The following is an email received from Miles Maiden. It has not been edited in any way and is included here in its entirety to help you make your own educated opinion about the Steri-Pen.
"From: Miles Maiden, Hydro-Photon (maker's of Steri-Pen)
Hi Vin and Gwen,
Just visited your site and wanted to make a few comments on the
Steri-Pen
tests. Overall I thought your evaluation was nicely done. There were
however
a couple of issues that I wanted to mention.
First, the user's manual, brochure and web site all state that the device is intended only for clear water (not necessarily just tap water). And while we have shown effectiveness on water with some turbidity (see our test reports on our web site www.hydro-photon.com), dose times are calibrated for clear water.
In your review, you indicate that you were shocked that the green light came on after a dose in the very muddy water you tested. And this implies to your readers that the Steri-Pen was somehow malfunctioning. In fact, the Steri-Pen was performing exactly as it should with the assumption that it was being used as directed in the user's manual- in clear water. Not to belabor the point, but if I take my chainsaw and try to cut through a block of granite, even though I have been instructed that it is intended for wood only, I should not be surprised that it both continues to try and turn the chain and that it does not do a very good job cutting the stone. Like the chainsaw, the Steri-Pen has no way of knowing when it is not being used as intended - this is why the user's manual repeatedly calls for use in clear water only.
One other point about batteries - our testing has shown about 100 treatments from 1,800 mAh Quest NiMH batteries - I believe you indicate 20 to 30 treatments, however this is the figure associated with alkaline batteries.
Finally, I don't want to leave you feeling that this is intended as an unfriendly email - it isn't. I just felt that in fairness to our product, I needed to give you my views. By the way, if you have not already replaced the battery compartment, I would be happy to send you a new one at no charge.
Best regards,
Miles
Miles Maiden, president
Hydro-Photon, Inc.
P.O. Box 675
Rte. # 172
Blue Hill, ME 04614
USA
voice (207) 374-5800
fax (207) 374-5100
http://www.hydro-photon.com"
