Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

For the past several years I had used one of the old-school PUR water pitcher filters that makes water taste great, filters out nasty stuff, and lasts a LONG time (several months per filter). All for a mere $7 filter. Sadly, PUR vastly altered the composition of their filters, and the new ones now only last a few weeks at a time. I decided to give this Seychelle system a try, seeing as they (very very falsely) advertise that the filters last for up to six months. I was a bit apprehensive of the fact that the filter replacement cartridges cost $30 each, but I figured that if they really last for so long and give me good water, it's worth it. Six days, folks. I bought a pack of 8 filters on Seychelle's webpage, and they've all given the same result (with the exception of the last one, which only lasted three days). With some water filters, even once you know it's gone bad, you can keep using them for a while still, a sort of grace period for you to order new filters - but not with these; after six days of use, the water they produce becomes so unbelievably putrid that even the smell of it will make you gag. Now, some background, here. Before buying the filters, I found two separate water studies that ranked the top 100 largest U.S. cities based on their tap water quality. I figured the only real way to get six months out of these would be to put pre-purifed water in them. This is typical of advertising, so I never expected them to last half a year. I saw my city ranked right in the middle of both studies, So I figured I should get at least two months from each filter, considering I only filter one gallon per day through it. Given that Seychelle claims the filters can last up to 150 gallons, I figured I should get at least a third of that, maybe half at most (75-100 gallons). Nope, six measly gallons of water, and it cost me $30. That's $5 per gallon. I could have bought purified water for $2.50 per gallon at the grocery store. Now, proponents of Seychelle will read this and say, "But, if your filters only lasted for such a short time, then your water must just be THAT toxic! You should be happy that's not going into your body!" Well, my response to that is as follows: Seychelle claims it can remove 99.9% of all sorts of various materials from your water, but most other companies claim that their own filters remove about 99.6%. Is that 0.3% going to be the difference between life and death? Probably not, considering there are plenty of people pushing 100 years old who drink tap water every day. Considering the absolutely massive difference in price between these filters and standard Brita, PUR, etc., to me, it's just simply not worth the extra cost. The one and ONLY reason you should ever ever consider purchasing this pitcher is if you know for a fact that your drinking water contains harmful bacteria. Seychelle's sole valid use (assuming their claims are true) is that the filters supposedly remove all forms of bacteria from drinking water. Unless you're drinking well water (from a really bad well), or bringing this pitcher on a camping trip, this shouldn't even effect you anyway. To top it all off, this pitcher has the worst design of any that I have used. This is the fifth pitcher design I've bought (also had two different PURs and two different Britas). The handle and pitcher aren't one solid piece; rather, the back of the pitcher juts out a bit, and the handle is just sort of stuck into a hole. It's very flimsy, and you'll need to brace the pitcher with your other hand while you pour to avoid breaking the handle out of its hole. Also, unless the top reservoir is totally drained into the bottom, unfiltered water will constantly flow out the spout while you try to pour. There are several other pitcher designs that have this problem too, but I still hold it against them, as there are also several designs out there that have fixed this issue. Lastly, the pop-top that you open up to fill the pitcher is placed directly over the filter itself. The problem here is that if you blast your faucet onto the filter, it will force the toxins in the filter out into the water in the bottom reservoir, thus tainting it (you'll be able to tell, the water will have that foul taste I mentioned above, only even before the filter has gone bad). To avoid this, you need to try to aim the water slightly to the side of the filter, and use low pressure. All that said, the dang filter still won't last you very long, nor will the pitcher itself. I apologize if all of this just sounds like an angry rant, but this is truly a poorly designed pitcher, and, considering the price of the filters, is appallingly overpriced. What really boils my blood the most is the six MONTH lifespan claim on the filters, which I will again repeat, only lasted me six DAYS. Even the new style crappy PURs and Britas last around a month, and are only a quarter of the cost.