ProView – GRAYL UltraPress Water Filter & Purifier Bottle

I had the previous version of the GRAYL (the UltraLight) and had a few usability issues with. It was immediately obvious that GRAYL had fixed all of the previous issues with this updated design. I was so excited with the improvements!  They look good, and are the size and color I was expecting.

Function

I mainly tested this GRAYL on a whitewater rafting trip in Idaho on the Main Salmon.  I also tested it on a lake in Maine while flatwater kayaking and at a playhole while riverboarding on the Arkansas river in Colorado. Additionally, I have used the older UltraLight version for the last 3 years on rivers all over the west including on the Grand Canyon and a few other multi day trips. In each case the GRAYL’s have worked perfectly. It is small enough to fit easily in a kayak anywhere, but large enough to provide a decent amount of water per press.  It is a .5L water bottle that weighs ¾ of a pound which is just right.  It purifies water easier and faster (~3L/minute) than a typical pump or gravity water filter and without the hassle of carrying a second device.  

Ease of Use

Living in Colorado where it is quite dry and often hot we typically finish our 1L of water on day trips on the river and then are parched by the time we get back to our car.  It isn’t usually practical to bring more water than that in a white water kayak so previous to GRAYL I was stuck.  With a GRAYL it is easy to fill up water on the river whenever I am thirsty.  This is also true for multi day river trips where it can be a pain to pull out the full water jug whenever people finish their water bottles.  With a GRAYL it takes just a few seconds to dip the bottle into the river and then press the water to purify it like a french press for coffee.  It is quite easy and you can even use it to top off other people’s water bottles in your group who haven’t yet caught on to the awesomeness of GRAYL purifiers.

On a 5 day river trip in Hells Canyon we had planned to fill up water at known spigot halfway down and hadn’t brought our larger electric water pump because we knew of this water source.  When we got there the spigot had been turned off because it was no longer sanitized.  With the five GRAYL in our group of 9 we were able to press all the water we needed for 9 people for the last few days of the trip — having them was a lifesaver. 

New vs. Old

As I mentioned previously I have a GRAYL UltraLight from a few years ago that I am used to using in all these scenarios and love it, but it has a few flaws that the updated version has completely fixed.  The UltraPress has a nice place to rest your hand while applying pressure to press the filter through the water.  The UltraPress also has a nice carrying loop big enough for a locking carabiner to attach to boats or backpacks.  These two small improvements make a big difference in usability without sacrificing anything from the previously great UltraLight.  

Room for Improvement

The only cons I have run into with the old GRAYL which is still true of the new one is that every few years you will need to get a new filtering element (or sooner if you forget to dry it out over the winter and it freezes and thaws in the garage-whoops).

The Final Word

GRAYL’s are awesome for being on rivers and lakes whether it is whitewater or flatwater.  Additionally if we lived in a wetter place we would bring the GRAYL on hikes, but living in Colorado we can’t always depend on streams for water. The previous GRAYL had proven to be a great addition to my everyday river gear, and the new UltraPress only improves on this.

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