LifeStraw
LifeStraw Peak Series Solo Water Filter
- Protection: 8/10 What it removes from water, and how well that is proved.
- Flow rate: 10/10 How fast clean water comes through when it is new. Real flow drops as it clogs: see Ease of use.
- Weight: 10/10 How much it adds to your pack.
- Ease of use: 7/10 Filling, squeezing or pumping effort, how fast it clogs in peaty or silty water, and how easy it is to clean.
No shop we checked has it in stock
A 48 g back-up or main filter for day walks and fast trips
- Type
- Straw
- Removes viruses
- No
- Flow
- 3 L/min
- Weight
- 48 g
- Pore size
- 0.2 µm
- Rated life
- 2000 L
Where to buy
Ultralight Outdoor Gear £31.99 Out of stock. Free tracked UK delivery.
View at shop: Ultralight Outdoor GearWild Bounds £24.95 Out of stock. Shown with the earlier price £31.95 struck through (a sale price). Free UK delivery over £50; Royal Mail Tracked 48 is £3.95 under £50 (£2.95 to an InPost locker).
View at shop: Wild BoundsPrices checked 8 Nov 2026 on each shop's own page; shops can change them. We earn no commission on these links; shops are listed by price. More
Our ratings (out of 10)
1 to 10, compared with the whole market. Each says what it's based on. How we score
Protection
From maker's figures 8/10What it removes from water, and how well that is proved. 8: Clearly better than most.
Bacteria and parasites at 0.2 µm, to NSF/ANSI P231 with an outside lab report (LifeStraw). A named standard for bacteria and protozoa, so 4. No virus claim.
Flow rate
From maker's figures 10/10How fast clean water comes through when it is new. Real flow drops as it clogs: see Ease of use. 10: The best you can buy for this.
LifeStraw claims 3 L/min (a litre in 20 seconds). 2.5 L/min or more. Independent figures are lower: Backpacker timed about 2 L/min against a Sawyer Mini, and LifeStraw's own longevity test shows over 1 L/min for a new filter, falling to about 0.35 L/min at 2,000 L. UKH found it slow and hard to suck through a bottle. We band the maker's figure.
Weight
From maker's figures 10/10How much it adds to your pack. 10: The best you can buy for this.
48 g (LifeStraw). Under 90 g. Backpacker and AllOutdoor give the same figure. You also carry a bottle, which is not counted.
Ease of use
From reviews 7/10Filling, squeezing or pumping effort, how fast it clogs in peaty or silty water, and how easy it is to clean. 7: Better than most.
Screw it on a standard 28 mm bottle and drink or squeeze. T3 (5) found it very easy to use. GearJunkie (3) found it simple and hard to get wrong, but rates ease 6 out of 10: it is hard to use without a disposable bottle and best with two bottles. UKH (3) says you suck hard with a bottle fitted, it is very short to use without one, and it blocked badly in silty water until backwashed. AllOutdoor (3) had dirty water leak out when it was held upside down. Average 3.5 out of 5, so 7 out of 10. GearJunkie's 10-point score is halved, as on other Fellkit pages (6.0 becomes 3). UKH had a free product and AllOutdoor was given the filter by LifeStraw; both say so.
Reviewers disagree on this.
In short
Good for
- A 48 g back-up or main filter for day walks and fast trips
- Screwing onto a bottle you already carry
- Travel and emergency kits
Strengths
- 48 g and 13 cm long
- Meets NSF/ANSI P231 for bacteria and parasites (LifeStraw)
- Screws onto standard 28 mm bottle necks
- Rated to 2,000 L, with a backwash syringe included
- Stops passing water when the filter is spent (T3, LifeStraw)
Weaknesses
- Does not remove viruses
- Hard to suck through a bottle and it clogs in silty water until backwashed (UKH)
- Too short to use as a straw from a trickle without a bottle
- LifeStraw's 3 L/min claim is about twice what Backpacker measured
- Not safe after freezing: LifeStraw does not say it is, and gives a use range of 0 to 60 °C (UKH)
Sources
We haven't tested this ourselves. Every score comes from these specs, tests and reviews.
ShowHide sources (8)
- LifeStraw: Peak Series Solo, specs
- LifeStraw: Peak Series Solo user manual
- LifeStraw: Peak membrane and Solo evidence dossier (NSF P231 longevity test)
- GearJunkie (Sean McCoy): LifeStraw Peak Series Solo Water Filter review (early-release hands-on)
- Backpacker: What we're testing now, a durable, speedy straw filter (Peak Solo)
- UKH Gear (Dan Bailey): LifeStraw Peak Series Solo Water Filter review (free product, disclosed)
- T3: Lifestraw Peak Solo review
- AllOutdoor (Adam Scepaniak): LifeStraw Peak Solo water filter, one-year review (filter provided by LifeStraw, disclosed)