Last week I took my grand kids scouting for a good location to do a demo video on the Sagan Life™ XStream™ Filter Straw. It is a fantastic water purification straw and I really wanted to give it a good “work out” and show all the bene’s of using it!

Since we live in San Diego, streams and rivers are not abundant, but we have a great little stream about a mile away from us at Penasquitos Canyon Reserve. So off we went.

Catching Crawdaddies

To make this excursion more exciting for the kiddos, who are 3 and 5, we took a big net to catch crawdads - not sure what I was planning on doing with it, if caught (they are not attractive :), but a good nature lesson for the kids.

As soon as we got out of the car with our net, the park ranger appeared - out of nowhere… seriously where was he hiding??? asking what we were going to do with ‘the net’. So, apparently it’s illegal to even catch and release the crawdads. Not only that, he said the water was so full of bacteria I should not let my grandkids play in it; or even touch it! Interesting. It looks like such an innocent little stream. Hmmph. I told him the real purpose for my trip was to scout out super grungy areas and come back tomorrow and drink from the stream with my water purification straw. “No water filter is good enough to remove all the bacteria, cryptosporidium and giardia from this water.” he warned.

Good thing I am not easily daunted. I did heed his warning and kept the kids away from the water (and poison oak). But our water purification straw works! This I know.

I totally thought my husband would tell me NOT to go when I explained what the ranger had said. Haha. No. Instead he said “wow, this is a great opportunity to show what our XStream™ straw filter can do!” OK!

Showed up next day with my awesome straw, one very cool tripod and my iphone 7; ready to drink from the bacteria laden water!

Water Purification Devices that Work

So here’s why I am able to use this fab XStream Purification Straw with such confidence.

All Sagan Life™ products are water purifiers - which is better than a water filter.

• Water purifiers remove virus - water filters just remove bacteria and protozoan.
• All Sagan Life™ products have been tested, tested and tested by laboratories not associated with us - so we know exactly what they can do.
• The water filter used with this filter straw is called the Journey™ Filter. Click to View the water report

Our water purification filters remove:
99.9999% Bacteria
99.99% Virus
99.99% Cryptosporidium & Giarda
Many other toxins found in streams, rivers, even tap water!

Most straw filters on the market are simple water filters (not water purifiers) and have no tests performed by independent labs to back up their claims.

A Personal Water Filter Straw you can use Standing Up!

Another great feature about the XStream™ Straw is being able to drink water comfortably from a stream or river bank - really much more convenient than other straw filters out there, like Life Straw® and some of the Sawyer® Water filters. I was able to stand by the bank and and drink; climb up over a little water fall and drop down my straw. Even with the 4 foot length the water flow was fantastic! Very easy to drink from the XStream™ Straw - and the water tasted great!

I did take a LifeStraw® with me to try out. I did not have the confidence in it to use it, but I did attempt to get down on my belly and drink from the stream. It was not pretty. This particular area either had mud or rocks along the stream, so either way I was pretty uncomfortable.

Without any disrespect to the company - I am certain our purifying straw is 100% better than LifeStraw®. It’s so much more effective, so much easier to use, and has been proven to work. We felt it important to publish the test results for all of our Sagan Life™ products, including our filter straw on our website. People deserve to know that the water purification products they're using are actually going to provide safe, clean drinking water! 

I looked on the LifeStraw® website and could not find any actual water test results from a laboratory. Lifestraw® states that their filters do meet EPA standards, however, that’s just a claim: not a proven fact. Same with Sawyer®. Could not find any test results. Please correct me in the comments if I missed them.

Enjoyable Outdoor Adventure with my XStream™ Straw

So, I spent several hours wandering around the stream looking for the grossest water I could find. I was very successful there - found plenty - drinking from the murky algae, green, dirty bacteria laden water and taking video for a couple of hours.

Toward the end of my day, guess who showed up? Behind me I hear “uh, ma’am, you really shouldn’t be drinking this water…” LOL I turned around and said “Hey, remember me? I told you I’d come back to drink the water.” He gave me the same warning about the dangers of using any water filter in this water again. I captured his “speech” in the video.

We chatted for awhile and I told him why I had such confidence in our Sagan Life™ water purification devices. He left, realizing I was not nuts - that I actually had a great product, and was going to look us up online. Yay.

Comes with a Water Filter Pump

While I was not able to capture this in the video, as my skills are still questionable - although, I am kinda proud of this vid... The XStream Straw comes with a very handy pump, allowing you to pump clean water. So many uses for this feature - you can fill water bottles, wash food, wash hands, wash people! It's a great addition to the Straw. 

A Few More XStream™ Perks

A couple more advantages the XStream™ Straw has over the competition - Our straw filter IS NOT a hollow fiber straw, as is the LifeStraw®

 - The XStream™ Straw can be frozen with no damage to the filter
 - The XStream™ Straw can be dropped with no damage to the filter.
 - In between uses, simply let it dry out and use it again and again.

If your using a hollow fiber straw take caution: If a hollow fiber straw has been dropped or frozen it may no longer be effective. Even on the LifeStraw® website it states:

"If your LifeStraw® has been used, and is then exposed to freezing temperatures, water inside can freeze and crack the filter. You may not see these cracks, so we recommend never letting it freeze once it’s been used. When camping at high elevations or freezing temperatures, be extra careful not to let it freeze."

XStreamly Impressed 

So all in all - I am SO GLAD I did this! It’s great to have facts about your products - but even better to have tried them personally and had them come out victorious! I must have drank a gallon of the water throughout the day - and felt terrific!

The XStream™ Straw is a super backpacking straw - great for camping, hiking and all outdoor adventures. Not to mention keeping this little gem on hand as a survival straw in your emergency kits and in your car kits! Check out the video to learn more about the Sagan Life™ XStream™ Straw! If you’re looking for the top of the line personal water filter straw - please try one and let us know what you think!