Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I read some of the negative reviews and gave this a try anyway. Fearing that I may end up getting a used repackaged product (as mentioned in some of the negative reviews) I made sure to pick up a TDS* water meter/tester as well. Not only to make sure I got a new filter from this seller, but also so I can test the various liquids used around my home. As I'd mentioned in my review for the TDS* water meter/tester, my tap water is hard so I used the baseline measurement (PPM's) of a bottle of Poland Spring water. My main concern about this filter or my refrigerator water line in general, was that it wasn't going to make too much of a difference drinking water from the tap versus one that came out of this filter. After my baseline measurements, my concerns were put at ease. Below are results from my tests: (measurements in PPM) 0-50 = Ideal drinking water 50-100 = Carbon filtered water 100-200 = Hard water 200-300 = Marginally acceptable 200-400 = Average tap water 400+ Very high TDS contaminant level --My household baseline-- Bottle of Poland Spring = 18 Tap Water = 281 Gatorade = 260 5 month old filter from my refrigerator water line = 240 New filter from my refrigerator water line = 200 Melted ice (4 hours) = 293 So what did I learn from this... My tap water isn't too bad, this particular filter can probably go another month or two, and I really need to clean my ice maker. The good news is that this filter removed 80+PPM's of TDS* from my tap. *TDS* - Total Dissolved Solids are the total amount of mobile charged ions, including minerals, salts, or metals dissolved in a given volume of water.