MSR TrailShot Pocket-Sized Water Filter Review
The TrailShot is a squeeze-bulb pump with an intake hose, which sounds like unnecessary complexity until you meet a water source you cannot submerge a bottle in.
The verdictHeavier and pricier than a squeeze filter, and the only one here that solves shallow water. On the right route that is worth 142g.
The intake hose is the point. A squeeze filter needs enough depth to fill a pouch or a bottle, and on limestone, in late summer, or on high plateau routes, water frequently arrives as a shallow seep. The TrailShot drops a weighted hose into 20mm of water and pumps from it one-handed, straight into a bottle or your mouth.
The 0.2-micron hollow-fibre cartridge handles bacteria and protozoa on the same basis as the Sawyer range, and the quoted litre-per-minute rate is achievable in short bursts rather than sustained. Field cleaning is a shake-and-squeeze routine that owner reports describe as effective but frequent, particularly in sediment-heavy water.
The costs are weight and money. At 142g it is roughly two and a half Sawyer Minis, and at this price it is the most expensive filter on this list by a wide margin. The bulb also demands real hand effort for volume, so filling four litres for a dry camp is a chore rather than a moment.
Priming deserves a mention because it catches people out. The pump needs a few squeezes to draw water up the hose before flow becomes steady, and on a first use in the field that delay reads as a fault rather than as normal behaviour. Once primed it holds, provided the intake stays submerged.
What works
- Draws from water too shallow for any squeeze filter
- One-handed operation straight into a bottle
- 2,000-litre cartridge life
- Field-cleanable without a syringe
What doesn't
- 142g, the heaviest option here
- Most expensive filter on this list
- Hand-tiring for large volumes
Buy it if
Riders on routes where water comes from seeps, puddles and shallow trickles
Skip it if
Your water sources are reliably deep, or you are counting every gram
Others we scored in this category
Sawyer Micro Squeeze Water Filtration System (SP2129)
Sawyer Squeeze Water Filtration System (SP129)
Katadyn BeFree 1L Collapsible Water Filter Bottle
Platypus QuickDraw Microfilter System (1L)
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