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Quick Summary: - Adventure Opti is 2.5 oz lighter than Aqua - Adventure Opti uses optical sensor to detect water (much more accurate and user friendly). Aqua uses physical contacts (must be kept in the water while treating - numerous reviews complain about this) - Adventure Opti ships with CR123 battery (expensive to replace). Aqua uses AA batteries.
If you are using it for hiking go with the Opti. For other uses Aqua will suffice.
The only thing stopping me from jumping on the Steripen wagon is the handful of issues people have had with quality control, batteries dying extremely quick, and the weight.
If Aquamira ever figures out the flow rate issue on the frontier max, that will be the grand daddy of water purification for hiking in my opinion.
It's a great idea but at times, when I needed it, it would inexplicably not operate - frustrating red light of death.... It actually would not come on when the steripen was immersed and the button was pressed. What is the point of a steriliser that won't work when you are thirsty and you have found a clear source of possibly contaminated water?
But then the next day it would work. Then not. tried holding my tongue the right way. tried dancing the purification dance around the device. sacrificed a goat.
After trawling the internet i realised that there is a convoluted system where the sensor won't allow the pen to work if two metal pins aren't dry before use or if one of them is not submerged completely for a microsecond when the unit is being operated..... I mean WTF. It's the wilderness, I can't gurantee that two metal pins will stay dry ... I can't guarantee that they will stay submerged . just work when the operator presses the button, damn you. Why have a sensor? If the light is on and UV is coming out, that's what i want....
A filter doesn't need batteries nor placation of the water purification gods with ritual sacrifice.