OHUB Review: The Grayl GeoPress Ti Purifier – Lightweight All-In-One
Luke Cuenco 05.06.24
We live in an interesting age when it comes to camping. A lot of the gear that I used as a kid, or that you might have used years ago is still used today. However, in the modern area, I feel like we’re always chasing an unobtainable “perfect” solution for everything. Modern materials, manufacturing practices, and engineering knowledge have led to a lot of advancement in nearly every field of camping equipment, pushing us ever closer to the goal of a perfect solution. One item that has recently got me thinking about this concept is the recently released GeoPress Titanium Purifier from Grayl. Grayl specializes in drinkware, specifically drinkware that combines the qualities of a durable piece of camp drinkware, along with a propriety filter that allows you to drink and purify using the same container. The GeoPress Ti is taking the concept a step further by combining the handy self-purifying water bottle, with durable CP4 Grade 1 titanium to combine the bottle with one additional handy feature – cooking. Today we’ll take a closer look at the GeoPress Ti and see what it has to offer, and if the price you have to pay for it makes it a worthwhile addition to your 21st-century camping and backpacking kit.
More Gear Reviews @ OutdoorHub:
- Review: Collapsible Camping Kettle
- OHUB Review: Shimano Intenza Spinning Rod
- 5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier – 10 Year Review
OHUB Review: The Grayl GeoPress Ti Purifier – Lightweight All-In-One
Product Link: https://grayl.com/products/24oz-geopress-ti-water-filter-purifier-covert-edition
- Capacity: 24 oz (710 ml)
- Weight: 20.125 oz (570 g)
- Height: 10.125″ (25.7 cm)
- Diameter (at base): 3.25″ (8.2 cm)
- Materials: Titanium, BPA-FREE polypropylene #5, food-grade silicone, TPE and ABS food-grade plastic.
- Active Technology: Electroadsorption and ultra-powdered activated carbon.
- Fastest Flow Rate: 8 seconds per 24oz (5 liters/minute)
- Removes: waterborne pathogens (99.99% of viruses, 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.9% of protozoan cysts), including Rotavirus, Hepatitis A, Norovirus, Giardiasis, Cryptosporidium, E. Coli, Cholera, Salmonella, Dysentery and more.
- Filters: particulates (i.e. silt, microplastics, etc.); ultra-powdered activated carbon effectively adsorbs chemicals (including PFAS & VOCs), pesticides, heavy metals, flavors, and odors.
- One-Way Electrolyte & Drink Mix Valve: six duck bill valves prevent back flowing of water (or other beverages) through the Cartridge while also allowing clean filtered water to pass through the Cartridge into the Inner Press.
- Durability: built tough to perform in harsh conditions and withstand 10 ft drops at full capacity onto concrete.
- Cartridge lifespan: rated for 350 cycles (65 gal. / 250L), as “press time” reaches ~25 seconds (or three years have elapsed since first use) it’s time to replace your purifier cartridge.
- Cartridge shelf life: stored under proper conditions, an unopened Purifier Cartridge has a shelf life of 10 years. After a cartridge has been used, it lasts at least 3 additional years.
- BPA-Free materials: made from polypropylene #5, food-grade silicone, TPE, ABS food-grade plastic.
- Testing standards: independently tested by a certified laboratory to meet or exceed NSF/ANSI protocol 42 and 53 for pathogen and chemical removal; meets the the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Guide Standard and Protocol for testing microbiological water purifiers.
- Origin: designed in USA; GeoPress® bottle components made in China (purifier cartridge media made in USA).
- Patented
GeoPress Ti Features
The GeoPress Ti is deceptively light for its size, weighing only about a pound. While other water bottles can weigh just a mere few ounces, none of them have the capabilities that the GeoPress Ti has, nor the flexibility. The core of what makes the GeoPress Ti a handy piece of kit is that it makes up for all that weight with the function of 3 or maybe even 4 different items that you’d normally carry separately. This means that the purifier takes up about the same weight, but is overall less bulk.
The 24 oz version of the GeoPress Ti takes up about as much space as a standard 36 oz Nalgene water bottle. While the GeoPress is slightly taller due to the water bottle pour spout, it’s not by much. The compactness of the GeoPress Ti is somewhat offset by the inclusion of the optional titanium lid, but this is a piece you could easily keep in a pocket or with the rest of your cooking utensils – ultimately it’s a non-issue.
Overall I’d say the GeoPress Ti is very well put together. It’s manufactured in China but was designed here in the USA and hopefully, this means that Grayl has done its part to make sure the quality of their design shows through in the final product. Everything from the polymers and gaskets used to the filter materials themselves seem to be of exceptional quality, and this is probably why the GeoPress Ti has an asking price of $220.
Tough and Lightweight Titanium
The magic of the GeoPress Ti is included right in its name – Titanium. The CP4 Grade 1 titanium is an interesting choice of material and it is largely responsible for making the GeoPress Ti reusable and safe to eat from while keeping the whole package light and durable. Grade 1 is the softest titanium and has the highest ductility out of the other grades (1 through 4). Grade 1 Titanium has good cold-forming characteristics (likely how the GeoPress Ti is formed during construction) and provides excellent corrosion resistance.
In addition, titanium has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion. Basically this means that it expands and contracts significantly less than many other materials when exposed to extreme temperatures, kind of an important factor when you’re planning on blasting this thing with an extremely hot isobutane flame. In comparison to steel, it expands roughly 50% less and is much lighter than stainless steel. One drawback Grade 1 Titanium has versus steel is that it’s relatively easy to dent and deform and doesn’t have very good elasticity – this means the GeoPress is more susceptible to drops and bumps than a heavier stainless steel equivalent. I was initially worried about the constant heating and cooling deforming the GeoPress, but due to its construction, the shape has stayed consistent allowing for efficient filtering after it’s been cooled down without any permanent deformation.
Filtering
In comparison to some of the other water purifiers I’ve tested, the GeoPress Ti seems to be the easiest to use out of all of them. While it’s not as long-lasting as some of the more expensive hand pump models, or as small and compact as something like a life straw or Sawyer S3 bottle filter, the GeoPress Purifier Cartridge allows you to filter a full 24 oz of water in less than 30 seconds. Over time GeoPress says that filtering time will increase and that 25ish seconds of filtering time is a good indicator of the press needing to be replaced. Obviously, the more particulates you shove into the system the shorter the lifespan of the cartridge will be so keep that in mind when sourcing your water – you want the water to be as clean and clear as possible before it goes into the bottom of the GeoPress.
With my weight and strength, I’m currently able to process the full 24 ounces of water with very minimal effort just by using my body weight. Typically it takes about 10 seconds or so to filter the entire bottle. This requires minimal setup too since the press and drinking cup are one in the same. The only time the inner bottle needs to be removed is when it comes time to heat things up – as impressive as the GeoPress Ti is so far, the Filter cup and Cartridge are not meant to be heated to boiling temperatures.
My Initial Impressions
So far I really like the GeoPress Ti. It’s lightweight, easy to filter water through, and is handy enough to combine your water bottle, cookware, and water filter all into one which should make preparing food and hot beverages an easy task. I’ll be testing all of that soon in another review purely focused on how well the GeoPress Ti prepares food and hot liquid in comparison to some of my other Titanium cookware. I do think that the GeoPress Ti is fairly pricey, even by my standards, but if it holds up well, and fits into your kit, it’s currently got a lot going for it that might make it a worthwhile pickup for the hardcore backpacker looking to slim down on their gear setup.
