I bought a giant scale filter 20+ years ago for the fuel jug and have had to clean it just a couples times in all those years. The more clogged and matted it gets with fine hairs, etc., the better of a filter it becomes. I draw fuel directly out with a 2 oz or 5 oz monoject syringe and almost never have dirty fuel issues, not even with the tiny .049 engines.
GMS must have improved their quality recently, I've heard way more good than bad about them. I bought a .25 years ago and it seemed well made except it didn't have any "pop!" when you flipped it and it didn't have as much power as it's competitors. But it always ran.