Katadyn Mini Ceramic

The Katadyn Mini Ceramic is a well-established, classic water purifier that has been a Trail Best Buy for many years. Its big advantages are the low weight of just 250g and its extremely long service life, which brings down the running cost to just 1p per litre. The unit is very easy to use and benefits from a float and pre-filter for the input pipe. The filter is easily cleaned and in use this provided pleasant-tasting water. The basic filter only removes bacteria and parasites, so you need to add iodine to the water to kill viruses. This is not particularly a problem as bacteria such as E coli are the main problem in mountain streams in the UK and you can easily buy iodine to add to the water after using the unit. The advantage of this system is that the water does not taste of iodine. The Mini Ceramic is £70 and it’s well worth the money considering the running costs that you get based on the high service life. This is ideal for regular users who won’t need iodine treatment for viruses as well as those wanting a light unit with a long service life. But the unit doesn’t remove viruses without an additional purchase of iodine. The outflow doesn’t have a pipe, making this a little tricky to use compared to some. The flow rate is excellent at 0.5 litres per minute, but others are faster. Those small drawbacks – which are mostly based around the accessories that you get – mean that the Mini Ceramic doesn’t offer the best value for money, unless you are going to be using it a great deal, in which case the running costs make it a better buy.

Filter type: 0.0002mm filter, silver
Effectiveness: bacteria, parasites, (viruses with additional iodine not provided)
Replacement cartridge: £40
Flow rate: 0.5 litre per minute
Service life: 7000 litres
Packed size: 18x9x5cm
Running costs:
1 litre = 1p up to 7000 litres;
1 litre = 0.57p over 7000 litres
Weight: 250g
Made in Switzerland
Stores in UK: England 300: Wales 100: Scotland 100: Ireland 100