The trick to filling the bags from still water like a lake is to use a cup or your cook pot to pour the water into it. During my TRT through hike this summer, I used my 1 liter cook pot as a ladle and poured the water into the bag. Another advantage to this method is that I was able to skim water from the top of the water source without stirring up the silt down below.

Good points Robert,Annie and I had a tough time filling the squeeze bag from a lake the first time we tried it. Ultimately we were able to figure out a system that seems to work just fine. It’s definitely not as easy, but it works.
1) Blow up the squeeze bag with air.
2) Lay the bag on it’s side in the water.
3) Hold the top opening of the bag half in the water (so there is room for water to flow into the bag, but also room for air to leave the bag).
4) Hold the bottom of the bag and slowly pull it down into the water. If you don’t put too much pressure on the bag, water will enter and air will leave.

It’s much easier when you have a stream, or a flowing source, but we were able to fill the bag from several lakes without any issues. Also, you could use a water bladder or smartwater bottle (or any other brand) with the filter. That would make filling from lakes a lot easier.

Thanks for the comment!

Good info Jeff. Thanks for the tips! I am also really excited about the Sawyer Mini that is due to launch in September. A water filter that weighs 2 ounces! Are you kidding me! That’s incredible.

Thanks Nathan! I’m glad it was helpful.

Drinking straight from a plastic water bottle with the filter. Great pro tip Daniel. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the sweet tip Jay! It never hurts to save 20 bucks.