Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I wanted to add my opinion on Zero Water filtration system. I bought this system at Target for [...] + tax. Before I installed it, I read up on it, and I'm aware of possible high filter costs, but whenever I get billed [...] for every 5 gallon bottle of water from Sparkllets, I feel like I get ripped off. Before I installed the Zero water system, water from Sparkellet read at 10-11, which is far better than Fullerton City water, which read at over 350!. I installed the system on 7/28/10, and the installation was fairly easy, washing the whole system was not very difficult either. I just tested the water, and the meter does read 0, and the water tastes great! I did over fill the reservoir this morning, and my wife was unhappy because of the mess, but it was because I put too much water in there. I thought the water I put in was enough to top off the reservoir, but it's better to leave some room so you don't make a mess like I did. We go though about 10 gallons of drinking water in 2 weeks, so I'm hoping the filters will last me at least 2 months. If it does, the filter system would pay for itself. And hopefully, if the filters can last 2-3 months in the future, I would be saving money on water and won't worry about breaking my back replacing the 5 gallon bottles. I'll keep you all informed if anything happens with the system. Update: 8/11/10 It's been 2 weeks, and the meter still reads 0. No smell. No more spills. We're going through about 1-2 gallons a day, with 4 adults and 2 kids. We make at least 10 cups of coffee/day, use the water to cook and drink. So according to my calculation, we've at least gone through 15-20 gallons of water in 2 weeks. That's a saving of [...] so far compared to sparklletts. =) Update: 8/15/10 Alas! The Fish smell has struck! Yesterday, I check the water level, and all of a sudden it read 66. I thought that's strange. It shot up from 0 to 66 within a couple of days. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. So I decided to clean out the system. While I was cleaning, I noticed that the smell came from the filter and the container. I used the disinfectant wipe from costco to wipe the inside of the container and the outside of the filters. I pour water on the filters, and it struck me. One of the filters was letting the water out faster than the other one. Sure enough, the fish smelling water came from the filter that lets the water out quicker. I tested the water from both filters and the slow letting filter read 3, but the water from the fast letting filter read 165. It was obvious to me that due to the irregular rate of filtration, one of the filter became more dirty than the other one. This gotta be the reason why the filter didn't last as long as I expected. I'm going to contact Zero water tomorrow and see if they say anything about this issue. I ordered another set of filters through Amazon, but for mean while, I closed off one of the filter holes so that only one filter is doing all the work. I'm going to have to down grade this water system to 3 stars. :( Update: 8/19/10 New filters have arrived, so I replace the old ones. The fish smell is so bad, it seems to eminate from everything that came in contact with the water. I left the filters in my garage, and even the whole garage is filled with the smell. I thought about recycling the filters and receive $5 credit, but if it'll cost me $10 to send them, I would be losing even more money, while Zero Water co. just needs to replace the stuff inside. I haven't contacted the customer service, since I can't imagine they would do anything for me. I should try anyways. Update: 10/9/10 The filters changed again on 9/10/10 and now I have to change the filter again. This morning, I noticed a slight funky taste, and tested the water and it was at 85. The filter is lasting constantly about 4 to 5 weeks for us. The Zero water website does say that "customers with tap water near 200 TDS tell us that one filter will treat about 30 gallons of water before seeing a reading of 006 on their TDS meter." Our city water, Fullerton, Ca., reads at about 380. So I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. The FILTERS JUST DO NOT LAST LONG, if your tap water has high TDS number, do not get this system. I'm sort of stuck with this now, after investing over $120, since July. BUT IF YOU HAVEN'T BOUGHT THIS SYSTEM, PLEASE CHECK YOUR TAP WATER TDS LEVEL FIRST! If it's higher than 200, I suggest you look for a different filtration system. Update: 12/13/10 Since the October, I noticed couple of differences. The filters look different. The packaging was a bit different, and the filter has "Zero water" written on the side. Pretty cool. Another, more important difference is that fishy smell is almost non existence. Instead, there's strong acidic taste, that lets me know to check the TDS level. I'm not sure if the cooler weather has lessen the development of smell, or they changed something in the filter. SO IF YOU WANT TO TRY A FILTRATION SYSTEM, BUY THIS AND CHECK YOUR TAP WATER. IF YOUR WATER LEVEL COMES OUT OVER 200, RETURN IT!!! Update: 5/16/12 I've had it folks. After 2 years of cleaning and changing filters every month, and after dozens of filters, I can't stand to use this system anymore. And I'm lowering the rating to 1 star Here are my reasons: 1. THE RECYCLING SYSTEM IS A JOKE! It costs so much to send the used filters, and the coupons they send you are basically useless. Yes, we're helping the environment by recycling, but we're also helping the company make bigger profits by returning the used filters to them OUT OF OUR POCKETS! 2. More I thought about it, more it got me to think that the funny smell/taste the water produce at the end of filters' life is something the company "designed" so that the consumer will HAVE TO change the filter. During the last 2 years, I have become very cynical about this company's practice. 3. I'm tired of worry about my filter supply. Yes, I used to order in bulk, but once it runs out, you have to spend another couple of hundred dollars to order, and if you don't have new filters in your supply, you have to drink tab water until you get new filters! I have bigger things to worry about than how many water filters I have in my garage!!! So, in closing, I decided to go with the under-sink system. It cost me $130 to purchase and took me 30 minutes to install (Aquasana). Filters cost about $50/6 months (I used to spend 2 filters/month with Zero water. At cheapest, 12 bucks a pop, so that'd be $24/month!). Granted the water doesn't taste as good as Zero water, I don't have to worry about the water quality, filter life, or the hassle of changing filters/cleaning the system. Finally, I do not trust this company and refuse to give them any more business. Thanks for reading!