I just got the Aeropress (managed to locate one in Melbourne for 50 AUD) and I'm examining it right now. I haven't made coffee with it yet.
Unless I'm missing something, the designer of this product obviously did not have compact storage in mind when making it, which is fine, because the large size should make it a more "comfortable" device to use at home. Unfortunately, there are a LOT of aspects about it that would make it a pretty bad choice for backpacking / globe-trotting.
- The pieces don't all fit together into one central unit. There are lots of loose parts, but luckily these are (mostly) all accessories.
- The coffee stirrer and measuring spoon are almost comically large, BUT I can see these being extremely comfortable to use. Nice, wide, long handles and a big plank on the stirrer for getting a lot of turbulence during the stir. But for me, these pieces are redundant and both can be replaced with a regular plastic or aluminum spoon. Not as nice to use, but has more overall utility.
- The filter holder. It's 100% a uni-tasker, unless I'm missing something. All it does is hold filters, and it's designed very well for that purpose (wide base for stability, good spacing between the walls for pinching out a filter. But replacing that with a single re-usable metal filter that stores inside the body of the Aeropress saves me a good deal of weight and volume.
- The end that fits onto a coffee cup is designed for wide-ish coffee cups (2.75" !). It most certainly will not fit over a standard Nalgene water bottle opening (the Nalgene dimensions and threads are used in a very wide array of bottles from other brands). BUT...
- The funnel is massive and doesn't collapse into anything, but fortunately it's not a uni-tasker. The funnel doubles as an adapter for narrow mouthed cups and bottles. This may be the only reason for me that I can't chuck the funnel.
- The only things that fit into the main cylinder are the plunger assembly, main cylinder, and the end cap. The funnel just needs to float around somewhere separately.
So it looks like I'll be chucking the filter holder, the filters, the spoon, and the stirrer, and buying a metal filter. I placed it in a bag in stock configuration and it was kind of comical how many loose pieces were everywhere.