REVIEW: RATNIK Water Filter NF10

Drinking unfiltered water in the wild is always a bad idea. Fortunately, there are filters that remove all harmful substances from the water. As Russia consists mostly of untamed nature, they thought: "We should provide a water filter for the soldier's equipment." And so it was done. We present to you the NF10 water filter from the new Ratnik system of the Russian infantry.

The filter comes delivered in a plastic bag with a certificate. Everything is in Russian, but it probably doesn't say anything important…

In the plastic bag, there is a 17 x 10 x 7 cm plain nylon bag in Digi-Flora. Inside, you will find the actual filter system.

The NF10 filter consists of several parts. A hand pump, an intake and an outlet hose, and three filter cartridges. Another small part is also included, whose function has not yet been determined by us. We suspect it is some kind of adapter (possibly for a gas mask?).

Here is the pump with the usage sketch and above it the instruction in Russian, which we have expertly translated for you using Google Translate:

1. Remove the filter according to the drawing
2. Lower the intake filter (1) below the water surface.
3. Loosen the cap (2), remove air from the filter, pump the water with the pump (3), tighten the cap on the nozzle.
4. Suck in water with your mouth and pump water further. Not more than 25 pumping movements per minute.
5. After work, remove the water from the filter.
6. Remove from the consumption scale (4) the number of marks corresponding to the volume of the purified water:
7. To disassemble the filter, place it in a case

There are a few awkward sentences, but overall, the purpose of the instructions is generally understood.

Here is the activated carbon filter cartridge in detail. It filters up to five liters of water under normal circumstances. For higher contamination, it is better to filter only three to four liters. As a particularly well-thought-out feature, you are provided with 20 peel-off dot markings. Each dot corresponds to 0.25 liters of pumped water. So simply peel off the corresponding number of dots after filtering, and you will always have an overview.

Here, the intake hose, filter, and hand pump are connected. The entire set weighs a good 250g.

At the rear end, simply attach the outlet hose. Now there is nothing stopping you from filtering.

In the middle of the handiwork. Dirty water on the right, clean, filtered water on the left. The pumping and filtering process is easy and nothing particularly notable caught our attention. After the first use, the wet filter cartridges should not be stored for more than three days.

Since the used filters are not indefinitely durable, but we are also very curious, we have cut it open. In the image above, you can see the inner workings. Two fine nets, two filter fleeces, and a lot of activated charcoal powder in between. Simple but effective.

CONCLUSION: Russian equipment is usually kept simple and effective. The same applies to the NF10 filter. It does what it is supposed to do and does it well. And all at a great price.

HERE is the SPARTANAT video about Ratnik NF10.

Available, for example, on Ebay from €25 excluding shipping