Soda Sparkle Charges (cartridges) much better tasting than Leland
598249
May 16, 2017 - I own a Soda Sparkle Home Soda Maker and have been buying their seltzer cartridges. In an attempt to find a cheaper alternative, I purchased Leland soda cartridges and have noticed 2 significant differences - (1) soda does not taste the same - Soda Sparkle-made soda tastes much better (kinda like Voss Sparkling Water, which I like) whereas Leland has a "mechanical" taste and (2) soda cartridges from Leland are faulty and do not puncture correctly after repeated attempts (used about 40 cartridges with 10%-15% failure rate) whereas no issues with the Soda Sparkle cartridges (used about the same quantity (40) with 0 failure rate).

July 24, 2017 (Update) - I re-ordered Soda Sparkle Soda Chargers (CO2 cartridges). What an incredible difference as compared to LeLand  Soda Sparkle was much, much, much better-tasting. Did a side-by-side blind-taste-test and it was very evident which products were sampled.

Review added to Leland on May 16, 2017.  Updated review (July 24, 2017) on Leland product and added review to Soda Sparkle.
2178976
Makes awesome sparkly fizzy water but only comes with two tiny cartridges that are expensive to replace.  Luckily I only paid $20 for it on clearance at a local store so I'm not too angry.  I'm going to hold on to it in the hopes that Cuisinart eventually hears our protests and starts offering a refillable cartridge or at least some sort of exchange option.
3112658
Some other flavors, like Diet Cola and Diet Dr Pete, I like almost as much or more than the name brand sodas. Diet Fountain Mist isn't just an inferior version of Diet Mtn Dew, it crosses that line from not-as-good-but-ok into awful. I really wanted to like it, too. I like how the citrus flavor of Diet Mtn Dew masks the aftertaste of the artificial sweetner, and I think this product fails because the flavor isn't so much citrus as ... green?
186091
I am not sure why people are clamoring to buy this product. Are we so board we need to make our own soda Pop at home, really..
well, ok I got a 30 day with return 100/ refund.. so I am trying it out.. The Lime, Ouch not good at all, cola? just taste like saycrine to me actually I have learned all of the Non-Diet PoPs are actually 1/3 artificial sweetened> I for one do not like the taste of artificial sweeteners and I do not for one minute think they are safe to drink, I feel like they are pulling something over on us, I like sugar and expect it in non-diet colas,,  Another is the cost,, I do not see how anyone can think that buying Co2 can and the syrup and machine is cheaper than going to WalMart for soda,,. Its not, and test out the capacity of the so called 30L canister I cant  get any where near that,,. I will be returning it prior to 30 days,, No Too Impressed,
1740985
I was swayed away from Soda Stream (SS) to the Primo after reading reviews about saving money by not being locked into SS proprietary Co2. A cost savings alternative trick was to buy the Primo and purchase paintball cartridges for refills. NOT!!!!!!! After my Primo arrived, I went to order my CO2 so I would have immediate backup when the original became empty. Before ordering the paintball CO2 I decided to do some double checking and found these cartridges ARE NOT food grade and contain oils/solvents/contaminates (Learn more google: Dr CO2). Therefore, I've abandoned the save money-paintball approach. Had I known this before hand I may have purchased a soda stream just cause they make the refill process much easier- unlike Primo (very difficult/costly shipping). But overall, I'm happy with the performance of the Primo and also really LIKE and prefer the smaller size (SS quantity is too big for me) as it's perfect for 1-2 glasses of sparkling water ( with squeeze of citrus add a drop of stevia sweetener), as I do not use it with flavorings to make soda pop.
878735
I drink a lot of flavored Talking Rain - tangerine, berry and lemon-lime.  So I thought this set would be a great way to flavor plain carbonated water and get the same taste.  I didn't want, nor was I expecting a lot of flavor...I like it to just taste like a piece of fruit was squeezed into my glass like the Talking Rains taste.  These have about the same saturation of flavor - just a hint - but the flavor itself is awful.  Although they say they are natural fruit essences, they sure don't taste like it.  For example, Talking Rain tangerine tastes like you floated a slice of tangerine in your sparkling water...yummy and refreshing.  SodaStream's Orange MyWater tastes like you poured a bit of orange soda into your sparkling water.  Yuck.  Watered down Orange Crush was not the taste I was going for.  The berry and lemon-lime flavors have a similar effect.  I don't know what they did to their "natural essences" but they screwed them up somehow.  These are just plain awful and artificial-tasting.
2904116
I had a Mastrid Purefiz which I loved and is almost identical to the SodaPlus system. The Astrid had manufacturing problems with rust forming on the bottom of the steel carafe. The SodaPlus looked attractive to me because of the slightly larger size and similar mechanism. In fact I think the mechanism is identical. Well the SodaPlus came and we made our first batch right away. Upon shaking the carafe to carbonate the water I noticed the sealing cap was spurting out bubbles and little sprits of water. That subsided shortly and I put the carafe in the fridge. After about an hour and a half we tested the seltzer and it was lightly carbonated. Not as bubbly as the Mastrid as I remember. Later that day I noticed that it lost almost all of its fizz. I tried it again with similar results. I'm going to try it with two charges and see if that makes a difference. However that concerns me because with even one charge he selling cap was exploding out of the top when shaken. The verdict is still out on this system.
2826726
I like the taste of coke and pepsi, if I had to choose between both of them I would choose Pepsi.  The soda stream cola is awful.  I can normally drink any soda, but this one is almost undrinkable.  I gave it two stars because it is better for the environment.
3604428
These drops taste terrible! I tried the Raspberry Lemonade and the Lemon Lime. It's not only the after-taste but all the taste. I will go back to Stur Liquid Water Enhancer. It is much better. Unfortunately I am out $15.
605465
I concur with others, flavor profile is not the same.  Had to try it out for cost but the taste when drinking straight isn't to our liking. We compared side by side with ISI brand using same water, same cold prep etc on the ISI Soda Siphon, so this wasn't an issue with our process or the water or even a bad canister as we tried several in the box. I wanted to really really like them, I drink a lot of plain soda water, but can't.
1248124
I picked this up at Rite Aid pharmacy for about 1/3 the price of the equivalent crystal light flavor, which I drink all the time.  The Wyler's is good, but has a much stronger peach flavor than the peach tea crystal light that I am used to.  So I thought this was great, but maybe pass on it if you like tea flavor more than peach flavor.
3908607
Since these came out I've wanted to try one. I got this for 20 bucks so I thought how can I go wrong? Three liters of nasty soda later I had my answer. The soda syrups were all bad and had that over sweet sucralose flavor. Root beer was the best by leaps and bounds. The real problem is the CO2 cartridges, mine was empty after filling 3 bottles so I tasted my other flavors flash and none were good.

***Just want to update
I called soda stream and explained that the 30L bottle only produced 3 liters and they said I must have got a deffective one. They sent me a full size replacement and so far it's carbonated 3 liters of soda. Increased stars from 1 to 3. Will see how this goes.
1402985
We've been using different syrup flavors with our soda stream for a few years now, and were so happy to finally find a cola brand at a reasonable price here on amazon, and even available on subscribe and save! However, after trying it, we cancelled the subscription and will never buy it again. We tried playing around with making it stronger or weaker, but nothing helped. It has a terrible aftertaste that reminds me of black licorice, and barely resembles cola of any kind. Thankfully our kids liked it enough to finish off the bottle (we rarely let them drink pop, so they were glad to have pop of any kind) but the adult cola-lovers in the house found it totally undrinkable.
80967
Since we've eliminated the diet soda, I thought we'd try something new - something carbonated - something tropical.  Um, the taste is club soda-like with a dash of citrus.  Not good in my opinion.  I'm wondering if the flavor can be enhanced with some fruit juices so I don't end up dumping the remaining cans.  I'm not a drinker, but maybe this would work well with gin or vodka?  "Exotic"? ((shaking head no))  Nah, not on my future "buy me" list!
3151022
I don't know if the problem is with Soda Sparkle Sparkling Water Soda Machine or these chargers, but the ones that came with the machine are 65.8 mm long and these are only 65.0 mm.  The first one worked, but it seems like the seal was only verily punctured, but it did carbonate the water.  I will check back after I sue a few more.
228552
The orange flavor is good.  However SodaStream's prices are no longer economical.  It is a shame that this company has gone back on their word for saving money on regular soda brands.  Other flavor formulas have changed and are quite horrible with a bitter after taste especially the lemon-lime.  The ginger-ale I ordered had flakes in it and would not mix well even when shaken.
3485760
I drink a fair amount of club soda. I usually get Canada Dry brand. It costs more than the grocery store brands, but I think it tastes better and holds the fizz longer. I'm always interested in finding something even better, so I tried Q Club. I didn't find it to be "spectacular." I didn't like it any better than Canada Dry. It's also not as convenient if you're the only one using it, because the cans are big and can't be resealed once they're open, so if you don't use the entire can in the next hour, the remaining soda will go flat and be wasted. The small glass bottles of Canada Dry are resealable. Fever Tree is the best tasting club soda that I've discovered, by far, but it's really pricey so I don't use it daily. It also comes in glass bottles, but they aren't resealable either. Guess I'm sticking with Canada Dry for now.