Grayl UltraPress Water Filter & Purifier Bottle Review
“The Grayl UltraPress is the easiest way to make a useful quantity of water from nature perfectly drinkable, in minutes, on the move.”
Rating: 5 / 5
Pros
Unused filter cartridges last 10 years on the shelf, then 3 years after first use
No need to wait for gravity, chemical treatment or boiling / cooling
Carbon filter improves the taste and smell
Very high level of pathogen removal
Excellent build quality
Super easy to use!
Cons
No way to backflush the filter for a longer lifespan
Filter cartridge capacity could be higher
On the expensive side
What Is The Grayl UltraPress?
The Grayl UltraPress is a water filtration and purification bottle. It takes water from streams, rivers, lakes or rainwater, then makes it safe to drink. Just like the water from your tap or faucet.
The outer cup is removeable and is known as the “dirty side”. You fill this to the line from a natural water source.
A half turn on the bottle cap allows air to escape and then the inner bottle, or “clean side”, is pushed back into the outer cup.
This is done with the Grayl on the floor because it requires a bit of force, but there is a nice padded surface on the top to make it comfortable and the handle rotates 90° to help with pushing and pulling the clean side in or out.
Pushing the clean side down forces the dirty water through the filter and into the clean inner bottle, which you can then drink from or pour into another clean container.
Pushing down the inner bottle takes about 10 seconds when the filter is new. That’s a flow rate of 3 litres per minute.
With use the filter slowly gets clogged up until the pressing time reaches 25 - 30 seconds and this happens at around 300 presses.
At 500 ml (16.9 fl oz) per press that is 150 litres (40 gallons) of purified drinking water per filter.
The filter has a one way Silicone valve to keep the purified water in the clean side and the dirty water in the dirty side.
This one way valve also allows the use of drink mixes in the clean side to make a nice tasting beverage from the clean water.
The Grayl was designed in the USA and the all important filters are made in the USA. The rest of the bottle is made in China.
Specs
Capacity: 500 ml (16.9 fl oz)
Weight: 354 g (12.5 oz)
Height: 24.8 cm (9.75”)
Diameter: 7.5 cm (2.95”)
Filter Flow Rate: 3 litres per minute (0.8 gallons per minute)
How Much Does The Grayl UltraPress Cost?
The RRP of the Grayl UltraPress is £90 ($114). Check the current price on Amazon.
The RRP of the UltraPress filter cartridge is £30 ($38). Check the current price on Amazon.
How Does The Grayl UltraPress Filter Work?
Inside the purifier cartridge non-woven ceramic fibres block particulates and provide a structure for three key technologies:
Positively charged ions (molecular magnets) remove anything harmful via ion exchange. This permanently binds pathogens like viruses, bacteria and protozoa to the dirty side of the filter.
Powdered activated carbon absorbs chemicals, heavy metals, flavours and odours.
A one way Silicone valve ensures the purified water flows from the dirty side to the clean side, but not the other way.
Is The Grayl UltraPress Any Good?
Yes! The system is not only ahead of the curve but the company keep innovating and are chasing perfection. It’s an excellent place to start your research on backup water.
You get super easy and fast water purification on the move, without having to wait for boiling, cooling or chemical treatment and the activated Carbon makes the water taste nice (like a BRITA filter jug).
There’s no long wait like a gravity filter and you don’t have to laydown on the floor with your face in a stream like a LifeStraw.
Chemical treatment works great in a pinch, but who likes the taste of heavily Chlorinated water and a 30 minute wait for if there is an alternative?
The Grayl products are on the expensive side but you are paying for water purification quality, speed and epic levels of convenience.
Could this be the Holy Grail of water purification? We reckon Grayl are circling the ultimate answer and already have the perfect brand name in the bag.
Verdict: Highly recommended as a solution for Every-day Carry (EDC) water, but pack some coffee filters to extend the life of the Grayl filter.
What Is The Difference Between The Grayl GeoPress And The Grayl UltraPress?
The Grayl GeoPress is the original Grayl product, version 1.0 you might say.
It’s a larger version of the Grayl UItraPress which is more expensive, heavier and uses a larger filter with more capacity and a higher flow rate:
Capacity: 710 ml (24 fl oz)
Weight: 450 g (15.9 oz / 0.99 lbs)
Height: 26.5 cm (10.4”)
Diameter: 8.6 cm (3.4”)
Flow Rate: 5 litres per minute (1.32 gallons per minute)
Filter Lifespan: 350 cycles / 250 litres (65 gallons)
The UltraPress is designed for Every-day Carry in a rucksack, whereas the GeoPress is designed for larger mountain adventures where water sources might be harder to find.
What Is The Lifespan Of The Grayl UltraPress?
The body of the UltraPress is made from BPA-Free Polypropylene #5, food-grade silicone, TPE and ABS food-grade plastic. It’s incredibly well made and should last a long time.
Each filter lasts around 300 uses or presses. That’s a super useful 150 litres (40 gallons) of purified water.
An unopened and unused filter has an impressive shelf life of 10 years. After first use the filter lasts 3 years or 300 presses.
Can You Make The Grayl UltraPress Filter last Longer?
Yes. You can make use of a pre-filter to prevent the main UltraPress filter clogging up so fast.
A cotton bandana / handkerchief or a disposable coffee filter work well to pre-filter out the largest particles.
Coffee filters block particles larger than 20 microns wide, are dirt cheap and single use.
The human eye can just about see particles 25 microns in size, so you are basically removing any floating bits you can see, leaving the main filter to handle all the invisible nasties like bacteria and viruses; the natural water risks which can make you extremely ill.
What Is The Difference Between Water Filtration And Water Purification?
Water Filtration prevents solid particles down to a certain size passing through a filter, membrane or screen.
Filtration might get rid of anything you can see floating in the water with the naked eye, but it lets through many of the far more dangerous particulates you can’t see.
These are what can make you very sick e.g. bacteria, protozoa and viruses.
Water Purification, often the second step in the process, removes or deactivates even the invisible particles by using absorption, ion exchange, UV light, distillation or boiling.
Water purification is needed to make water from natural sources safe to drink. This is the hardest step to achieve on the fly.
What Micron Level Does the Grayl UltraPress Filter To?
While many competing purifiers aim for sub-micron filtration the Grayl filters to about 1.25 microns.
This seems to be a large sized hole in the filter, especially given most viruses are sub-micron in size, however the Grayl filter mainly relies on 400 layers of electro adsorptive technology to trap any pathogens.
Is The Grayl UltraPress Tough?
The body of the UltraPress is made out of BPA-Free #5 plastic, also known as Polypropylene. It’s light, strong and heat resistant.
It is tough, durable and can withstand 3 metre (10 foot) drops onto concrete when full of water.
What Accessories Are Available For The Grayl UltraPress?
According to the 10 C’s of survival it’s important to always have a container with you, preferably one that can be placed in a fire to purify water.
Because of this a popular add-on to the UltraPress is a “nesting cup”. A Stainless Steel or Titanium cup with perfectly nestles with the bottom half of the UltraPress, taking up minimal extra space in your pack.
This provides a cup to pour purified water into for drinking or making tea / coffee or if sharing the recently purified water with other people and you want to keep the UltraPress drinking spout clean.
The nesting cup is also a backup water purification method, following the Two Is One And One Is None rule, to purify water by boiling if the Grayl is out of juice.
Even if the Grayl filter capacity has been exceeded, it will still filter water to a useful level.
Simply boil your water in the nesting cup, wait for it to cool and then pass it through the Grayl for filtered and purified water.
Can You Filter Urine Or Sea Water With The Grayl UltraPress?
The UltraPress filter cannot desalinate (remove the salt) from sea water or urine.
To do this you would need a desalination process such as a still. These tend to be much larger than the Ultrapress and require mains power or a fire.
It is possible to make your own solar still using various survival techniques but forget finding a device that’s both small and easy to use like the Grayl for desalination.
Never try to drink sea water or urine.
Does The Grayl UltraPress Remove Chlorine?
The activated carbon element of the filter reduces Chlorine, just like a BRITA filter jug you might have at home in the fridge.
It has the same effect on other chemicals and heavy metals such as Lead and Mercury.
Further Research On YouTube
Water Filter Guru - When it comes to water filtration and purification, this guy knows his stuff.