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Reviews > Water Treatment > Ultraviolet > CrazyCap > Test Report by Coy Ray Starnes

CrazyCap Gen 2
Coy Starnes
Initial Report: March 6, 2020
Long Term Report: July 30, 2020

CrazyCap Gen 2
Tester Coy Starnes
Gender Male
Age 58
Weight 246 lb (112 kg)
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)
Email starnescr@yahoo.com
Location Grant, Alabama

Tester Biography

I live in Northeast Alabama.  I enjoy biking, hunting, fishing, and kayaking.  I hike throughout the year and actually hike less in the hot humid months of summer.  My style is slow and steady and my gear is light.  However, I will sacrifice weight for comfort and durability.  A typical 3-season load for me is around 20 lb (9 kg) not counting food or water.

Initial Report:  March 6, 2020

Product Information
Test Item CrazyCap (Gen 2) and bottle
Manufacturer Crazy Cap
Year of Manufacture 2020
Manufacturer's Website https//thecrazycap.com
Listed Weight not listed
Measured Weight cap only 2.1 oz (60 g)
Measured Weight bottle only 9.2 oz (261 g)
Measured Weight cap and bottle 11.3 oz (320 g)
Capacity 17 oz (0.5 L)
Color Teakwood (many colors and patterns available)
MSRP 59 USD CrazyCap only - 69 USD CrazyCap with 17 oz bottle

Product Description
The CrazyCap Gen 2 is basically a cap that fits several brands of small-mouth water bottles including their own 17 oz (0.5 L) 304 stainless steel bottle.  The CrazyCap relies on an advanced deep UV (ultraviolet) LED at 278nm.  The literature on the website says this destroys all pathogens and microorganisms.  It also says it does not remove particulate matter and/or chemicals such as fluoride or chlorine.  This makes perfect sense since this doesn’t filter the water in any way.  And since it depends on the UV light passing through the water, clear water is easier to treat.  The cap is rechargeable and the provided charger simply sits on top of the cap (like an upside-down cup) and can be plugged into any USB charging port.  There is a light ring on top of the CrazyCap that glows indicating the condition of the battery.  One tap on the center of the CrazyCap will make the ring glow in various colors to indicate batter condition.  Green means more than 50% charged, orange means between 25% and 49% charged, and red indicated less than 25% charged.  The bottle also self-cleans itself every 4 hours with a 20 second cycle of UV light.  The website says a fully charged cap will last about 7 days with the every 4 hour self-cleaning mode and 3 to 4 normal mode uses.  It did not say if this meant 3 of 4 per day or total.  I would hope it means per day.

The CrazyCap can be ordered without the bottle if you already have one of the compatible bottles listed on their website.  The kit I got included a 17 oz (0.5 L) bottle, the charger cap, 2 replacement o-rings for the cap itself, 2 small packets of individually wrapped alcohol wipes for cleaning the cap, a cloth storage sack big enough for the bottle and the instructions. Everything came in a stout cardboard cylinder that I plan to keep everything in.  

CrazyCap Gen 2Initial Thoughts and Impressions

The CrazyCap is an ingenious concept.  It blends the proven technology of UV water treatment built into the lid of a nice stainless steel water bottle.  I mean, every water bottle needs a lid, right?  This means there are no parts to lose in field (though unlikely, the cap could be lost) and no fiddling with a water filter system.  This also means there isn’t a filter to clog and then need to back-flush and/or clean.  The real test will be the battery life of the lid.  The Gen 2 CrazyCap is actually more compact then the original CrazyCap, mostly due to a smaller battery, and I am under the impression that batter life is not quite as good. This will mean that for extended use in the field, a means of recharging the battery will be needed. This could be a small power bank or even a small solar charger.  I already have a small 10000mAh battery bank and would like to get a small solar charger for even more independence from the grid.  

How to use the CrazyCap Gen 2

Once the battery inside the cap is fully charged the CrazyCap is ready for use.  While charging the glow ring sort of blinks in the color that represents the battery charge condition and then turns a steady green once fully charged.  Now to treat some water.  First place the CrazyCap on the bottle of water to be treated and screw it down reasonably tight.  Then I must decide if I want to use normal mode or crazy mode.  When treating tap water, normal mode is adequate.  Simply tap the center of the CrazyCap twice and the glow ring will turn blue for one minute, indicating it is doing its thing.  For water in the wild (untreated water) choose the crazy mode.  To activate crazy mode tap the center of CrazyCap five times.  The glow ring turns blue for 2 minutes which is the time the UV light is activated. While the UV light is active gently swirly the bottle to insure the water is thoroughly treated.  

One of the really cool features of the CrazyCap Gen 2 is the ability to use of to sterilize other things besides water because the UV light will work when not on a bottle.  The website suggests using crazy mode and holding the light approximately 4 inches away from the surface to be cleaned.  Examples they give are baby bottles, cellphones, iPads, toothbrushes, eating utensils, and the tray on an airplane, basically any surface that needs to be disinfected.  As I am writing this report the Civid-19 Coronavirus is making its presence known in the US and I plan to use the CrazyCap when I’m out in public when needed.  I can use it on shopping cart handles, door knobs and any other questionable surfaces I feel the need to clean.  I’ve already used the CrazyCap to clean my wife’s and my own cellphone, my iPad and the land-line phone at work.   I used the crazy mode each time so that was four uses for 8 minutes total.  The indicator glow ring showed green when the CrazyCap arrived but after the third uses it indicated orange so was down to 50% or less.  I’m not sure how much over 50% the unit was when it arrived but I’ll try to keep track of how many uses I can get from a fully charged CrazyCap.

I looked high and low to see if there was a way to turn off the unit.  In other words, my tap water is safe (knock on wood) and I will be using the CrazyCap for mostly camping trips and the occasional road trip in my vehicle. It would be nice to save battery life by turning the unit completely off for those times I won’t be needing the unit for awhile.  It is my understanding that rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and by doing the self-cleaning mode for 20 seconds every 4 hours I’ll be needlessly discharging if the battery even if I’m not using the CrazyCap daily.  

Warranty and Warnings
I copied this from the website. "One-year limited warranty summary: Microlyscs warrants the included product (CrazyCap Gen 1 & 2) UV light water bottle and the accessory against the defects in materials and workmanship for ONE YEAR from the date of original purchase.   Microlyscs does not warrant against normal wear and tear, nor damage caused by accident or abuse. Microlyscs requires you to return your product before a warranty replacement is issued but may waive this requirement."  

The warnings are not to look directly into the deep UV light.  Also, do not wash in the dishwasher or in water hotter then 130 F.  I think this would include the bottle and the cap but this isn’t specifically spelled out.  This concludes my Initial Test Report.

Long Term Report: July 30, 2020

Testing Locations and Conditions
I have used the CrazyCap mostly as my backup water supply on day hikes.  I carried it on several overnight hikes but didn’t really need to treat much water as I carried enough from home.  Those overnighters occurred on March 28th, April 11th and June 1st.  The CrazyCap served as one of my water bottles on the trail and I had a reliable way to treat more water if needed.  I also used it on a 17 day trip to Arizona.  I used it mainly when on the airplane to disinfect the trays, arm rest and seats my wife and I were in.  I also used it regularly at work to disinfect, door knobs, our communal water fountain, as well as the office phone and two mice and keyboards.  

Long Term Test Results
When I applied to test the CrazyCap I had no idea we were headed for such lengthy and unprecedented conditions brought on by the pandemic known as COVID-19.  I was just looking for an easy way to treat water when day hiking or during overnight backpacking trips.  I never considered I would need a reliable way to disinfect objects I might come in contact with on a daily basis for months to come.  Unfortunately, this aspect of use is not covered in detail on the website.  It only suggest holding the CrazyCap about 4 inches from the surface but no suggestion was given on what speed to move the light or how wide an area was covered.  I sort of guessed at how slow to move the CrazyCap across a surface and how far to move down for the next pass.  On a keyboard I normally made 4 or 5 passes in crazy mode (2 minutes).  On my iPhone I would use normal mode (about a minute long) and just moved it slowly around the front, back and sides of the phone until the blue light went off.  On the airplane I used a total of 4 crazy modes on the seat area and fold-down trays where my wife and I were sitting.  I did this on both the flight to Arizona and then flying back home. 
 
CrazyCap on airplane

When day hiking I normally carry a couple of water bottles but would carry only the CrazyCap.  I would start with it full of tap water and depending on how hot it was and how long I was out, I usually ended up refilling once down at the creek.  It was great to not need to carry a lot of water yet not have to worry about running out of safe drinking water.  I used the crazy mode when treating the creek water. There are several cattle farms on the top of the mountain above the creek that do have runoff that gets in the creek so it was very important that the CrazyCap did a good job.  All I can say is I never had any water related sickness after about a dozen uses at the creek.

CrazyCap at the creek

I was hoping the CrazyCap might improve the taste of the water at my daughter's house in Glendale, Az.  I’m not sure if it’s alkaline water or what but it taste nasty.  The CrazyCap made little or no difference in the taste so I just drank from the water bottles they kept on hand.  This meant I didn’t use the CrazyCap for 15 days between flights.  I checked the condition of the battery right before we were preparing to head home and was surprised it was orange which meant it was somewhere between 25 and 50%.  I had only used it once on water and of course what I outlined on the plane. I recharged it the night before leaving for home so I would have plenty of juice for the same disinfection process I performed on the flight out there.  The reason this surprised me is because at home I normally recharged the light once a week and it was usually still in the green (more than 50% charged) after a week of using it fairly often.

Final Thoughts
It’s not that I was skeptical that the CrazyCap would work but I was not sure I would feel comfortable just using this for water treatment in the wild. However, after the good results I got using it on the creek water I am sold on the concept. It was great to just fill my bottle and run the crazy mode and have cold water almost immediately ready to drink.  I’ve used chemical treatments before that took half an hour for treatment and the water would be a lot warmer by the time I drank it.  And not having to worry about a filter stopping up was also a big plus.  As a result, the CrazyCap will become my go to method of treating water in the woods as long as I’m not out for more than a few days.  Even then I might just use my 20,000 amp power bank and recharge it in the field. This would require bringing the charger but honestly, I seldom go on week long trips so I should be good most of the time. 

This concludes my testing of the CrazyCap water bottle and UV lid. I would like to thank CrazyCap and BackpackGearTest for this testing opportunity.




Read more reviews of Microlyscs gear
Read more gear reviews by Coy Ray Starnes

Reviews > Water Treatment > Ultraviolet > CrazyCap > Test Report by Coy Ray Starnes



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