Tap Guard Review

By Court Rye | in Gear | Tags: Hydration

Tap Guard inserted into Nalgene Bottle

The Tap Guard is a great idea that is poorly executed. When I first saw this product I bought it on the spot and then told all of my friends about it. For the first few days I was so impressed by the idea of a portable gravity/suction powered personal water filter that I didn’t notice its flaws. Essentially, the Tap Guard is a splash guard with a built in holder for a carbon pouch. As you drink from your bottle water is pushed through the carbon and chlorine, iodine and other bad tasting potentially harmful elements are removed… that’s not to say all bad elements are removed, and this would not filter river water. This is more of a designer filter, but none the less at $15 it’s still better than nothing.

So what went wrong with the Tap Guard? Firstly, the product easily falls into the drinking reservoir. As I mentioned in my CamelBak Better Bottle Review earlier, I like to toss my bottles around and spin them, even drop them occasionally. Whenever this happens the Tap Guard plops right into the drink and I have to empty it out, get my dirty hands all over the opening and fish out the Tap Guard to reinsert it. This could have been avoided if the Tap Guard was built into a solid plastic screw-on lid. Secondly, carbon sand from the filter pouches tends to leak out and inevitably find its way into your bottle and mouth. I’m not a huge fan of drinking sand, and despite trying several pouches, even buying replacement pouches and following the “soak and wait” instructions for priming them I always seemed to run into trouble.

What’s the verdict? Despite being so very affordable I have discontinued using my Tap Guard, I gave it to a friend and I haven’t seen him using it. Buy a pitcher filter instead and filter more out of your water while avoiding the carbon sand. If you are always out and about and don’t have room for a pitcher or sink attachment then this might be good for you, it does help when filling up at drinking fountains and other public oasis’.