Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We don't drink sodas -- but we do drink a lot of soda water. We have excellent well water, which we put through an RO filter, and it tastes great. However, because we've wanted carbonation, we've been buying cans of the stuff at the grocery store and hauling it home. We've been looking at soda makers for some time, but many of them are really expensive -- in the $200 range -- and then, they require custom CO2 containers you have to buy -- forever. This kit is a much cheaper solution. This way, we don't have to haul cases of water home, and we don't add all those empty cans to the recycling bins in town (for those who throw the cans in the garbage, shame on you! :-) This is essentially a heavy duty clear food-grade plastic bottle that can take pressure, an insert cap that lets you attach the cartridge holder to the top to gas up your water, and then, a normal cap so you can refrigerate your soda. It comes with 5 CO2 pressurized cartridges to get you going. Bottom line -- it's easy to use and works great. Just follow directions. HOWEVER, there's a catch. They don't want you to use generic cartridges for making soda water -- they're out there (and here on Amazon) and they're a lot cheaper. So the Soda Sparkle folks made their proprietary cartridge just a little longer, so the generic ones don't fit. But let's do the math. At this time, Soda Sparkle wants about 84-cents apiece for their cartridges (which are here on Amazon with Prime shipping). However, we can buy the generic type in boxes of 50, for about 48-cents apiece (and it does take a full cartridge for each liter of water you make). The kit write-up says that with their system, you can make soda water for about half what it costs for the store-bought variety. Not so. We can buy cans of soda water for about 25 cents a can. Of course, that's not apples-to-apples: we're making liters, not 12 oz cans. But let's not get a headache. Let's just say: price does matter, and so the cheaper the CO2 cartridge, the better. We solved the problem by using an ordinary penny to "fix" the cartridge length issue. Now, the manufacturer says not to do this, so do so at your own peril, but we really can't see what's riskier about this than that inherent in puncturing a pressurized cartridge. You fill your bottle with "normal" water, and screw down the gas cap insert into it. Then take the black plastic cartridge holder top, turn it upside down, and slide your penny into it, so gravity will hold it in place. Take a generic cartridge, nozzle up, and push it into place, so the rounded end is against the penny. Now turn the top over, and screw it smoothly and quickly onto the other fitting. Wooooshhhh!! You'll hear and see the air rush into your bottle of water. You do it fast so very little gas escapes before you make the seal. Shake your bottle (whatever cartridge you use) vigorously for a good 30 seconds or so to disburse the bubbles throughout your "home water." Now remove the top, then unscrew the insert. Either pour your home-make soda water into a glass, or use the normal cap, put it in the fridge for later. This is contrary to manufacturer's instructions, of course, but it works. For us, it's what makes the whole system affordable. We'd recommend to Soda Sparkle in future manufacturing to go with the generic cartridge length and not get us coming and going! Better yet, price your cartridges half what the generic ones cost (instead of nearly twice as much). Overall, we're getting our own high quality soda water without having to buy and haul home "heavy" water -- and then have to deal with all the recycling issues. It's just a better idea. Recommended!