Water Everywhere: SteriPen Sidewinder and KOR Delta

Water is often under-appreciated. It's all too easy to lose sight of the fact that turning on a tap and getting potable water is a luxury, and isn't available in much of the rest of the world. There's a lot of talk about water being the next resource to fight over, but we don't feel much like battle. Instead, it's easy to head out to countryside- surprisingly easy to do even near one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the United States. And when hiking and camping to traveling to places where clean drinking water is a precious commodity, the SteriPen Sidewinder comes in handy. SteriPen is known for their line of portable water purifiers for travel, outdoors and emergency needs, and their latest product is the SteriPen Sidewinder, a water purifier that doesn’t require batteries and is powered by your muscles.

The Sidewinder works by blasting the water with UV light, a widely recognized method of killing microorganisms. With a capacity of one liter and the ability to purify up to 8000 liters, one liter at a time, we liked that it was light, easy to carry, and durable. It was as easy to use as advertised- just fill the included one liter bottle with water, attach the Sidewinder, flip the unit and bottle upside down and unfold the handle. Then crank the handle until the green LED indicates successful purification, which takes about 90 seconds. Open and drink!

While we loved the SteriPen, we found that cranking the handle at the advertised rate (2 revolutions per second) might just be too difficult for the sick or elderly to keep up with, though any young person should be fine. The SteriPen also comes with a pre-filter, in case the water contains particulate matter, and is carries the Water Quality Association’s Gold Seal, cerifying that it purifies water safely and effectively according to EPA standards. They make some other units to fit different use cases, but this is one of the most user-friendly and straightforward and can be found online for $99.95.

Another way to save water, even when at home, is to skip drinking the bottled stuff. And one of the best ways to do that is by carrying a reusable water bottle. The KOR Delta Hydration Vessels might have an odd name and some feature bloat, but are pretty darn good. These latest water bottles – or as they are advertised, “Hydration Vessels” – were designed using the customer feedback that they got from the KOR One. Changes included a circular base that fits into cup holders as well as a smaller size.

Consumers complained of the handle of the KOR One being uncomfortable and now the Delta’s handle is slightly titled to mimic the shape of your hand, getting longer as you move from your little pinky to your index finger. This new handle shape symbolizes the ancient Greek Letter, Delta (∆), which means change. On getting the Delta, the first thing we noticed was that its well designed and beautiful, not exactly what you expect a water bottle to be. On inspecting the Delta we found that it came with a safety latch which prevents accidental spilling which we were very pleased with. After weeks of carrying it around, we didn't have a spill- it's perfect for yoga and light classes, if a little small and heavy for hiking, camping, or daytripping.

On drinking some water out of the bottle, it struck us that the cap hadn’t rebounded and tried to hit us in the face which is a plus for any water bottle- it's the little things that we appreciated. For instance, the spout twists off and reveals a much larger opening for easier cleaning. And it was just large enough to allow us to hurriedly gulp down our drink or maybe put in some ice cubes but it was small enough to prevent splashback. Also, the gentle curve of the spout felt comfortable, smooth- better than just about any glass or other container. Delta was easy to clean and dishwasher safe, and comes in four colors, each representing and supporting different water related causes, Pink for the Global Water Crisis, Green for Watershed Protection, Blue for Ocean Protection and Orange for Container Recycling.

The KOR Delta comes with a very, um, San Francisco feature- KOR stones, which are inspirational/motivational placards just small enough to fit in the cap of the Delta. We found ourselves more confused than motivated (there is an extra plastic tab to access and change the 'stones'), but it's a cute idea. Also, we should note that KOR is a part of the "1% for the Planet" movement. This is a movement where companies around the world contribute 1% of their total sales revenue to a group of 2,271 environmental organizations all over the planet. All in all, a good deal for a BPA-free, way to easily carry your liquid of choice around. The KOR Delta can be found online at $19.95 for the 500mL bottle and $29.95 for the 750mL bottle.