LARQ vs. GRAYL Bottles – Review from a Long-Term User!

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My honest opinion on LARQ vs. GRAYL water purifying bottles is that I prefer GRAYL because it is a filtration bottle that removes impurities, while the LARQ bottle just kills the bacteria and viruses within water, and doesn’t remove them.

I have been using my LARQ or GRAYL Water Purifying bottles almost every day for the past 3 years I’ve been full-time traveling.

I have used my portable water filtration bottles to drink tap water in countries like Mexico, Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Peru, and India without issue.

Keep reading for my full review of LARQ vs. GRAYL travel water purifiers after over a year of full-time use and tips for how I use my bottles.

Why You Need a Travel Water Purifier

The last trip I went on before I started carrying travel water purifiers was in Spring 2019. I remember having to lug a 20-pack of water bottles through the souks of Marrakech because we kept running out of drinking water!

It was hot, tiring, and unnecessarily wasteful (my friend and I were going through 6 1-liter water bottles a day). After that trip, I bought a travel purifier and never went back.

If you’re traveling anywhere besides Europe or North America you likely won’t be able to drink the tap water, even if the locals can, and will have to factor in finding potable water into your budget and travel plans.

Almost everywhere you go there will be bottles of purified water for sale, but it can be:

1) expensive

2) annoying to carry/run out

3) wasteful to live off of bottled water.

Since I started traveling with water purifiers it’s given me a lot more freedom over what I can carry and what I can do.

There are a lot of travel purifiers on the market so this article is going to be explaining which ones I use, how to use them, and how to pack smart with travel purifiers.

Blogger Katie Caf uses her GRAYL travel water purifying bottle to drink water out of a glacier lake in Peru.
Using my Grayl Bottle to filter cloudy lake water at Laguna Paron, Peru
A GRAYL water filtration bottle at Laguna Paron in Peru, being used to filter the lake water to make it potable.

Grayl Bottle

This is my favorite travel purifier. I’ve had it for almost 5 years and I use it 4-6 times a day, every day while I’m traveling. It’s a bit like the popular LifeStraw, which cleans water through manual filtration, but it makes so much more sense to use body weight by pushing rather than “sucking” power as LifeStraw does.


How to Use the Grayl Bottle Travel Purifier

The Grayl is SUPER simple to use, you simply fill the bottom water bottle and then put the top on (using the cap as leverage), and then press down.

If your filter still has some life in it, it should take 8-20 seconds to filter your water.

I’ve had tap water all over Indonesia, Mexico, and South America without any problems. Once your water becomes hard to press, taking 30 seconds or more, it’s time to replace the filter.


How long do Grayl filters last?

Depending on how clean your water is, sometimes your filters will last 2 weeks and sometimes they’ll last two months. I usually pack 1 filter for every month I plan to be gone.


✅ Grayl Bottle: Pros

The Grayl can filter out any contaminants: meaning dirt, chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and heavy metals should all be cleaned out, resulting in better-tasting water.

The mechanical filtration really shines when you have to filter water that isn’t completely translucent.

I had a wonky sink in Peru and the water came coming out milky and carbonated-looking, but after a 20-second press through my Grayl bottle, it’s crystal clear.

Another great aspect of the Grayl is it’s completely mechanical, not electronic, meaning the risk of it breaking on the road is highly unlikely. The bottles are a bit pricey, but if you buy a Grayl you can expect it to last for a long time.


❌ Grayl Bottle: Cons

Even though I love my Grayl and have no intentions of replacing it, it’s not a perfect product.

I’ve found through extended use that both of the company’s main claims: 1) an open filter can stay usable for three years and 2) One filter is good for 300 uses, are both, in my experience, false.

I used my first Grayl Filter for my trip to Indonesia in the fall of 2019, after the trip was over the filter was still going strong so I decided to let it dry out.

When I tried to use it again in South America in the summer of 2021 (1.5 years later) the filter had entirely disintegrated and little bits of it were floating in my water.

Also, unless you’re filtering crystal clear water (that probably doesn’t even need filtering) it’s doubtful you’re going to get 300 uses out of your filters.

I use my bottle 4-6 times a day, so meeting in the middle let’s say 5 times a day. 300 divided by 5 is 60, and 60 days is two months, so it should be good for two months of use.

I have never gotten that much longevity out of a filter.

In Cusco (as I mentioned before, sometimes the tap water comes out dirty) I got more than 80 uses before the filter was completely unusable.

I complained to Grayl and they sent me two free filters, all the way to Peru, which was nice of them.

I currently pack one filter per month, so about 150 uses per filter. If you’re going camping or anywhere you’re actually going to have to filter dirty water, not just clear tap water, you should pack with the assumption of needing more filters.

Also, while the Grayl bottle is a great water purifier it’s an awful water bottle. If it goes horizontal at all, in my experience, it WILL spill water.

That’s why I travel with my Grayl bottle and an extra water bottle to actually carry water if I need to go somewhere.


💰 Grayl Bottle: Price

It seems expensive, I think the bottles are like $70-$100 and the filters are $25 each, but once you add up how much you’d spend buying bottled water ($3-$7 a day) it’s actually cheaper to purify your own water for long-term travel.

This photo shows all the visible dirt a GRAYL was able to filter out of tap water in Mexico
This photo shows all the visible dirt my GRAYL was able to filter out of my tap water in Mexico

Grayl Bottle: Update After 1 Year of Continuous Use

After continuous use of my Grayl bottle, I noticed some little black spots of mold appearing on the outside of the inner lining. Grayl is supposed to be anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, and pretty much anti-everything. But since I use my GRAYL every day it gets crazy wear and tear.

Because I use it continuously, I almost never have a few days to dry out my filter before packing it, so it’s a constantly damp environment that breeds fungus.

I reached out to their customer service team who promptly internationally mailed me a totally new bottle – and an upgraded version!

All Grayl bottles have a 10-year warranty, so even though I definitely had already gotten my money’s worth, they shipped me a brand-new bottle at no additional cost!

👉  Click here to purchase the water filter I recommend for long-term and adventure travel, buy your own Grayl Travel Water Purifier + extra filters here.


How to Avoid Fungus in Your Grayl Bottle

Whenever possible, store your GRAYL With the inner lining outside of the outer lining. Especially overnight.

Also, if you’re storing your GRAYL for an extended period of time make sure to dry out the filter for a few days first so you’re not trapping that moisture in.


24 Oz Newly Designed Grayl Bottle

GRAYL GeoPress 24 oz Water Purifier Bottle – Filter for Hiking, Camping, Survival, Travel

My old Grayl was 16 FL OZ and around $70, my new Grayl (which the warranty completely covered – even shipping!!!!) is 24 OZ and $99.

If you’re looking into long-term travel I would spend the extra $30 for the 24 OZ Grayl because it’s a lot more convenient to just press once and have 24 ounces of water.

The new Grayl also has a lid with a mouthpiece, it’s just an all-around nicer bottle in my opinion.


LARQ water filtration bottle on a windowsill.
LARQ Bottles are more stylish than most travel purifiers

LARQ bottle

LARQ Bottle PureVis – Self-Cleaning and Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle with Award-winning Design and UV Water Sanitizer

Another item I travel with is my LARQ bottle. If you’re picking just one water purified I would say go with the Grayl because it works on everything. From heavy metals to bacteria and viruses, which means the Grayl actually makes tap water taste better.

The Larq only uses UV light to kill viruses and bacteria in the water and leaves all the rest in.

The LARQ bottle will keep you from getting sick, but won’t remove other pollutants.

I used it for two months drinking Mexican tap water and it never failed me, but the water didn’t taste very good from the heavy chlorination Mexico uses in their water.


How to Use a Larq Travel Water Purifier

My LARQ charges via micro-USB, and each charge should be good for 2 weeks of use.

You fill your water bottle with clear water (any cloudiness will impact the UV light’s ability to reach the water) and press the button at the top of the cap 1 or 2 times.

1 time will use the UV light for 60 seconds, and if you press it twice it will activate “Adventure Mode” which is a 3-minute UV light exposure meant for water with more pollutants.


Larq Bottle: Pros

Single-purchase, you never have to worry about running out of filters. All you need is a travel adapter with a USB port to recharge your LARQ and you’re good to go.

The LARQ also works wonderfully as a stand-alone water bottle, it’s insulated like popular brands Yeti and Hydroflask, so hot water will stay hot and cold water will stay cold for long periods of time.

This makes the Larq great for casual travelers who are just planning to buy a travel purifier for one trip because you will still get use out of your Larq Bottle at home as a stylish insulated water bottle.


Larq Bottle: Cons

Like I experienced with the Grayl bottle, the LARQ’s claims are a bit dubious.

Every few hours the UV light activates itself for 15 seconds, they claim because of this you will never have to wash your LARQ.

This is simply untrue. I left my LARQ (fully charged) alone for a week or so and when I opened it the water smelled just as musty as any other water bottle I’ve ever had.

While I’ve used my Larq bottle all over Mexico without getting sick (so it did its job very well), it does not make the water taste any better as a manual filtration bottle will. So while the water in Mexico didn’t make me sick, it did taste like chlorine.

Also, as I mentioned earlier in this article the water coming out of my Cusco tap is cloudy, so even if you buy a LARQ with the intention of only using it with tap water, sometimes even your tap water might not be clean enough for the LARQ to purify – since it can be only used with clear water.


💰 Larq bottle: Price

The LARQ bottle is pricey. I think it’s between $80-$130 depending on the size. That being said, when compared to other travel purifiers where you have to continually buy new filters the LARQ is a bit more economical, but only if you’re going to be traveling in places with already clear tap water.

👉  Click here to purchase the travel purifier I recommend for casual travelers, purchase your own Larq Bottle here!


I was able to use my Grayl purifier to drink from the Plitvivce lakes in Croatia when we ran out of water. (Photo by Peter Jan Rijpkema on Unsplash)

Larq vs Grayl Travel Water Purifiers: Conclusion

I hope this guide helps you choose the best water purifier for your next trip! I’ve been full-time traveling over the past year and a half and I absolutely love using these travel water purifiers every day.

Just to recap, my overall favorite travel water purifier is my Grayl bottle, I’ve used it consistently to drink the water in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America over the past three years and I love it.

The Grayl can filter any type of water, so I have used it to drink from faucets in developing countries where you can’t usually drink tap water, as well as straight from waterfalls, lakes, and rivers while hiking.

While I think the Grayl bottle is overall best for long-term and adventure travel, if you’re planning a casual trip to somewhere like Mexico and you’d like to be able to drink the tap water, and then still have a nice water bottle you can use back home, I would recommend the Larq bottle.

Because the Larq works as a travel purifier as well as a normal nice insulated water bottle, I would recommend the Larq Bottle for anyone planning a casual trip.


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