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sapblatt
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packtowels
The pack towels do work as advertised - I just have rarely had the need to carry it or use it...it is super absorbent, it does wring dry and it is light weight.
The pack towels do work as advertised - I just have rarely had the need to carry it or use it...it is super absorbent, it does wring dry and it is light weight.
J
jade
Guest
There was some dialog on the steripen a few months back on this forum...a search should bring it up for you.....I've had a pack towel for years...it's not soft and fuzzy like the ones at home, but it does work....On hot humid days when you're out for a few days, it's nice to dunk your head in some clear cold water then dry off with the towel.....light weight and packs small....works well on drying off my truck too! (I have a couple of them....)
...Jade
...Jade
percious
Well-known member
I used the steripen all last year and I am a big fan of it. Light weight, faster than pumping. Hard to go wrong there. Invest in Lithium batteries for it, and it will be lighter and last longer.
-percious
-percious
Rick
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Pilgrim,
I have owned a couple of packtowels that always seem to end up in the bottom of my clothes stuff sack, unused, only to send it back to the gear box after every trip.
They are great for car camping and I have used them a few times for wiping up leaking spots or condensation dampness on tent floors and walls, but I have really only used them a few times on myself, mainly because I never have it handy when I wanted it - thinking I would need it after I set up camp, tt has been buried in my clothes sack in my pack on virtually every trip I have ever taken.
Although I always have a bandanna handy when I need to dunk my head in a cool creek or wipe sweat from my brow, I never have a pack towel handy, Since it is aready damp and dirty, I also always use my same bandanna to wash up, and I then wash the bandanna afterward.
You can spend a fortune on a pack towel brand towel - I got sucked into original packtowel brand Circa 1995-1996, for $12-$15. It worked nice when I did use it. I later (~2001) bought a much cheaper one from Walmart ~ about $4.00, which seems to work just as well - that is when I get to use it.
If you think you can get along with a couple of cheaper cotton poly bandannas (dry much faster than regular all cotton bandannas), I'd say go for it, I find they work fine for me and my needs and can be found for under a buck.
I have owned a couple of packtowels that always seem to end up in the bottom of my clothes stuff sack, unused, only to send it back to the gear box after every trip.
They are great for car camping and I have used them a few times for wiping up leaking spots or condensation dampness on tent floors and walls, but I have really only used them a few times on myself, mainly because I never have it handy when I wanted it - thinking I would need it after I set up camp, tt has been buried in my clothes sack in my pack on virtually every trip I have ever taken.
Although I always have a bandanna handy when I need to dunk my head in a cool creek or wipe sweat from my brow, I never have a pack towel handy, Since it is aready damp and dirty, I also always use my same bandanna to wash up, and I then wash the bandanna afterward.
You can spend a fortune on a pack towel brand towel - I got sucked into original packtowel brand Circa 1995-1996, for $12-$15. It worked nice when I did use it. I later (~2001) bought a much cheaper one from Walmart ~ about $4.00, which seems to work just as well - that is when I get to use it.
If you think you can get along with a couple of cheaper cotton poly bandannas (dry much faster than regular all cotton bandannas), I'd say go for it, I find they work fine for me and my needs and can be found for under a buck.
Last edited:
erugs
New member
The older style pack towels aren't worth the money, in my opinion, but the new MSR super light pack towels are great. I haven't used the larger-size one I received for Christmas, but I love the smallest one I've had for a year and use it as a hiking hanky. My nose is spoiled now. 
Lawn Sale
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I researched the Steri-Pen, and while the data looks good, I did have some reservations about the surrogates used in place of the actual constituents and assumptions made based on extrapolations, but overall it looks very viable.
I always bring a packtowel to wipe the sweat from my brow and have been using the same towel for a year with no problems. I will typically wring the sweat from it 5 or 6 times a day and it works great. I have tried other towels that are more light weight, but none of them hold up as well.
I always bring a packtowel to wipe the sweat from my brow and have been using the same towel for a year with no problems. I will typically wring the sweat from it 5 or 6 times a day and it works great. I have tried other towels that are more light weight, but none of them hold up as well.
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Pack Towel? Don't leave home without it. I carry two small pieces one in blue the other orange. The orange is for my face and the blue for the rest. if you do not overnight then it is not needed but otherwise after a day of sweating it is a basic hygene necessity. This will also keep you from growing fungi and getting rashes and chafing in delicate spots. Also works as a sponge in the tent, a pot holder, compress(hot and cold). Never thought about it before but for me it is kinda like duct tape. One item with a multitude of uses.
Lawn Sale
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Sorry about that, I'll explain.
In their testing they used one group of protozoa (the same animal group as crypto and giardia) as test animals in laboratory conditions. They used a certain amount and it did deactivate (kill) them. Therefore they assumed that because those protozoa were killed, others would be as well. Also, it might work fine in a lab with a known, set quantity of "washed" organisms in a sterile background (the carry water the protozoa are living in), but they did little testing that approximates real world conditions. Other factors, such as water turbidity and composition will greatly impact how ultraviolet units work, and to not test using that real-world background makes me nervous. Something else that glared at me while I was reading the material was they never brought the unit to failure to see how much it could handle, which is standard for anything engineered, including every ultraviolet unit I have operated (low, medium, and high pressure units).
An anology would be that every tent keeps you dry when it's inside a garage with a light sprinkler on it. But get it in a wind and rainstorm on the top of a mountain and it might not be up to the task.
But, they do something similar with car alternator testing. They check the output at 1,000 rpm, then 1,500 rpm, then 2,000 rpm, and plot those numbers on a graph. Then a progression is used to plot the curve the rest of the way out, and the output of the alternator is determined from that curve, not from actually running it to see its actual output. Some companies do this, but the higher end ones don't, I'm just using it as an example.
While the testing data they generated looked fine, these are the items that jumped out at me, coming from a water treatment/backpacker standpoint. It may work fine and I love the concept, these are just the items I was concerned about.
In their testing they used one group of protozoa (the same animal group as crypto and giardia) as test animals in laboratory conditions. They used a certain amount and it did deactivate (kill) them. Therefore they assumed that because those protozoa were killed, others would be as well. Also, it might work fine in a lab with a known, set quantity of "washed" organisms in a sterile background (the carry water the protozoa are living in), but they did little testing that approximates real world conditions. Other factors, such as water turbidity and composition will greatly impact how ultraviolet units work, and to not test using that real-world background makes me nervous. Something else that glared at me while I was reading the material was they never brought the unit to failure to see how much it could handle, which is standard for anything engineered, including every ultraviolet unit I have operated (low, medium, and high pressure units).
An anology would be that every tent keeps you dry when it's inside a garage with a light sprinkler on it. But get it in a wind and rainstorm on the top of a mountain and it might not be up to the task.
But, they do something similar with car alternator testing. They check the output at 1,000 rpm, then 1,500 rpm, then 2,000 rpm, and plot those numbers on a graph. Then a progression is used to plot the curve the rest of the way out, and the output of the alternator is determined from that curve, not from actually running it to see its actual output. Some companies do this, but the higher end ones don't, I'm just using it as an example.
While the testing data they generated looked fine, these are the items that jumped out at me, coming from a water treatment/backpacker standpoint. It may work fine and I love the concept, these are just the items I was concerned about.
REK
Member
I work in a wastewater treatment plant and we use UV for disinfection. It does exactly what it says it does and does it well. (If it didn't DES would come down and kick our butts!) After years of messing with corrosive liquid chlorine and nasty dechlor chemicals all we do now is run the effluent through a stainless steel chamber full of pretty blue light bulbs. Whoa, trippy!
The real trick to this method is clarity. Think of shining a flashlight in the fog; turbidity in the water will disperse the light energy and reduces its effectivenes. Color is usually caused by dissolved mater and as such won't cause refraction but suspended/colloidal stuff could cause a problem.
If you wade through the jargon in the "How it Works" part of the web page it essentially says that it interupts the replication process of the little critters - no babies/no problems! I actually saw a coworker drink our effluent! (I refuse to do it) He is still alive and suffered no ill effects. Now don't go off on me for offering bad advice, if someone is stupid enough to drink poop water they get what they deserve!
It's a little pricey for my budget but it's lighter and more easily packable than my MSR filter. If it can disinfect a town, it probably can clean up a litre of brook water.
Bob
The real trick to this method is clarity. Think of shining a flashlight in the fog; turbidity in the water will disperse the light energy and reduces its effectivenes. Color is usually caused by dissolved mater and as such won't cause refraction but suspended/colloidal stuff could cause a problem.
If you wade through the jargon in the "How it Works" part of the web page it essentially says that it interupts the replication process of the little critters - no babies/no problems! I actually saw a coworker drink our effluent! (I refuse to do it) He is still alive and suffered no ill effects. Now don't go off on me for offering bad advice, if someone is stupid enough to drink poop water they get what they deserve!
It's a little pricey for my budget but it's lighter and more easily packable than my MSR filter. If it can disinfect a town, it probably can clean up a litre of brook water.
Bob
I have a small pack towel that came with a small strap and snap on one corner for hooking to things. I hook it to a shoulder strap of my pack so it is handy to wipe sweat off my face. I wear glasses and sweat like crazy so I need to wipe my forehead alot. It dries real fast. I also have a supply of the orange synthetic chamois' that you can buy at fairs, homeshoes, etc. They are alot cheaper and work just as well. I just cut a couple up to different sizes.
Lawn Sale
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While it's true that if it's good enough for a town it's good enough for brook water, unless you're carrying around 460V and large ballasts, I doubt we're talking apples and oranges. I just find it hard to believe you can excite mercury into a vapor to produce 254nm (optimal disinfection wavelength) with only 6V. It's actually not the refraction that causes a problem, but the organisms hiding in the particle shadows that are not irradiated by the UV light. Also, regarding the wastewater UV disinfection (which is how I started in this field, BTW, great experience ), the water flows past bulbs that are made of quartz (UV will not pass through glass), which is very brittle and susceptible to cracking. More importantly, the water in the UV channels is always in close proximity to the bulbs, whereas in the Nalgene it's further away, either not receiving the disinfection or requiring the UV to be stronger.
Still, the results posted are promising and I have no doubt it works great on viruses and bacteria, I'm just a bit skeptical on the protozoa as it's one tough nut to crack, so to speak.
I just find it hard to believe you can excite mercury into a vapor to produce 254nm (optimal disinfection wavelength) with only 6V. It's actually not the refraction that causes a problem, but the organisms hiding in the particle shadows that are not irradiated by the UV light. Also, regarding the wastewater UV disinfection (which is how I started in this field, BTW, great experience ), the water flows past bulbs that are made of quartz (UV will not pass through glass), which is very brittle and susceptible to cracking. More importantly, the water in the UV channels is always in close proximity to the bulbs, whereas in the Nalgene it's further away, either not receiving the disinfection or requiring the UV to be stronger. Still, the results posted are promising and I have no doubt it works great on viruses and bacteria, I'm just a bit skeptical on the protozoa as it's one tough nut to crack, so to speak.
Oldmanwinter
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Packtowel
I always carry two of the smaller packtowels. One attached to the outside of my pack to use on the way up for wiping sweat off my face and brow and one inside my pack to change out for the way back down when the first one freezes. I'm very happy with the way they work. Joe
I always carry two of the smaller packtowels. One attached to the outside of my pack to use on the way up for wiping sweat off my face and brow and one inside my pack to change out for the way back down when the first one freezes. I'm very happy with the way they work. Joe
kmac
Active member
Pack towels are great on a really hot day. I wlill get mine wet with stream water and then wrap it around my neck, and just leave it there until I can submerge it again. And the nice thing about it is it dries out very quickly.
