tablets taste horrible, and leave grit in the water.

Water filtration bottles are generally pretty good, but there are parasites that mey be too small for the filter media.

One way to get the best of both is to treat the water with purification tablets and then filter the water. This reduces the bad taste. (Thanks to Sarky for sharing this with me.)

The way I normally do it, is filter the water, and then boil it to kill off any parasites that may have been missed. I have camped out using local water sources many times without getting sick, so I know this works.

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NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
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NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

I absolutely agree with you. I've been doing that years ago but it caused so much work to do that's why I can't find doing it so I tried one of the best water purifier tablet. It is named as Potable Aqua® Water Purification Tablets. It is intended for emergency disinfection of drinking water and makes most water bacteriologically suitable for drinking.