PowerSwitch

Just a note of warning which other folk brighter than me have probably already twigged:

I bought a Katadyn pocket water filter off ebay (just received today, completing my 'survival' collection of bits and pieces), cost me $200 from a US supplier (?100 for a Katadyn, yay! About half price I think).

But when it arrived today I had to pay ?20 VAT on it in order to receive it, making it slightly less of a good deal. Still not bad though.

Of course ebay sellers in the US don't put "plus VAT" on their prices.

Some less honest sellers write things like "gift ?15" on the side of the box irrelevant of its contents.

Sometimes you get lucky, and things don't attract a charge at all - for example, if they arrive at your place on a Monday, they came in to the country on Saturday or Sunday, and nobody could be bothered doing the paperwork!

I've had a few things from the states, and the only one that I got charged VAT on was some books...

So I wrote and told them it was books (which you don't pay VAT on) and didn't have to pay it.

these look pretty cool.....can they produce drinking water from more or less any source?

I escaped the VAT on my katadyn filter, I went the same ebay route. It's just luck of the draw, customs and excise have a huge volume of stuff to get through these days with the dollar being so weak.

I have a few things I'm waiting for arrival, but mostly it's small stuff. Surefire torch spares are incredibly expensive here, so I've ordered mine from the states, using ebay again.

Yep been hit for import duty a few times on things too. Filters Ooooooo. I wish we could get a list of good essentials people should get in order to cope better in times of hardship should it be powercuts, water or food shortages or full blown shtf. Currently due to working my tits off, money I have, but time I dont. Now Andy got me off looking at filters I'm so unprepared lol

But I tell you what, I've been doing store renovations and knock downs for about a year now, running the jobs. Its crazy people how much food comes in and out of our supermarkets. You only get a feel for it when you got 20 wagons backed up for putting them on stop for an hour in the day! We could never go back to feeding the masses the old way now. Plus those stores (all of them) the food stored behind the scenes is shocking! Tesco Extra are about the best, but in times of renovation all the meat, fruit and other perishables are stored behind the fridges in 45 degree heat muwhahahaaa. Then when it cant stay there no more they announce "Angus beef down to ?1.20 a pound from ?5.00 a pound on our fresh meat counter"! Mwhuahahhaaaaa FRESH MEAT COUNTER, I'm slamming up lift shafts and pouring slabs watching this stuff go off behind the store lol. Tell you what no supermarket and we'd be hit with fammine in this country!

MisterE wrote:Now Andy got me off looking at filters

Blame Mike Pepler - it's all his fault.

It IS all my fault! I ought to have bought shares in Katadyn...

cake wrote:these look pretty cool.....can they produce drinking water from more or less any source?

Kind of. They filter out all bacteria, amoeba, etc. but not chemicals and I don't think they will stop a virus (too small!). There are versions with activated carbon filters that will also deal with chemicals, but the carbon bit doesn't last as long, and the filter itself is less heavy-duty than the Pocket.

So, you would avoid water which may contain sewage or agricultural runoff. But I'd guess any fresh stream or harvested rainwater would be perfectly fine, and if you were about to die of thirst, you could still have a go with potentially contaminated water - it's got to be better than not filtering it at all!

Has anyone got any practical experience/knowledge on this? What I know is just from reading about the filter...

it's got to be better than not filtering it at all! I totally agree. Its shocking isnt it how many skills people before us had that we've lost touch with - bloody hell water even. But your defo right its got to be better to have some form of filtering than none. Thanks for the info lads Cheers Andy I knew you'd not have me off researching when I got such little time

PS Off back away tomorrow, time flies