Aquagear Water Filter Pitcher – Lead, Chlorine, PFOA/PFOS, Microplastics Filter, 10 Cup, 120 Gallon Filter Life - Filter Media Made in USA

I'm giving this five stars because it's the only product of its kind on the market, and it does its main task, filtering water, well. I'll take the company at their word that it removes things other filters don't, and removes a higher percentage of the things that other filters do. The water it produces is delicious and, according to my subjective datapoint of 1, tastes better than competing filters. Now for the criticism, with roughly the most important first. - As others have stated, the water filters veeeery slowly. For the first dozen pitchers or so it was pretty slow, but acceptable. Since then, it takes something like 2 hours for all the water to filter through. I did do the initial flushing before putting in the filter. I haven't yet tried doing the re-flushing that the company suggests to make the filter work faster. Even if it works, I'm not sure if I'm going to be happy doing this once a week for the rest of my life. - Related to above: the company's guideline for when to change the filter is when water flows through it too slowly. So I foresee in my future many phases of trial and error and wondering if I need to flush more or if the filter is really truly done. - Related to above: it's weird to me that flushing can solve this problem. Shouldn't running more water through the filter just build up more filtered material? Or, if it's because the pressure from the tap forces things through, isn't that bad? Doesn't that mean that contaminants are being forced through when they shouldn't be? I wrote to support asking this and they said "The flushing process helps push residual carbon from the manufacturing process out of the filter if there is any." That doesn't really fully answer the questions, but I'll take the company at their word that all is well. I hope that they expand their documentation on this matter in the future. - If you tilt the pitcher too far while pouring, the water completely fills up the spout, which doesn't allow air to come back into the pitcher, making the water come out in spurts or even almost completely stop. When the pitcher is full, you can get around this by not tiling it so far. There's also been a scenario where I couldn't find any angle at all that worked. I think it was when there was water in the upper filtering area and also in the lower area, I'm not sure. I'll probably eventually drill a small hole in the back of the pitcher to get around this problem. If I do I'll report back and post a photo. - If you pour the pitcher while there is water in the bottom part and water in the top part, water can leak out from the top part. Other pitchers have this problem as well, and I've been dealing with it for 2 decades. I'm pretty sure it's not a huge engineering challenge to work around this, I don't know why no one has done it yet. - The little auto-closing circular flap which closes the fill hole looks nice and is cleverly designed... but has problems. The first is that a ring of pink mold(?) has grown around the edge of it in only two weeks. The second is that it's difficult to see how far the water has been filled up. It's possible, but you need pretty good lighting and you have to be ready for it to sneak up on you. - The little auto-closing flap on the spout can get stuck in either the closed or open position. - To remove the filtering assembly, you have to stick your finger in the spout area, which means you have to wash your hands first, which adds time and effort to the process of pouring water. First-world problem for sure, but for something I have to do 2 or 3 times a day, I really wish it had a better design. What I have done to get around most of these problems is to use this pitcher to fill up other pitches of water. I happened to have two of these around: Takeya Airtight Pitcher, 2-Quart, Black and they suit my purpose well. I let the Aquagear take its time filtering and use the pre-filtered water from those pitchers, and then fill them up when the Aquagear is ready. Of course, whenever I do this, I have to completely remove the filtering assembly. Good job Aquagear on your V1 and for getting this needed product to market! Now get to work on the V2...

I'm pretty picky about the quality of the water that I put into my body, as I drink 2 - 3 liters of it daily. I want it to taste, smell and look perfect, as there is nothing quite like a refreshing good drink of clean, pure water. Many countertop pitcher filters just don't deliver on their promises. Many countertop units leave an after taste. Many don't seem to be actually removing contaminants. Not the Aquagear Water Filter Pitcher though - it really delivers! This filter is great. The company seems to have done their research when designing their actual filter and what goes into it. I've owned a number of "pitcher type water filters" over the years and there's always "something" I don't like. This time around I actually researched a number of pitcher filter units and the Aquagear filter kept coming up #1 in the reviews. It's not the cheapest, but it works well and the filters last a long time. The company says that it removes almost everything that you don't want in your water. You get what you pay for. It is a little large feeling at first and actually could be a problem for small hands or children, but we all got use to it quickly and once we got use to its size and shape, it is easy to use. No problem. As far as "kitchen design style" is concerned, It looks good sitting on our kitchen counter top too. The company seems to be of good integrity too. They donate clean water filters to remote African villages, with every unit sold here in North America and Europe. Does that add to our cost? Probably, a little - but what goes around... Their packaging is very "green" too. I like to spend my money with companies that 'do the right things'. So many companies these days don't even try! The filters last a long time and replacement filters are reasonably priced and easy to find. They even offer a 'scheduled' replacement service and you save an additional $10 using it. We get our water from our well, that already tests clean and safe, but one extra filtering can't hurt! I don't know how it would preform if our water had a lot of sediment in it, you'd have to ask the factory people who I found to be quick to respond and very personable. The bottom line is that water tastes great from this pitcher - like REAL water! Try it. If you don't like it you can always use Amazon's 'Costco copycat return policy within 30 days - no questions asked and they'll even pay your return freight! It's that simple!

Absolutely easy to use and makes the water so delicious! Such great customer service from Aquagear! I've been using this product for several years!! I like not having to worry about water content. It's the right size for my family.

I only just got the pitcher so this is a limited knowledge review. Opening and set-up was fairly easy for me. The filter leaked at first but I just needed to tighten the seal a bit and everything was okay from there. The filter is slow, but from my perspective, that's a good thing: it means it's working. I am very paranoid about water now, as my area has just been hit with a parasite alert in our sanitation system. In light of all the public water horror stories, I would switch to bottled only if it wasn't so bad for the environment. I am switching to Aquagear from Brita (and still boiling the water!) as a compromise between tap filtered and bottled - Brita wasn't doing a great job filtering out stuff and my water was still cloudy. I will say that the water from the Aquagear is very tasty and I have used it straight from the filter as well as in my tea and coffee. It is clear and the pitcher design is different but I got used to it quickly. It seems very sturdy. For comparison, I also use Reverse Osmosis water and distilled. I would rate the taste of the water as on par with bottled and the Reverse Osmosis. Obviously I can't test for ppm because of the Calcium Magnesium addition. But so far so good. I have no complaints. I only rate it 4 stars because I can't personally vouch for how much of the bad stuff is filtered out, but I have been to the website and seen all the filter features. If you are in doubt, do the research and the comparisons, not just here on Amazon but elsewhere. I found their sell convincing and am willing to gamble on its safety. Taste is very good, and outperforms Brita, which I'd only used to boil things like pasta in or wash fruit and vegetables. I drink the Reverse Osmosis and distilled. Now I no longer need to race out to the store and get bottled if I run out,

By far the best water filter pitcher I've used. We recently moved to a new location and the water was borderline undrinkable due the off-putting taste. I did a fair amount of research (some it AI assisted) and determined Aquagear was the best mix of quality for removing contaminants plus price. The difference it made in the taste of the water was immediate and remarkable. I sort of have a hard time drinking other water now! Read the testing results and make your choice, but this one is a winner for me. Filter slows as it ages - think of the "anticipation" ketchup commercial - worth the wait.

About a month ago our youngest, who has a very sensitive tummy, started having some issues so I started looking around for the cause. I finally checked the water quality report and found out that they had found that Portland had once again tested positive for cryptosporidium in our water, (cryptosporidium are tiny, one-celled parasites which travel to your small intestine and then burrow into the walls of your intestines and cause symptoms like diarrhea in healthy people, or worse for those with a compromised immune system). Although they are officially telling us that the water is safe to drink, call me crazy, but I don't feel comfortable feeding my family parasites. Right away I started boiling all the water we were drinking, since that kills the crypto, but I thought a good filter would be better and easier. An expensive filtration system is just not in our budget right now and most home filters don't get rid of parasites, so after a lot of research I found out that I needed a filter that is NSF 53 or NSF 58 certified. Aquagear claims to be "Independently tested to meet and exceed NSF Standards 42 and 53 for contaminant reduction". I tried to get in touch with the company by email, since they don't have any phone number listed on their website, but unfortunately they never got back to me. So, I read all the reviews and even though people did say they had problems with the pitcher, mostly that it was really slow, that it sometimes leaked and that the lid was an odd design, I felt that as long as the water it produced is good I could deal with some inconvenience. The filtered water does taste good, and for the first week I thought that everyone was exaggerating about how slow this filter is. To me it seemed to be flowing at a very similar rate as a Brita filter. However, by week two it slowed way down to the point were I felt compelled to actually time the thing. The first time I filled the compartment at 5:54, and it finished at 8:02!! The next time it started at 9:13 and did not finish until 11:44!!! Are you kidding me? Two and a half hours for half a gallon of water? Can this even be normal? By the way, I should just say that we are a family of four and we are using the filter only for our drinking water, so pretty average use. It's not like we used it to bathe in...I wasn't even using it to cook with, since that's going to get boiled anyway. And the worst thing is that apparently it doesn't even filter out the cysts, because my kid is fine when he drinks the boiled water, but gets diarrhea every time he has the Aquagear water. Not a very scientific conclusion, but good enough for me. Needless to say this pitcher is going back.

I bought the Aquagear water filter after experiencing what seemed like symptoms of fluoride toxicity. On my long stays outside the US (especially Asia or Europe) my symptoms tend to calm down. They may not all be due to fluoride toxicity but I need to start somewhere and eliminate all toxins that are contributing to my situation. So after researching quite a bit for a fluoride filter my wife and I settled on Aquagear based on their water testing certificates and other comments on Amazon. We were primarily looking at a countertop pitcher since we live in an apartment. But we also looked at Kangen filter and others that elevate the pH (by passing through titanium or other metals). From my research there are mixed opinions among experts that this method is safe since you ion exchange with titanium ions that may add their own toxicity. Also some of the pH elevating filters force the water through unnatural salts that natural water doesn't flow through, thus (allegedly) altering the structure of water molecules. First impressions of unboxing the Aquagear was seamless and easy. I really like the quality of the materials. The filter itself is made in USA but the pitcher is made in China. The quality of both is very good. It comes with clear instructions on how to flush the filter the first time and was a breeze to install. We do have a Brita filter and I can tell the difference in quality of the materials. At the moment, we are using both filters (mainly because we bought the Brita 10 filter pack from Costco). So the tap water goes into the Brita and then the Brita filtered water goes into Aquagear. I dont think this setup is needed but we want to use the Brita filters rather than throwing away. Coming to water quality and taste. It tastes crisp and great. Better than the Brita filter alone. We haven't tried the Aquagear straight from the tap yet. It's only been a couple of weeks and my symptoms seem to be abating (could be psychological at the moment). I do trust the water testing certificates posted on their website but I have called up my own water district's testing lab none the less and will be sending the water for testing fluoride, lead and other trace chemicals. Will update the post as soon as I get the results. Update after ~1 year of use: The Aquagear filter has served us well. We are now on our second filter and will be going to the third soon (they last about 6-7 months for us). The water still tastes crisp and great - I can tell by how my coffee tastes! The pitcher is still sturdy and works reliably - not many moving parts - easy to clean (I broke the Brita pitcher at the pop up top seam while cleaning :(!). We haven't seen any other issues such as the slow dripping issue that some others on Amazon have. As for water testing, the water district's testing labs were super slow in responding and when they did, they came up with upwards of $1000 for testing for very specific contaminants - and that did not include fluoride! We are evaluating other testing options, but for now we have switched to removing as much fluoride from other sources as possible (non-fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash, organic veggies and cutting down on eating out). Water is but one source. For lead, we found EDTA chelator complex to be a good solution (make sure to supplement magnesium while taking EDTA). Also remember to recycle your used filters - Aquagear sends you a postage paid return label if you send an email to [email protected].

Having owned a Brita Water Filter, then a Distilled Water maker and then a Big Berkey Water Filter System for many years, I have always been on the lookout to improve the quality of my drinking water. So I am thrilled to have recently discovered the Aquagear Water Filter Pitcher. I have owned this water filter for about 2 weeks a now and there is no doubt that the Aquagear is the best water filter I have ever used. The set up was fast and easy, including the flushing of the filter, all taking less than 3 minutes. I love the pour spout feature, which allows “hands free” filling up with water and the water tastes amazing. I can’t believe anyone would complain about the flow rate because the flow rate is fine. The Brita has faster flow rate but who cares if the Aquagear takes one minute longer to fill up when you are getting 2000% more contaminants removed? And what other product removes close to 100% of Chlorine, Flouride, Lead, Chomium 6, Mercury, and Trihalomethanes? I think most people already know about the dangers of Flouride, Mercury and Lead in their water, so let me point out the ill effects of the lessor known contaminants: Chloramine, Trihalomethanes, and Chromium 6 that the Aquagear takes head on as well: Chloramine: Water utilities across the country are changing the way they treat our drinking water. They’re switching from chlorine, the primary disinfectant used in drinking water systems for over a hundred years, to the alternative disinfectant chloramine at an alarming rate. According to “Citizens Concerned About Chloramine”, chloramine causes problems with your immune system, respiratory, skin, digestive and gastric, kidney and blood. Trihalomethanes: According to the EPA, The use of chlorine to disinfect water for the purpose of drinking produces low levels of various disinfection by-products with the trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids being the most common. The EPA states that “Some people who drink water containing total trihalomethanes in excess of the MCL over many years could experience liver, kidney, or central nervous system problems and increased risk of cancer.” Chromium 6: We can thank Erin Brockovich for bringing Chromium 6 into the light of day, but despite her efforts Chromium 6 is still a major issue in our drinking water and not well known by the general population. A recent report by the nonprofit research and advocacy organization Environmental Working Group (EWG) says that nearly 200 million Americans across all 50 states are exposed to unsafe levels of chromium-6 or hexavalent chromium, a heavy metal known to cause cancer in animals and humans. Human studies by government and independent scientists worldwide have definitively established that breathing airborne chromium-6 particles can cause lung cancer, and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration sets strict limits for airborne chromium-6 in the workplace. Whether inhaled or ingested, it can also cause liver damage, reproductive problems and developmental harm.

The water tastes cleaner and fresher!!!

I can't tell you how much I absolutely love this water filter pitcher!!! I wanted to wait 3 months to test it out before making an informative review on it, here online. In fact I don't review much at all, only when I think a product really deserves some type of recognition for being simply outstanding. All I can say is you won't regret your purchase whatsoever. My tap water tastes 150% better and is clean as a whistle! When you put a glass of treated vs. none treated water side by side, you can clearly see the difference. The taste though is mind blowing! I think the majority of complaints came from people who didn't read the instructions properly, as if they did there would be absolutely no issues in pouring it and it leaking. I never have. They even ship it with a line level "not to exceed this line" sticker on the pitcher just as an FYI. I drink more water daily now and I use it for everything. Tea, ice cubes, boiling water for pasta etc. My filter is still running strong as the day I got it and it filters fast without any issues after 3 months. So their 6 month replacement recommendation is probably going to be bang on. It fits perfectly in the door of my side by side refrigerator, which BTW is the small only 30"W. Yes it might be a bit pricey but you get what you pay for! Water from this pitcher tastes SO darn good I will never go back to drinking regular tap water ever again. I even fill up my stainless steel travel mugs & thermoses with water and ice cubes in it, when I'm on the road all day seeing clients. No more crappy plastic water bottles, collecting dust in the back seat of my SUV now. Its a win-win overall for me! Fabulous product!!! Don't hesitate in buying it, just read your instructions carefully and correctly.

Compré la jarra porque parecía que filtraba absolutamente todo y su calidad pero ha sido un fiasco. En abril compré una y a la semana ya no filtraba, la devolví pensando que era problema del filtro y volví a comprar otra dándole otra oportunidad pero me ha vuelto a pasar lo mismo. Los primeros días fenomenal pero a la semana ya no filtra y os aseguro que cuido mucho las cosas y vivo en Madrid, donde el agua está tratada y es blanda.

Best water filter ever but unfortunately no longer available. Expensive but worth every penny Bought it for my grandsons so they do not have to drink the oestrogen and oestrogen mimicking Compounds in our tap water. That sewage described as water will lower the sperm count drastically and breast do not look good on boys (unless wanted). I can only hope it will become available again soon.

Very poorly designed, it's almost impossible to pour water out of the jug into anything without spilling water absolutely everywhere. The spout is just shocking and water goes pouring down the side of the jug and from the bottom