MSR AutoFlow XL Gravity Water Filter

Package was clearly opened and poorly repacked. Had a long hair under the sticker and everything. Reached out to customer service and still haven’t heard back. Want a replacement to make sure the product itself is fine.

First time using the Autoflow Filer for a group back country trip (4 people). Previous experience with the Platypus with no issues. The flow was very slow as a band new filter. We found unscrewing the cap on the Nalgene helped a bit but by the end of the 3 day trip it was trickling. If you dont have the extra dromedary bag that you need to purchase separately you cannot back filter as instructed for maintenance so this was not an option on the trip. Tried back filtering with my nalgene attached and no luck. Not sure what this is not sold as a whole package with the 2nd clean bag (like the platypus brand) if it is needed for cleaning and maintaining the filter. Disappointed.

Works great. Wish it came with a second bag to fill.

I tried this out at home before I left. 6L in 13 minutes. Which was awesome! When I really needed it to work when filtering water at a spring in the Grand Canyon, it trickled out and cost us an extra half hour. I tried backflushing. Nothing worked to make it faster. Later on the same trip it worked fast like it did when I first tested it. It's a bit of a bummer not being able to count on it to always be fast. I will still use it though. When it is working as it should it saves a ton of hand pumping time and hassle.

This is a wonderful filter to take with a group or when you anticipate needing a lot of water. It filters quickly. It’s easy to set up and use. I like being able to fill the bag and walk away as it fills our water bottles.

I should have tested this filter before going on the trip, but our first night we hung the bag to get some water and it took us an hour to get it to start barely dripping out. We made sure there were no air bubbles, pushed water through on both sides to flush it, and to no avail. For the next 7 days we managed to get the fastest rate of about a liter every half hour. Luckily, I had a steriPen for a backup. Our water sources were spring fed creek and rivers here in Alaska so sediment was not the issue. Now that I'm back home I'm testing it in the kitchen and it barely works. Unfortunately this must be a faulty product, and it was my fault that I didn't test this before I left so I could have left it behind.

If you screw the filter too tightly on the Nalgene, it won’t flow. Perfect for us! After we figured it out.

After using my consistently reliable MSR MiniWorks for about 20 years, I decided it was time to upgrade to the AutoFlow XL for our annual trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in Minnesota on the Canadian border. With three of us to filter water for, I did not want to have to pump that much water by hand each day! I knew I could depend on MSR for a dependable water filter. The Autoflow XL was AWESOME. Scoop up 10 L dirty water and filter it into my collapsible 8 L wide-mouth collapsible canteen or 1 L Nalgene bottles. I love that it screws right onto my wide mouth bottles, and it's easy to shut-off while changing clean bottles. I'll still use my MiniWorks for solo trips, but AutoFlow XL worked fast and easy, with no pumping! The only downside was on the first day we used it, we accidentally left the hang strap attached to the tree when we packed up to leave our campsite the next morning, and didn't realize it until we made camp later that night in a different campsite. We managed to hang it up in a tree using paracord, but I'm hoping to find where to order a replacement strap. Bottom line: EXCELLENT FILTER, fast and easy to filter water, backflow to clear debris if clogged worked well, and it was simple to clean for long-term storage when I returned home. Thanks for another great product MSR!