Katadyn Pocket Water Filter

Whether you're exploring the wilderness or living there, the Katadyn Pocket Water Filter ($235) can help keep you alive. Its ceramic water filter can handle up to one liter per minute, and removes all sorts of nasty stuff, including parasites, cholera and typhoid — for you Oregon Trailers out there — salmonella and other harmful bacteria, parasites, and germs, all in a rugged aluminum shell that'll stand up to the worst of elements. Just remember, the water may be safe, but that roadkill possum you're cooking up probably isn't.