works great. use distilled water or buy the filter or you will get mineral deposits
346636
Works great. recommend using distilled water or purchasing the filter if you have hard water because ours built up mineral deposits quickly. does not affect function but isn't very fun to clean. Provides adequate humidity for one or two rooms. we use it for our son in the winter only, heating with wood causes very dry conditions.
1875409
So far so good. Be careful when you are priming the filter. This sucker has some serious water pressure behind it and when I turned it on the first time, black carbon shot out everywhere. Let me tell you, in the 5 years I have lived where I am, I have had tap water once and I was disgusted. Even with other pitcher filters and faucet attachments, my water was still gross. This thing takes all that out. I was a little scared to try it but when I did, my water was like drinking bottled water. The only downside is that this particular one does not remove fluoride. For now, it's a great start. I will invest in the reverse osmosis filter later to get the fluoride out.
847052
works great.  I had the Brita which broke within a year.  The water taste much better with the PUR
1026828
This filter works perfect. Will provide crystal clear water. "BUT" the O-ring gets a bit stretched every time you open the cap to clean filter which may be just normal wear and tear but my filters not that old maybe two years old. Also if you let the filter get to dirty or algae build up it is very hard to catch up and clean the filter again. You end up having to buy another filter to get on top of it. Maybe I just don't have a good filter cleaning system going on. My pool is old and the gunite sides are compromised so maybe I'm just fighting a losing battle until I get the pool refinished. I just know if my pool gets any algae at all the filters is shot and has to be replaced or I end up cleaning it bi-weekly. Once I put a new filter in it kicks tail. On my 16000 gallon pool I am moving to a Swimclear 425 and an auto chlorinater to keep up on this old pool.
2009401
If you have the Zero water pitcher system, you must have one of these. We tested our local water and found the untreated water had mineral numbers over 300. We then tested the water from a PuR and the number went down to 200. With the Zero water, it went to, well, Zero!

However, the Zero system tells you to change the filter when the number reaches 6. However, if you're the least bit careless and drip a few drops of tap water in past the filter, the number shoots up quickly. This is the only way we know to ensure we're drinking properly treated water every time.

Recommended
3642253
If you've got soft or low-mineral water, this is a nice choice (I didn't see any issues with the design or function). If, like me, you have hard water (and not enough space to store distilled water - or the desire to keep buying it), I'd avoid it; mine's going up for sale, because even with the demineralizer cartridge - which did help some - I still ended up with white dust, and that stuff can get everywhere. So I'm now using a combination of Venta (yep, pricey - but actually the cleanest option available, and possibly the longest warranty) and a trusty vaporizer (no white dust there, either). I hope this helps.
3645020
So far so good but I tested the PH in the filtered water and it showed 5!!! Not what I was expecting. I ordered this system because it supossedly adds minerals back into the water. Has anyone else have the same issue and how was it resolved? thank you.
Update: Almost 2 months later and the PH is still at 5, a bright orange color reading. People, be careful when drinking RO water because it strips water off important nutrients and reduces alkalinity. I am calling APEC regarding the PH filter not working. I don't want my family drinking water that is too acidic and "dead" with no minerals.
Update: Tested the PH with 3 different methods, strips and drops, and it is still low. I am calling the company to get the extra I paid for the PH filter as it obviously does not work. My tap water tested 7 and the APEC water a 6.
1072471
I must confess, I actually haven't tried this product yet, but I wanted to put something for everyone to see:

For those of you concerned about whether or not this filter filters out the good minerals in water, don't fret! Simply purchase one of these babies http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BP5UCM/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3BCMQA13PUCES and add the minerals to your filtered water. That is, if you're worried about it. Of course I recommend more research on your part, for I confess once again that I haven't tried the mineral product either. However it's sitting in my cart waiting to be purchased. I don't know if this filter system is amazing or not, but if it is, I would hate to see the good system passed up only because it takes away the good minerals as well as the bad. So I figured an easy solution would just be to re-add the good minerals to your water. Hope this helps!
3334697
Even with softened water my digital Crane germ defense ultrasonic cool/warm mist humidifier would spray out a lot of mineral dust all over surfaces in the room and its insides would accumulate mineral deposits. After I started using this filter cartridge with the unit those problems went away.
41393
We often get up in the night to get water so this was put on one of our sinks in the master bath.  Love the under faucet design -it doesn't stick up in the air like another one we use.  In our research on the Pur products, we found out that both our Pur faucet water filter systems use the same type filter.  This was a plus for us...less types of filters to purchase and store.  It was a main factor in our decision to purchase this unit.  The faucet units offer two types of filters.  One type uses their MineralClear technology which filters water over natural minerals for a crisp, refreshing taste. The premium carbon filter is certified to reduce lead, mercury, chlorine (taste and odor) and many other contaminants. It also removes 96% of trace levels of pharmaceuticals.  The second type filter (and less expensive) reduces lead, mercury, chlorine (taste and odor) and many other contaminants. It also removes 96% of trace levels of pharmaceuticals.  You should know, however that neither of these filters reduce fluoride which has come under fire lately as unnecessary (European  countries banned it from their drinking water years ago) which is why I gave this filtered water system  4 stars.
53647
I bought this at a local store and it has worked fine thus far. I hope that it remains the same.

Tap water contains minerals that will harm the lungs if inhaled. Cool mist humidifiers need a filter or something to remove minerals from the water. If you want to avoid filters, go for warm mist, because what you're getting is steam. VOCs may be in it but I suppose you can avoid these by boiling the water on the stove top with the exhaust on, and cooling it down before using in the humidifier. But the minerals have to go somewhere. In the case of one that I discarded? I could see nice little shards of deposits on the inside. Where I couldn't get.

Otherwise, use distilled water. It is really a fancy word for pre-purifying water. Pick your battles. Do you want something that'll put out less white dust or buy an ultrasonic one with no such cartridge?

Of course, my opinion will change if it breaks down but I wanted to put my 2 cents in about the need for cartridges. As for the noise and the blue light? I find both soothing although I usually prefer a dark room.
3495649
This system works great. A plumber wanted to charge me 2200 to install basically the same system ( a commercial 5800). Check out you tube videos on installation and programming. Really simple. Some parts are useless and Im glad I got rid of them like the videos explained. It came with a 1 inch female threaded yoke. This is frustrating as most residential is 3/4. I just used a 3/4 inch barb to 1 inch thread converter. Make sure you use a good tape and paste like blue monster. I got leaks if I didnt. I installed a pre filter before as I have a dug well and get a little silt once in a while. If
You have a septic don't run the drain hose into it. Bad for the system. I ran a long way to a crawl space under the house. 30~ feet. It worked fine at that distance. Ups cant read and shipped it on its side. I had to clean resin out of the center hose in the resin tank. Make sure to get a seal lube as they don't ship any with it. I Have good experience with plumbing and construction but not a professional. It took me about 2-3 hours total as I had to run a 15 amp outlet to it as well. I noticed an immediate improvement in the hardness. Skin feels better. Dishes don't scale. Better for my water tank and radon system. Water tastes better as well. Not that thick pasty taste like before. My hardness has it purging every 3000 gallons so Id like to see how that goes as it hasn't purged yet.
3753550
We've had this r/o filtering system for 5 years and it still works like a charm! I recommend buying the calcite filter from the Air, Water,& Ice company to add some minerals back into the water for better health and taste.
4287173
I've used the Holmes filters for at least a dozen years, and they work pretty well. There are many ranges of tap water, from very soft to very hard, and the water type you have available often reduces the life of these filters, especially if there is a heavy load of minerals present. My tap water seems to be in the middle of the range. I use the available water treatment products each time I add water (a bacteria inhibitor and a water treatment solution that slows lime and scale formation) and find I can get an entire season out of a single filter. Towards the end of the season I start flipping the filter over each time I add water and this also helps keep the filter soft and absorbent without too much of the crusty cling-on material forming. If your water is really loaded with minerals you may need to use straight distilled water in the humidifier, or at least cut your tap water 50/50 with it. Honestly, there is no perfect filter medium for a humidifier using tap water...but these work pretty well.
4741021
Product arrived promptly and was packed to protect the item,  Very important to read the directions for this product.  The first time you use this product the water you filter should sit for awhile or it will have a weird taste.  Once the water has been properly filtered it will have no taste just nice pure clean water.  LifeStraw works!  Our tap water has a noticeable chlorine smell straight from the faucet and it tastes disgusting,  We do have city water and not well water in our house.  Life Straw filtered that yuck taste out of a glass of tap water.  We used to use PUR filters on our kitchen sink but our plumber says those filters cause  our faucet to build up pressure thereby blowing the gasket on the faucet. Great product
1049218
Buy an extra filter if you have very hard water. I put the filter in the dishwasher and works to clean it once. Then needs replacing.
418287
I have had this product for 5 months. No problems at all. After about 4 months I noticed the water began tasting a little bitter. So I replaced the filter and the water was fine again. I refill the top basin once or twice each day. After reading through some of the negative reviews I agree that this is probably not the best household purification system as the filters are expensive and it does not hold that much water. For people having problems with the filters not lasting long, it is probably because their groundwater was dirty to begin with or they were trying to use it to support too many people.