@@arraiacc You're too kind. Thank you very much. The best way you can support us is by sharing our content with your family and friends. If we make a video that you think is awesome then helping to get the word out is hugely helpful. We can only grow as fast as people find out about us :)
@@ModernCastle HI, VERY INFORMATIVE VIDEO.... BUT I NOTICE THAT YOU DIDNT COMMENT ON THE """"TASTE"""" OF THE WATER AFTER ITS BEEN FILTERED.....THANX----)))
So hard to find unbiased water testing with accurate lab controlled study. What a world of too much information and not enough information regulation. Thank you for being trustworthy and straightforward
This is not unbiased at all. 1st. Check the analytic results they have provided and you'll see your self. 2. The say that all the 7 remk Ed all the DBPs, however vefore that they said that it was only 1 initially anyway(chloroform). 3. There is one filter there that outplayed by far the other and 0 mentioned given. 4. If they only care about DBPs then why they did performed the other tests? Overall that's a joke
5:20 for those who want to jump right to the important part. Thanks so much for this in-depth review, I've just ordered the waterdrop to replace the jug I just broke. I had to get it from Amazon. Locally, they only sell Brita and Zerowater (I'm in a small-ish city in Canada, over an hour away from Toronto). The claims made by Zerowater didn't sit right with me, and I'm glad I looked into it more.
I can't tell you how relieved I was to find your thorough comparison - it's been hard trying to find someone that knows what they're talking about. Thank yoouuuu!! xx
is the aqua crest filter in a brita pitcher the most cost effective and best filtration? I have a brita pitcher with a brita filter and trying to figure out what filter is best for my health
I switched back to the Britta filters...the aquas kept cloggin up way before 3 months..very expensive to maintain. The Brittas last much longer. @@youeitherskateoryoudie
The fact that you had the results laboratory tested was incredibly helpful. I really appreciate the time and effort that went into this, thanks. ... though i'm sorry it you gave you so much stress your hair fell out midway through video :^)
Thank you for providing the spreadsheet!! Saved me a ton of time because I didn't have to create my own as a followed along with the video!! Subscribed to the channel!
When you do a follow-up video, you should sneak in a test where you filter the first sample through all the filters, mail it in, then when testing is complete, do it, again and compare the results for consistency.
This is a wonderful idea for a video! I am extremely curious to know how the results would stack up for a larger sample size of water sources. I recognize doing this would require a lot of time and resources but if you are able to do more tests in the future that would be awesome! I'd love to see the biggest cities especially, ie NYC, DC, LA, etc. Anyways, excellent video! :)
Thanks, Michael. Expanding water sources and filter types is definitely something we'd like to do in the future. If there is enough interest over time in this video we'll most certainly have updated videos coming.
@@chefgav1 you clearly haven't ever heard of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which is in the US and is a large part of the USA's food supply.
I really appreciate how much work you've put into making this video! it is the ONLY video that gives an accurate comparison between water pitchers filter's performances. After going through the EWG database, I found out that water contamination exists pretty every state that I have lived in... It's scary... I am currently using one of your recommended water pitcher, but I am thinking of switching to a countertop RO system, because they are very similar to water pitchers that requires no installation. The Frizzlife WA99 and Waterdrop N1 are my top choices, but N1 only has two stages comparing to WA99 four stages. It will be interesting to know if more stages are actually better for RO systems. Thank you in advance!!
You're very welcome! I'm glad to hear it's helpful. It really is insane how much stuff is still in tap water even after the city's filtration process. The switch to an RO system is almost certainly going to be better than any passive filter. If you've got the money for it it is a no brainer (especially with how easy countertop RO systems are now).
@@isidbabe This one - moderncastle.com/go/aquatru-counter-top AquaTru Classic countertop RO system I've been testing this in my home and office for around a month. So far, I'm very pleased with the performance. I also sent the water off to the laboratory for testing, it scored a 96 / 100 (better than any passive filter we featured in this video here). I'm working on the contextual review now and then I'll have a video review with all of our assessment and findings. So look for that soon!
@@conniemeeker6485 I can't really speak to their customer service. I've had no interaction with them. However, in terms of the actual purification performance of the RO system, it is objectively the healthiest water we've seen from the 3rd party laboratory data yet (by far).
You're too kind. Thank you very much! We all work really hard here to bring as much objectivity to our tests and reviews as possible. I'm glad to hear we're meeting the mark :)
One important caveat here: There was no lead in the unfiltered water. It's important to note that the ZeroWater removes lead, while the Brita and Pur do not. If your home has old plumbing, that might be your first concern. Clearly Filtered is another excellent choice, but it's a bit pricey. UPDATE - as others noted below, the Brita with Elite filters does filter out lead and somebody below says Pur has something similar - so just know what you want filtered out. There's so much that it's very confusing!
That's a good point. But to be fair, both Brita and PUR have versions of their filters that remove lead. Lead is sort of it's own nightmare to deal with. Regarding Clearly Filtered - we recently tested them here - moderncastle.com/clearly-filtered-review/ - We were more than a little surprised by the less than great performance. You might be interested in seeing their laboratory report.
Appears a waterdrop followed by zero water is the way to go - remove disinfection chemicals and then the fluoride ------ add some electrolyte I'd assume after.
Interestingly, Waterdrop's marketing material advertises their filters as reducing fluoride content, but your findings show no reduction at all. Kudos for not touching the debate on fluoride.
That is very interesting. I hadn't seen that. I did see that Epic made similar claim's about removing flouride, but didn't quite get to the 100% removal they advertise.
Thank you so much! Moving from South Korea to Michigan, I noticed the stark downgrade in water quality. Even causing health problems(diarrhea, skin irritations etc). Using this guide, I'm doing a lot better.
I'm glad to hear it. Unfortunately, water quality varies widely in the US. And what comes out of the tap is viewed as a bare minimum for safety standards. Water filtration is almost a necessity here in the US. Also - welcome to the US! I hope you enjoy your time in Michigan.
Here is my strategy for fixing the cons of the ZeroWater and keeping all of the pros. There are two downsides to the ZeroWater-- 1) By taking everything out, it begins to absorb CO2 from the air and become acidic. 2) Because you take out all the minerals, the water will absorb a bit of the healthy minerals from your body and you will pee them out. Look up the supposed risks of long term distilled water drinking to see this argument. Some people have had long term health problems after months or years of distilled water drinking. You can quickly and easily fix both of these downsides by 1) adding a little bit of baking soda to the ZeroWater's filtered water to fix the pH, and 2) adding a little bit of sea salt or electrolyte drops to counteract the low TDS.
@@MP-mg7og It's by far the most effective filter in an objective way. I strongly disagree with the video presenters' conclusion, they didn't think through the results at all. As you can see in the video, Zerowater removed 100% of the TDS, the total dissolved ionic solids, whereas the rest of the filters simply allowed the majority of the water's dissolved contents to remain in the water. As you can see at 9:50, the Zerowater removed 10x as much ionic material as its average competitor. As a result, if you look at the rest of the water filters in the bunch such as Pur and Brita, they all failed on the Fluoride test whereas the Zerowater passed. Most of them only removed 33% of the fluroide which is absolutely pathetic. Why would I waste my money on a product that only got rid of 33% of the problem? Fluoride is the worst thing in tap water, it is poison for the thyroid gland and it's a neurotoxin that accumulates in your brain, and it's guaranteed to be there every time you turn on the tap, because our malicious-idiot-run government has mandated we add it to the water supply continuously. Furthermore, there are literally hundreds of possible ionic/metallic compounds that would get counted among the TDS of these water samples. It is not feasible to test for every single one of the possible contaminants. So it's very possible that the positive results from these sorts of tests for most of the water filters are misleading, and they did well at taking out contaminants A and B, but failed with C D E F and G and now you are drinking those poisons unaware. With Zerowater you don't have to worry about that. Because it just takes out everything, 100% of the ionic solids are gone, just like that. And you can test it with the TDS meter included in the box to prove to yourself it is pure. Just think about it. ANY ionic solids in zerowater are ones you add yourself such as sea salt from your source of choice. Overall the peace of mind you get is vastly superior and the results are superior as well. It is true that the Zerowater did not do as well as some of the other filters at removing the Disinfection Byproducts. The Zerowater got beaten by the others in the pack when it came to these non ionic contaminants. I still haven't come up with a strategy to deal with this. But for me, I am much much more worried about fluoride. None of the disinfection byproducts are even close to being as bad as fluoride.
All I know is: 1. Zerowater fixed my getting sick from Nitrates! AND 2. I now take more "electrolytes" than I used to. I am 100% happy to add the electrolytes back in rather being sick in the gut! I also switched to Himalayn Red Salt. I'm doing the best I can to keep this 80 year old body moving down the trail!
I hate to post negative comments about videos and I truly appreciate the fact that someone went to all the trouble to lab test filtered water in order to "prove" what they are or are not doing, the results posted here from the lab and the lab scores seem to me to be a bit, if not very, misleading. I REALLY appreciate that all the lab results are available for review, as they really reveal some interesting things if one is not too lazy to take a look. The Zerowater filter system absolutely kills the rest of the filters in most of the categories and to have it listed close to the bottom seems strange to say the least. Someone already commented that the chloroform is the single (or almost only) area that the Zerowater filter didn't surpass the others and they were penalized by the lab for that, possibly harshly. The other posted that mentioned this also noted that this can easily be handled by letting your water evaporate away the chloroform by boiling for a few minutes and leaving uncovered for a few hours. Don't believe me? Check the lab results and compare ALL the items checked for. Pay attention to the Langelier Saturation Index results as those also skew the numbers. I'm not accusing anyone of anything underhanded but it might pay to see how the raw data stacks up to the scores based on the lab's weighting. Compare the #1 filter, Waterdrop, to the Zerowater and judge for yourself if the 93 verses the 71 score reflects the truth or not. YMMV.
Thanks for your feedback. In my view, the notion that Zero (or any purifier for that matter) only missed "one contaminant" is a weak argument. The simple truth is that some contaminants are more dangerous that others. Chloroform is one of those contaminants. Moreover, if the purpose of a filter is to provide safe drinking water...and yet I still have boil my water after it's gone through your filter, then the filter did not do a good job. I really don't understand this line of thinking that accepts that boiling drinking water is a reasonable step you'd take. In any case, that is my view of these lab reports and their analysis. I don't think the lab is trying to be deceptive or biased.
Hey there! SimpeLab here. We provide the Tap Score water testing kits. We should mention that the laboratories themselves do not penalize the filters. The evaluation is provided by Tap Score and is meant to provide a measurement for the best possible health outcome. The labs that run the tests don't provide comments on what they find. That's done entirely by Tap Score. The Tap Score ranking considers a variety of factors, particularly those that may affect your health. So the number of items filtered is not how the score is calculated. The number of -dangerous- items and how well they were filtered is what matters. Hope that helps clarify a bit. :-) TLDR: The labs don't evaluate the results. The results are evaluated by Tap Score/SimpleLab.
@@ModernCastleJust to piggyback on your comment - unless you’re boiling your water outside, you’re also not actually reducing your exposure to chloroform. Maybe one could make a case that breathing it in is somehow less carcinogenic than drinking it, but as you said, why not just get a filter that removes it altogether? Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the great review! All I know is that I started getting sick in the stomach/intestines in 2019. I had been drinking "purified water" from the "street machines" for 20+ years. I found out I was getting sick from "Nitrates/nitrites". Zero Water "CLAIMS" to filter out 100% Nitrates. SOOOO, Now I buy the "street filtered water" and run it thru my ZERO filter. I don't get sick anymore! Zerowater WORKS for me.
Huh? sounds like SOMEONE (@sjhorton1184) is biased. and what do you mean: "Compare the #1 filter, Waterdrop, to the Zerowater.." that's exactly what this test DID! SMH...and yeah, let me get a filter that I still have to boil the water after since it failed at removing a harmful contaminant. FAIL. THINK MCFLY, THINK
As a Phoenix resident, this is so unbelievably helpful! Really hard to find fair and unbiased testing. Bought into the ZeroWater TDS thing for several years. Thanks for your incredible efforts!
The thing to realize about filtration is every filtration method filters out different things. These results are specific to the water source in the video. Many of the things the Waterdrop filter excelled in are contaminates that are not present to any detectible level in the water supply of my locality, yet the things Zero water excels in are VERY problematic here. Basically, like everything, which water filter is the "best" is a complicated answer, and can most effectively be summed up as "it depends."
I use ZeroWater filter, but only for humidifier use. Completely removing the TDS makes it so that we don't have hard water buildups in the humidifier and it stops our heating unit filter from clogging.
@@ModernCastle This might be difficult to answer/speculative, but do you think the Waterdrop filter would reduce the metals in water enough to make it viable for humidifier use? (I'm particularly trying to avoid the white dust problem with ultrasonic humidifiers.)
@@indestructibleobject It would certainty be better than straight tap water, but not as good as distilled. ZeroWater would be better than Waterdrop in this respect, since those water dust particulates are primarily hard water minerals that become airborne when vaporized. ZeroWater also isn't as good as distilled, but closer, and better than Waterdrop.
Thank you very much for this extensive review! I am beyond interested in knowing the same, specifically including PFAS levels for popular water brands like Evian, etc. and larger popular filtration systems like the big Berkey, reverse osmosis system, etc. Hope you do a video on that!!!
You're welcome! We're definitely hoping to do updated videos like this later this year. RO systems would be cool, as would expending to more water filters (including Big Berkey, among others).
@@minkymandy6065 Maybe we'll just order their most popular filter system and send that water of for lab testing. I'll try and get that into our testing queue soon.
@@qweety123 Indeed - I've heard both really good and really bad things about Berkey. Interested to see how they really perform. I've got it on our content calendar.
I wish you also did a hypothetical worst case scenario tests where you added lead and other toxic materials to the water and see which one filtered them best.
This would be SO incredibly helpful to be able to do, but unfortunately it's incredibly difficult to artificially 'spiking' water with contaminants in a way that allows for easy comparison.
A news channel posted their results on Cleveland tap water with 1000 ppm lead added. Every brand mentioned in this video removed almost no lead, but Zero Water removed all of it.
Great test. I live in a region where tap water is relatively clean and highly drinkable. I just wanted a filter that removed some extra taste influencing particles and excess calcium. No need to remove TDS or bacteria. I am glad that Brita does just that job. The water tastes like tap water, while it's just a bit purer.
Always remember, manufacturer's labeling tell you exactly what the filter will do. The Brita I have and bought purposely for helping to remove TASTE and ODOR. As far as all the chemicals through lab testing is what the outcome after the filter as far as minerals etc....is totally irrelevant to me that's it and is OK. I think you have done an excellent video! Thank you.
I would like to see a follow up on the top 3 perfoming filters. Do the filters become a incubator for bacteria during it's recommend time usage? If yes, how much bacteria is added compared to the tap water, how dangerous are those bacterias and can boiling the water kill it?
Hi Derek. I have been looking at your videos many times. I also carefully examined the lab results sheet. And I believe the best solution would be combining few pitchers together. ZeroWater(71 score) did BRILLIANTLY on most parameters - more than the others- but failed on total THMs(40%) and chloroform(40%). Plus the PH is a bit too acidic- 6.1. The acidity can be easily fixed by adding sodium bicarbonate(baking soda). Now with the THMs and chloroform(I believe this is the reason why the low score of ZeroWater) - you need an extra pitcher. From reading the data sheet - EpicWater(89) could be the best option - it removed 100% of total THMs&chloroform, plus it was the only pitcher that didn’t remineralize(along with ZeroWater). So I believe that combining these two pitchers - ZeroWater&EpicWater - could get us close to 100% of filtering contaminents - even better than AquaTru. What do you think? Thanks.
I did watch this video last week. It looks like without sending samples into have water tested, we really can't know how good or bad our water is actually. I almost threw out my Brita but I am glad I didn't at this point. Thank you! For now I have both Brita and Zero Water.
You're welcome. I'm glad the video was helpful! While Zero Water isn't as good as Brita and others, it's still far better than drinking straight tap water in almost all cases. It's not a bad filter by any stretch. But I do think their whole concept feels more like a marketing gimmick than anything else.
@@ModernCastle Agreed. For use with ice makers, humidifiers and all machines that take water the zerowater looks to be by far the best option to avoid mineral build-up and minimize maintenance in the machines. Right? Or can I be missing something?
@@felixisme Definitely, that's a fair assessment and a good use case for Zero. It's not to the level of distilled water, but for many different tasks, machines, and cleaning it's a perfectly fine choice.
@@ModernCastle Love to hear it. Thanks for the confirmation that I'm thinking about it the right way. Bought a pitcher and has worked great so far, though I'm glad that the tap water here in Sweden is great as it is since the flavour of the Zerowater is.. not the best.
@@alalal123421 i bought one, rebrand from chinese oem, p65 cancer reproductive harm warning on box, doesnt remove any flouride, NSF 42 certified just means "aesthetic impurities" chlorine taste and odor now i think zero water might be best only missed chloroform and otherwise massively outperformed all the others and has 0 tds because no metals and filters flouride and micro plastics
Yes but it is the only one that removes 100% of the flouride. Big win in scary government America! The only downside is it doesn't get all the chloroform and somehow that knocks it way down the list here, compared to other filters missing so much more of the scary stuff. Not sure of his scientific method on that one. TDS is a little gimmicky though. Aquatru RO for the win in countertop filters.
It's not clear if you're claiming total dissolved solids is the most important measure or if you're claiming the lab tests were wrong, @@jonhawkins2374. What makes it _"the best"?_
But _"dissolved solids"_ include healthy minerals, @@jonhawkins2374. Don't remember the details, but the zero water filter didn't remove all of the chemicals that the others did.
I've been using zero filter segwayed through brita filter. It keeps the zero filter more viable for longer and covers the missing capabilities from brita.
I recently started doing the same as TDS from my apartments have increased 3x and filters were running out faster so hopefully this will extend that life
Thanks for making the introduction! I hadn't heard of Epic Water Filters; very impressive test results posted on their website (but for the Nano filter only). Looks like it even reduces Radium 226/228 (which we have here in Tampa, FL at 19X EWG's safe levels guidelines).
@@ModernCastle I hope you do because, on one hand, a water filter which doesn't have plastic coupled with a pitcher that's all glass and steal is superior to plethora of plastic watcher pitchers in the world which may or may not leach harmful chemicals in the water. On the flip side, the filter in the Aarke could be no better than a Brita. The removal of chlorine, lead, microplastics, and PFAS is paramount, amongst many other harmful substances and chemicals. Based on my amateurish research, the Waterdrop seems to be the best but, then again, it's yet another plastic watcher pitcher.
Can’t thank you enough for all your work and well thought out scientific process. This is exactly the kind of review I needed. New home. Horrible water. Need a really good filter. 👍👏👏👏
I have already seen it done and Zero Water filter beating out all you mentioned . I still have Zero Water filter picture . I take Zero Water filter first and used Sawyer Water filter .
@@richpryor9650 Hi I have also seen such videos where the zero is ALLEGEDLY removing all TDS, so zero with it's 5 stage filter, the brita did almost nothing, are you saying these folks are lying in their videos or the TDS measurements were not true? I have one coming on the strength of a few videos I have watched, I have several TDS meters as i would not rely on the one that comes with their product. Cheers Rich.
My husband & I used to live in Bullhead City, AZ, for years. We finally relocated Mat 2019, to SE Idaho. I can vouch for the fact that the water in Bullhead City was so bad, it sent me to the ER, twice. The ER doctor told us to NEVER drink the water from the tap, as it has high levels of Calcium...and phosphorus that damage the kidneys. No ontrlligent person should ever drink from the tap, in Arizona or Nevada. And taking a shower...ugh....it felt like acid was being poured on my body.
Recently I ran into Oxalobacter Formigenes, basically. The chlorine in the water, and other antibiotics, kills off this bacteria, along with MANY MANY others that are almost impossible to get back into your gut because they die in stomach acid. Once the bacteria is weakened or gone, it can't break down the oxalates from the food you want and water you drink. The results are many associated health problems such as arthritis (rheumatoid and osteo), osteoporosis, anemia, low red blood cells cound, Gout, kidney stones, etc. Because this bacteria isn't breaking chemical bonds into separate atomic and molar particles that your body can use. And those oxalates can end up in cartilage, joint fluids as Gout or in the kidneys where they attract and bond more oxalates and insoluble calcium to form kidney stones. Going back to hippocrates "all disease begins in the gut", combined with the fact that they know that your body is 50% or more bacterial/fungal cells and 50% or less human cells... each microbiological organism and enzyme has a purpose ever if we don't understand it. And they know this. Why do you think they throw antibiotics AT EVERYTHING? They know by killing off the gut bacteria and the microfuana in the body they can cause unlimited diseases and health issues that will have a person in the hospital constantly and on so many prescriptions it will make your head spin. The more sick and unhealthy you are, the more they profit. Also.. not only does the chlorine and chloramine kill off good bacteria and potentially cause cancer. But remember this video mentioning chloroform? Yeah, it's a sedative, in fact was what was originally used for surgeries way back in the day. Want to keep a populace sedated and unaware?
@@ModernCastle i watched the Project Farm video on this topic a while ago and he only used tds. You actually did testing. You could even turn this into a good deed next time by testing the water/filters at someone’s place with known water issues. & then leave them with the best filter.
@@ModernCastle i just bought the waterdrop. I live on city water in west Philly, and all of my neighbors buy bottler water. I had to replace my 100 year old lead service line with copper line about a year ago. My 20 & 5 micron whole house water filters always turn brown after a month. My point is, thank you for doing all of this testing. It helps ppl like me protect ourselves against city governments that don’t care about their constituents.
@@katherine8333 Wow, scary stuff that a whole home system could be brown within just a month. I'm sorry to hear the water in Philly is like that. Very sad that various government branches involved in our water cannot ensure safer and better drinking water. I hope the Waterdrop is able to make a big difference for you!
Well presented. I’m surprised that zero water fell below brita. I’ve just ordered a zero water jug. Given the overall reviews it seems to get good reviews. I watched a similar video earlier that rated zero water at the top. So confusing. You definitely need something to tolerate London tap water.
Most reviews out there for filters is done by affiliates. So the filter brands with the best affiliate programs rise to the top. There's also a ton of reviews where nothing else is tested but taste and capacity, or they focus on just TDS, or worse; they just read the specs on the packaging. Props to Modern Castle for putting in the hard work for what might be one of the most thorough pitcher tests online! :-)
For PUR faucet water filter, the green light means nothing regarding if a filter is still good or not. It simply is keeping track of the times used or the days/months. If after three months it goes from green, to yellow, to red and you take out the filter and put that same exact filter you just took out and is three months old back in, it will show green again. That little button or lever in the filter is only paying attention to time, not the actual quality of the filter. Something to think about.
@@msladydi123 some one mentioned on an official PUR water filter video, that a piece of rubber washer for a valve or something is discontinued and the water filters now just bubble the bad water with the filtered water, making it practically useless. Not sure how true that is, but it was a cost saving feature if it was for PUR.
Thank you for testing these and comparing them. My favorite Lifestraw Home 10 cup water filter pitcher wasn't among them though. Would love to see you test it and compare against Brita.
@@ModernCastle thank you! I was looking and searching everywhere for a comparison of water filter pitchers that included different components that a mere TDS water tester meter can’t measure. I had done enough research to find and read the actual lab reports for Lifestraw from their internal lab data (available for free online) as well as external lab report (also Available online). But couldn’t find any other companies that made those actual lab reports public with lab name and actual lab report (certificate of analysis) visible. Plus, I found zero water filter pitcher actually adds microplastics to the water. It also added another substance that was harmful. And most reviewers have no idea what substances to test for when they reviewed their “best water filter pitcher” on YT. Your current video was the only one that covered all the aspects I was searching for, so I hit subscribe so fast! Thank you again for doing this. Even my paid subscription which I got specifically for lab test data didn’t compare so many brands and didn’t test for uranium and a bunch of other stuff. Your video made my Day, my Week! My Month! 🙌 👏
@@seraphinajadeite You're too kind. I'm glad to hear our video had all the info you needed! We really do our best to pile as much objective data in as possible to our reviews and comparisons. We've got lots of cool stuff coming in 2022, including best air purifiers, best cordless vacuums, most quiet air purifiers, best uprights, best robots, and more. Thanks for the sub and welcome to the family! :) PS - if you find yourself in the market for a new mattress, check out our new mattress testing lab here - naplab.com/ (we also have a young TH-cam channel for that website)
Did you use the standard Brita filter or the "elite" version? If not the ultra could you add that as well? The elite clearly outperforms it's standard version and wouldn't be fair to compare only the standard considering the difference
I'd really love to see Britta LongLife/Elite filters tested. In addition to being more expensive, they claim to catch stuff like Lead and mercury. The white Britta filters make no such claim.
Thank you so much for this video! I lived in nyc for 18 years and had no big problem with tap water but the place i recently move to seemed like they have old pipes that when water dries it leaves some whiteness which is really gross so i wanted to get a faucet filter and used this video as reference to choose and i ended with waterdrop faucet filter. Did you guys consider doing a shower filter video? It would be SO helpful if you guys make a video on it! Because you guys are the only ones who get an actual lab tests not just what the brands advertises and aesthetics (which is a plus but in the end i want what works)!
You're too kind, Willow. Thanks so much! So glad to hear the video was helpful. Most likely that whiteness is just calcium deposits. Not necessarily dangerous, but not great either. A water softener or water conditioner system may be able to help you as well (that's something that's usually installed in your garage or laundry type room, and it's a much larger tank). Shower filters is something on my list, but unfortunately, pretty far down the list. We're still a very small team (just me and my friend, Kyle, who are working full time on Modern Castle). We're doing our best to get as many great videos out as we can.
Useful information. I bought Zero about a year ago based on a review that used TDM as the metric. One thing I did not like about Zero was the filters were costly and my Tucson, AZ water is so full o DM, it clogged these expensive filters quickly. So also useful would be how much water the filters can make using a give water source and how much the filters cost.
We can try and include more of that info...but honestly, it gets tricky fast. 1) Different water sources will lead to longer / shorter filter life. You live in AZ, which has some of the hardest water in the US. Getting 2 weeks out of Zero would be normal, while those who live elsewhere in the US might get 4-8 weeks. 2) Prices of course are subject to change In any case, I definitely hear your suggestion. I will try and come up with something for our 2023 video.
@@ModernCastle Thanks. I guess it would be relative numbers - filter A lasts X and under the same conditions, filter Y lasts Z. Yes, AZ has pretty disgusting tap water. I'm not a 'water snob', but I find the water here to be undrinkable.
@@arevee9429 I could put some guesses as to how long they would last by region...but they would be guesses at best. There are just so many variables that I cannot account for you. We're on Phoenix city water and the water here as horrendous as well. Honestly, it's just not safe to drink without some type of filter / RO system.
I did say that and PUR did add lead. However, it was such a minuscule amount that the scientists at the lab thought it was not material enough that it should be considered statistically relevant. My gut reaction was far stronger, but I am also not a scientist. As a result, I leaned on the advice of those who are more informed at the lab.
Before I bought a pitcher filter and used consumerlabs (independent testing group of consumer products) and they found that zero water filter leaches plastic particle to the water.
Unfortunately, I am not totally sure. My guess would be that the Waterdrop and Epic, which were the top 2 performers overall, would also work well for PFAS, but that's just a guess. We didn't have any PFAS in our water sample, so it's not something we tested against.
Can you do another test where you run the water through the Zero Water pitcher and then run that filtered water through the waterdrop pitcher? Kind of like a 2 stage filter with zero water removing all TDS and waterdrop removing the chemicals. It’d be interesting to see the results.
This is what I think I’m going to try I have a zero filter which I’m glad to some extent it does remove some impurities however disappointed it’s not the most important ones for health concerns I was literally gonna try this just to keep some extra cash.
Just switched back to Waterdrop. I wondered if it was really doing much as the filter seems really small but I guess no smaller than an pure or Britta.
I don't understand, how could Waterdrop rank first if it removed 0% of fluoride? If that's important to a buyer, then ZeroWater would be a better option and EpicWater would be the best overall.
SimpleLab doesn't score fluoride removal one way or another. Needless to say, if it is important to you then by all means, go with one of the options that does remove it. But certainly, removing fluoride isn't the only health concern. Zero removed 100% of fluoride, but also failed to remove 100% of disinfection byproducts. So there are pros and cons no matter what you do.
@@7pM3 I really can't say in that case. All of these filters are designed for city / municipal water, not spring water. I don't know enough about the challenges of spring water purification to say one way or another.
My kitchen has a GE under sink filter. I put that water into a Brita pitcher for drinking. Recently, I got a ZeroWater pitcher for coffee so my kettle would not scale up. Now I just run the sink water into the Brita and fill the ZeroWater from the Brita. That way my drinking and coffee water all have been filtered 3 times. Tastes pretty good and gets rid of that slight odor the city water has to it.
Are these filters safe to put tap water in? I’m a college student and I want to save money because I drink about 80oz a day, but buying 2 or 3 cases of water every week isn’t realistic. I would like to buy the waterdrop filter and fill it up with tap water everyday, but is it safe/healthy? Or is it safer to keep buying distilled water, and then maybe placing it in the filter?
We use Aquagear and love the taste. Not only that but we get told by guests all the time how good our coffee (using the water from the aquagear) and water with ice tastes. We always gift it to anyone moving into an apartment building and they notice the difference right away. We have ZeroWater and Brita as well (when the filters for the Aquagear were on back order) and they both don’t taste anywhere close. Our water sources here in Canada are pretty clean but full of fluoride and I am moving to an older building so I will have the original water tested and again with the Brita, Aquagear and ZeroWater.
Did you check these with the TDS Meter or did the dye test? You list Waterdrop as #1, how can you have a filter that filters without lowering the TDS readings? How can the filter remove the bad things and not remove the good things? I was going to buy the Waterdrop but they say you can't go by the TDS readings as it doesn't change that. I was wondering?
Lab TDS results were in the video here - th-cam.com/video/HeRGnHuYol8/w-d-xo.html TDS is not a measure of water quality performance. High TDS doesn't necessarily indicate bad water any more than low TDS indicates good water quality. Perfect example here with Zero water...has a low TDS, but didn't remove Chloroform, which is a chemical that doesn't count as a dissolved solid, so it doesn't show up on a TDS meter.
I get Brita compatible filters from Costco under the Kirkland brand for $2 / filter. It'd be nice to compare not only effectiveness, but also cost. Because of Brita's ubiquity here in the USA at least, there are many third parties that make 'Brita compatible' filters that fit in Brita pitchers. I think that's a small advantage for Brita.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add it to our list. Not sure if / when we'll be able to do Kirkland filters, but if enough people request it I'll make it a higher priority.
@@ModernCastle Oh sure, was not necessarily saying Kirkland would be nice to be included (though there might be interest?), but rather cost also be mentioned/considered. For example, Brita filters are typically about $4 / standard filter in my area (SF bay area). Kirkland filters come out to $2 / filter (in a pack of 10 - so $20 for 10 Kirkland filters compatible in Brita pitchers). I see the Waterdrop and Zerowater filters (just as examples) costing about $11-$13 / filter. Of course, it'll also depend on the quantity of water each filter can filter, so it could get complicated. I guess what I'm getting at is, some people may be ok with lesser filtering performance...for the right price. It's just one way you could consider to potentially improve these types of videos, if you were to do a follow up. Even mentioning the price of each filter would of been a nice additional feature in this video (ignoring filtering capacity of the filters). I'm only intending this to be a constructive suggestion. The video as it is, is still great and appreciated.
@@simplefinance Yeah, that's a good idea. In our recent test of the Aquatru RO system we did a quick cost comparison. I think we'll start doing something similar with all water filter tests moving forward. Here's that data in case you're interested: Filtered Water Source Price per Gallon AquaTru $0.12 per gallon Brita $0.20 per gallon Waterdrop $0.05 per gallon Zero Water $0.44 per gallon PUR $0.20 per gallon EpicWater $0.31 per gallon Amazon Basics $0.10 per gallon LG Fridge Filter $0.28 per gallon Water Bottles $1.07 per gallon Water Delivery $1.40 - $4.00 per gallon
Depends what you want to filter out. May want to filter well water to remove the TDS and alkalinity to basically make your own distilled water as a base water for coffee machines. For that reason, zero water wins.
Of the 3 pitchers/filters above that I researched already (Brita, Pur, and ZeroWater), Zero Water wins for me too, because I have old plumbing and want to be sure lead is filtered out. Brita and Pur do a poor job with that. I just ordered one. Clearly Filtered does an even better job, but it's pricier than ZW for both the pitchers and the filters.
We are on private well and our water is horrible. (TDS above legal limits). We use Zero Water. It is truly zero. The down side is, after removing so much mineral the water becomes very acidic.
Best informative video ever! Thank you so much! I was wondering which one of Brita or amazonbasic was better 20min ago purely based on the Amazon ranking, but now I feel like I’m an expert😂
Zero Water said on some of the reviews on their site that you can extend the lifespan of their filter by running the water through a less effective filter first. Not as easy as just using the Zero Water but might help reduce overall cost.
I tried that, but the problem I ran into is the bad taste you get (when the filter life ends) carried over when I poured that water into a new filter. Now I have a Megahome water distiller I use first and then run that water through my ZW to improve the taste.
@@NerdNest0 "you are talking about a quite large piece of glass in the water?" not sure what you mean by this. I don't hate ZeroWater. It's a perfectly fine water filter. I had a bunch of ZeroWater filters left over and I'm still happily using those for my dog's water. However, once those filters are gone I'll give my dog RO water. I also don't hate TDS readings. I just don't think they are the end all be all when it comes to measuring water quality. At the end of the day, I took water samples, sent them to a lab, then reported the findings. I removed my subjective assessment from this video and replaced it with the lab's scoring system.
Living in Europe and after owning many water filters including a brita which makes water taste like metal I can hands down say that Zero Water has been the best filter to date with a very natural cleaning process and for Europe it is ideal 🙂
@@varieedeventualii it has a really nice resin based filter it knocks other filters when it come to softening water, it didn't remove chloroform because I guess it lack activate carbon. Until they fix the filter, i would use zerowater and other more carbon based filter
@@fares3651 there is another video where someone cuts apart the filters, and most only have activated carbon as the filter, zero water has more complext stuff going. There is also a disclaimer that they didn't use multiple water samples, so I'm not sure they might have even properly set them up to filer best. Seems rather odd, because another videos show you zero has some of the best filtration.
About Brita I just got that about 30 minutes ago I had some sitting out in the kitchen wasn't refrigerated and it ended up tasting like water but usually when it's fresh it doesn't
I live in Canada and I'd say the same. Our national broadcasting company (CBC) had a series called "marketplace" where they tested all these water filters, and zerowater came out on top, way better than Brita. I also just prefer the taste of zerowater over Brita.
So of the two, would you choose a faucet filter or a pitcher filter? I would assume a pitcher filter is better, since it takes more time to sort the water. The faucet filter is instant water and not as filtered.
@@ModernCastle After asking I researched not using TH-cam, and they say the reason pitcher filters take so long is because they only have gravity to make the water go through the filter, which makes sense. On a faucet it has the water pressure making it go through. Some sites claim they effectively do the same thing. But still... Pushing through instantly seems a little odd to me. And yet the claims are there and certified right? Then again as your tests and others show, they do not remove what they claim to either.
@@tilasole3252 Yeah, I guess that makes sense. In any case, this is something I'd like to test down the road. Would love to see if those claims really hold up...clearly not all marketing claims hold up when tested in a laboratory setting.
@@ModernCastle can you drink the first (full) pitcher of Zero Water? Or do you have to dump it and fill it again? And if so, how many times before it can be used for drinking? I just bought one on sale. It was cheap so I won't be disappointed if it does not work to expectations, provided it is indeed better than tap water. Another video claimed you had to know your tap water to get the best filter possible. I understand that, but if something says it removes 99% of such and such, it better remove 99% of such and such. They claim it is 99% with the water "the company" tested. The consumer is only worried about the 99%, not some made up number from some water source the public will never get to use. And either from your tests or others, it's clear that they do not filter sometimes even half their claims. It is why I was so surprised you put Brita and Pur at the top. Looking at other videos, they were not doing so well.
@@tilasole3252 You can drink the first full pitcher on Zero. In any case, the lab tests definitely showed some less than great results from Zero and a number of other popular brands. So clearly the marketing claims aren't all they are cracked up to be.
We purchased a Zero Water system (as FT RV'ers) based on another video. So disappointing! We were replacing water filters about every 15 gallons of water. First it tasted like lemons, then smelled like dirty shoes. We didn't believe it could go bad so quick. After 3 weeks and 4 filters (1st one didn't work that came with it. Only got an inch of water at a time). I called company and was told that that is about right for TDS pre-filter of 425. Can't afford this system and also feel it MAY be cause of stomach pain I developed. Funny how they tout TDS meter as a selling point and it isn't a real indicator. Thank you for this video.
You're welcome. Sorry to hear about your experience...unfortunately, that sounds like pretty normal behavior from the ZeroWater. The filters go so hard on TDS that just don't last very long.
Not sure what kind of water you are putting through it but I would be checking your source water before putting that through any filter at all. I have lost track of the gallonage I have put through mine but I have never had any adverse issues due to the water coming from it nor have I had any tastes good or bad.
@@EverydayJohn931 Thank you. We are Ft RV'ers, so water sources vary. But we were long term for 2 months when we got this. I called into Zero water and they said based on the 324 ppm reading, I could expect to filter 20 gallons of water before needing to change the filter. I had stocked up in filters and have found that to be pretty accurate. E are in a different place now and I just changed filters. We shall see. That's with another filter at the spigot Rv'rs use. I am glad you don't have sour water taste or "dirty sock" (my grandson's description) smells with yours. Drink up!
@@grammyg8x As a solo, stationary RVer, I just replaced my first ZeroWater filter after 3 months, drinking and boiling from nothing else, working from home and bringing my fluids with me basically everywhere else. TDS is typically around the 110-160ppm range. About 250ppm range from the hot water tank, so I run the faucet line with cold for a bit before filling to preserve longevity. It's well water so it varies quite a bit and smells/stains particularly bad with iron, occasionally is fizzy, etc. This is all post-Camco 20 micron filter at the hookup (which frankly doesn't seem to help much at all). I was a bit surprised at how fast the ZW filter went from 0ppm to faucet levels and smelling like rancid fat or septic, but so long as it was at 000 it seemed to work great. No smells, no stains in the kettle. Have you tried TDS comparing the faucet with and without the spigot filter? I'm thinking it's not even worth replacing when it's expired, but haven't wanted to remove it from my setup to find out. Getting it to not leak from the input fitting was more difficult than it should have been.
Thank you for making this video! If possible, can you elaborate on the chemicals/metals PUR increased in the water? One of the main reasons that decided me on PUR at the store was its claim on reducing Lead, so I was pretty taken aback when you mentioned that lead was increased during the testing.
PUR increased lead, manganese, and silver. Full review = docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15s6AyQ8Eay7G0lIUe2g_CX05wK9g7OT14cGX6NNu_2A/edit#gid=759150934 There was 0 of each of those in the water before filter, but a non-zero number for each of those after filtering. I too was shocked and concerned by the results. However, I discussed the data with the scientists at the lab we used and didn't seem particularly concerned. They were all extremely small levels. ...even so, any lead is problematic. For my money, I'd get something other than PUR.
@@ModernCastle Thank you for the quick reply, and again for the video! I really appreciate your publishing the data as well, I can only hope that the ads and support balance out the cost of the lab test and your time I put a decent amount of effort into comparing the PUR to some other competitors, and while I think based on the box I picked the right option, it's pretty clear now that isn't super reliable. I guess I know where I'll be looking for info in the future! It really is a head scratcher, with the lead. Having started work with a manufacturing business, I know that its common to check the effectiveness of products going out the door, usually grabbing one of every batch. All I can imagine is that you may have happened on a test sample one, that had leaded water run through it at the factory. PUR only claims to reduce lead, not eliminate, so the trace amount would likely be allowed on. Speculation, but I'm hesitant to believe that they've utilized lead in their lead-reducing filter. In any case, thanks again for all your hard work!
@@iandyke4412 I think your assumption of what happened makes the most sense. It just makes zero sense that PUR would put lead anywhere near, on, or in their filter. There is just no reason for it. Thanks so much for all of your kind words and support. I really appreciate it.
Question, thank you for doing this research it was very helpful, I would like to know the chlorine results as well if they are posted I checked the raw lab results and the simple lab ones you posted on the links and I couldn’t find chlorine in anything, would this be a separate category?
I wasn't able to find it in the lab results either. Not sure why it's not there. 1) Possibly because they don't check for it 2) Possibly because it's broken down in multiple different categories (this is the most likely) Sometimes SimpleLab reads these comments. Maybe they'll see this and give us an answer.
Excellent question! Due to chlorine being REALLY volatile and not traveling well, chlorine is best tested on location via strips. All Tap Score City Water Test Kits come with a Chlorine test strip for that reason. Chlorine is easy to treat, however, as most of these filters will filter it with their activated carbon elements. Even leaving your jug in the fridge overnight will reduce chlorine since it's so volatile and evaporates easily. For that reason we typically focus more on the side-effects of chlorination of water. This must be tested in a lab and encompass MANY different issues, collectively known as disinfection byproducts. These can make you really sick if found in too high concentrations and is why ZeroWater scored lower than many of the other filters due to their performance of removing Bromoform. Bromoform is a disinfection byproduct. Read more about it by clicking it in the report: gosimplelab.com/42QHysgu2L/all-results It's always good to test for chlorine though! However, since this was our first big collab on TH-cam, we might have been so focused on the lab results that we forgot to remind Derek and Modern Castle about the strips. Whoops! That's on us. We'll do better next time!
This review has lead to an extremely hot debate between my wife & I who are debating on Epic Water vs ZeroWater respectively ;-). I see how or why Epic Water rates above Zerowater primarily due to DBP, but in other aspects (e.g. fluoride, etc.) Zerowater performs better than Epic Water. I think the lesson learnt here is that we'd need a baseline reference and that'll vary from location to location.I don't know if my area has any significant DBP to remove in the first place.
I did all kinds of research on the zero and it always rates number one and that’s the one I choose and have to same I’m very happy and test it regularly and I tested it with my sink water and got 000 before filtered then tested bottled water I bought at the store and got a reading of 24 but have to admit that we have had our water professionally tested and it got a great rating only reason we got a filter is there are times the water taste bad I figure it’s during treatment times
yeah. when you look at the data it is obvious it is very biased. They're totally promoting ones like Waterdrop and Epic water by giving them grade A and B and Zero water C though OVERALL Zerowater filtered way better..
I like zero but it also removes a lot of things that our bodies do need. Plus there newer filters don't seem to last half as long as the older ones do.
@@williammaddox3155 The minerals you drink in water are so insignificantly tiny it does not matter at all assuming you have a good diet. Its why reverse osmosis is safe to drink while RO water is also 0 PPM. Also you just cut your filter open, rinse the contents 5-10 times and pour back in and the filter is new again reading at 0ppm and no bad taste.
I'm compelled to test the Kruger brand gallon water jug from Fry's. I also want to test our well water. We did set up filtration canisters out by the well, but I'm still skeptical and use a Brita or just buy the kroger jugs of water. I've been skeptical of Zero water for a long time. I'm glad you cleared that up. Thank you for the research!
The lab does test for iron (which is what causes rust). However, we had no iron in our baseline water sample, as a result, we don't know how well the filters would perform vs. iron specifically.
Thanks mate. I recently moved and the tap water in the area I have tastes absolutely terrible, still probably "below threshold", but terrible tasting. I used to have a 9 stage RO system for drinking and cooking but that takes up a lot of room and is sort of pricey and not portable. Instead I got a waterdrop filter! Keep up the good work! I'd be very curious to see how the gold standard RO systems stacks up to these passive filters. I have a suspicions it would trounce all of them, but not really sure as these filters have gotten pretty good.
You're welcome. I agree with you. I am fairly confident most RO systems will crush passive water filter systems. But for the price / storage / complexity, these passive filters are also a nice option for many people.
I use a faucet mounted Pūr filter, and then pour it into our Berkey. I'd LOVE to know what you think of Berkey units, Modern Castle... I also use the Pur water to haul it downstairs in a gallon jug to filter in my distiller, lol. (Family hates the noise and heat from the distiller.) The water still smells like the gunk left in the bottom of the distiller after processing so I add about a half tsp of activated charcoal powder to the distiller before processing... I worry about the lack of minerals in distilled water but is the cleanest in my opinion. I also didn't buy the extra fluoride removal thingy which, in hindsight, is dumb. So, Morden Castle, if like to hear your thoughts on my thoughts, lol... thanks in advance. (Re:Berkey and distilled water)
Honestly, I too am surprised Zero didn't do better. Could be just a bad filter or other anomaly, or it could accurate. Ideally, I'd love to re-run these tests at a future date.
I don't think you understood the results. Zerowater removes all contaminants. It's absolutely the best filtration. The taste test is meaningless. We are used to the taste of the contaminants.
@@brianwicker1455 The lab findings show that ZeroWater failed to remove 100% of Chloroform, a disinfection byproduct and chemical that's dangerous to human beings. Many other filters removed 100% of chloroform. This has nothing to do with taste.
@@ModernCastle I stopped using Zero after seeing this. But the Waterdrop doesn't seem to filter anything and the TDS jumped to 221 after filtering, from 217 (tap water).
@@blissss0 TDS is not a measure of water quality. Lower TDS does not indicate better quality any more than high TDS indicates worse quality. TDS in terms of water filters is largely a marketing tactic.
Thanks! None of them explicitly make that claim and it's not something the labratory tested for. So I am unsure. Sorry that I don't have better info for you.
I hadn't heard of that one, but I'll put it on our list if we do this again. Though I will say, I would be shocked if the UV light has any significant impact. It's my understanding that for UV light to work it needs be of sufficient power and sufficient duration. In my view, there is no way that a battery powered UV light is going to be strong enough to have any notable impact.
Isn't UV light meant for bacteria and microorganisms? If so it wouldn't make much of a difference since the chlorine treatment at the treatment plant would kill them first. I'd like to see the Larq pitcher tested though!
@@lemuriansettler Yes, that is correct. If you're using a city tap then bacteria and microorganisms are already taken care through Chlorine and other additions.
We considered it, but felt that the Berkey was in a class of its own and not really similar to a standard pitcher filter. We wanted all of the filters in this video to be fairly similar on price, form, function, etc. However, it's one I'd like to test in the future.
We hope Modern Castle will test the Berkey in the future too! In the meantime, here's a lab test of the Berkey: th-cam.com/video/z3JwjN27dTE/w-d-xo.html
Fluoride is relatively easy for the labs to test alongside the standard battery of tests. PFAS is unfortunately more complex and requires a separate and more expensive testing kit. Unfortunately, we did not have the budget to also do PFAS testing.
Thank you! I'll see if we can do something for shower filters, but it might be a while. That's a pretty narrow topic and we are kind of slammed at the moment with other projects. But I'll put it on our list.
I use zerowater but I also have an "under the sink" inline tap water filter (waterdrop). My tests reveal that the final product of waterdrop + zerowater is somewhat acidic so I add ph drops to raise the alkalinity and add trace minerals.
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@@arraiacc You're too kind. Thank you very much.
The best way you can support us is by sharing our content with your family and friends. If we make a video that you think is awesome then helping to get the word out is hugely helpful. We can only grow as fast as people find out about us :)
@@ModernCastle HI, VERY INFORMATIVE VIDEO.... BUT I NOTICE THAT YOU DIDNT COMMENT ON THE """"TASTE"""" OF THE WATER AFTER ITS BEEN FILTERED.....THANX----)))
@@kingsolomon8802 We decided to only do objective data for this video. Taste is too subjective.
What about ClearGenius filters that are suppose to be more eco friendly?
@@DalePatch We can take a look at them if / when we do an update to this video.
So hard to find unbiased water testing with accurate lab controlled study. What a world of too much information and not enough information regulation.
Thank you for being trustworthy and straightforward
Thanks so much, James! I really appreciate that. I'm glad to hear you liked the video :)
Remember to subscribe to Modern Castle for more testing results! 🙂
This is not unbiased at all.
1st. Check the analytic results they have provided and you'll see your self.
2. The say that all the 7 remk Ed all the DBPs, however vefore that they said that it was only 1 initially anyway(chloroform).
3. There is one filter there that outplayed by far the other and 0 mentioned given.
4. If they only care about DBPs then why they did performed the other tests?
Overall that's a joke
5:20 for those who want to jump right to the important part. Thanks so much for this in-depth review, I've just ordered the waterdrop to replace the jug I just broke. I had to get it from Amazon. Locally, they only sell Brita and Zerowater (I'm in a small-ish city in Canada, over an hour away from Toronto). The claims made by Zerowater didn't sit right with me, and I'm glad I looked into it more.
Glad it was helpful!
I am in Woodbridge and looking for water filters too. How’s the water drop?
I can't tell you how relieved I was to find your thorough comparison - it's been hard trying to find someone that knows what they're talking about. Thank yoouuuu!! xx
You're too kind, Bella! Thanks so much. I'm glad to hear we're hitting the right marks :)
Using the Britta Pitcher but with the cheaper and better filtration Aqua Crest filters. Thank you guys for your hard work!
You're very welcome!
I still wonder why the generic filters would be better...seems totally backwards
is the aqua crest filter in a brita pitcher the most cost effective and best filtration? I have a brita pitcher with a brita filter and trying to figure out what filter is best for my health
I switched back to the Britta filters...the aquas kept cloggin up way before 3 months..very expensive to maintain. The Brittas last much longer. @@youeitherskateoryoudie
I just realize I have aqua crest, glad it does better. I just bought them cause they are cheap and you get a lot of filters
The fact that you had the results laboratory tested was incredibly helpful. I really appreciate the time and effort that went into this, thanks.
... though i'm sorry it you gave you so much stress your hair fell out midway through video :^)
You're too kind :) Thank you very much! Glad to hear you found the video helpful.
Thank you for providing the spreadsheet!! Saved me a ton of time because I didn't have to create my own as a followed along with the video!! Subscribed to the channel!
You're welcome!
Which is best for filtering birth control hormones/estrogen@@ModernCastle
When you do a follow-up video, you should sneak in a test where you filter the first sample through all the filters, mail it in, then when testing is complete, do it, again and compare the results for consistency.
This is a wonderful idea for a video! I am extremely curious to know how the results would stack up for a larger sample size of water sources. I recognize doing this would require a lot of time and resources but if you are able to do more tests in the future that would be awesome! I'd love to see the biggest cities especially, ie NYC, DC, LA, etc. Anyways, excellent video! :)
Thanks, Michael.
Expanding water sources and filter types is definitely something we'd like to do in the future. If there is enough interest over time in this video we'll most certainly have updated videos coming.
@@ModernCastleyou should test the tap water from East Palestine! See how good these would help in that case
@@TheeHairWitch That would be really interesting. If I am able to get a sample I'll definitely consider it.
@@TheeHairWitchyou expect him to fly over to Palestine for a water sample? Cant be serious
@@chefgav1 you clearly haven't ever heard of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which is in the US and is a large part of the USA's food supply.
I really appreciate how much work you've put into making this video! it is the ONLY video that gives an accurate comparison between water pitchers filter's performances. After going through the EWG database, I found out that water contamination exists pretty every state that I have lived in... It's scary... I am currently using one of your recommended water pitcher, but I am thinking of switching to a countertop RO system, because they are very similar to water pitchers that requires no installation. The Frizzlife WA99 and Waterdrop N1 are my top choices, but N1 only has two stages comparing to WA99 four stages. It will be interesting to know if more stages are actually better for RO systems. Thank you in advance!!
You're very welcome! I'm glad to hear it's helpful.
It really is insane how much stuff is still in tap water even after the city's filtration process.
The switch to an RO system is almost certainly going to be better than any passive filter. If you've got the money for it it is a no brainer (especially with how easy countertop RO systems are now).
@@ModernCastle please sir what Counter top RO system do you recommend
@@isidbabe This one - moderncastle.com/go/aquatru-counter-top
AquaTru Classic countertop RO system
I've been testing this in my home and office for around a month. So far, I'm very pleased with the performance. I also sent the water off to the laboratory for testing, it scored a 96 / 100 (better than any passive filter we featured in this video here).
I'm working on the contextual review now and then I'll have a video review with all of our assessment and findings. So look for that soon!
That Aquatru system got bad reviews, especially regarding their customer service, which seems to be nonexistent.
@@conniemeeker6485 I can't really speak to their customer service. I've had no interaction with them.
However, in terms of the actual purification performance of the RO system, it is objectively the healthiest water we've seen from the 3rd party laboratory data yet (by far).
Love your channel all the others reviewing filters don't have such a consistent scientific base of understanding about water quality. Well done.
You're too kind. Thank you very much! We all work really hard here to bring as much objectivity to our tests and reviews as possible. I'm glad to hear we're meeting the mark :)
One important caveat here: There was no lead in the unfiltered water. It's important to note that the ZeroWater removes lead, while the Brita and Pur do not. If your home has old plumbing, that might be your first concern. Clearly Filtered is another excellent choice, but it's a bit pricey. UPDATE - as others noted below, the Brita with Elite filters does filter out lead and somebody below says Pur has something similar - so just know what you want filtered out. There's so much that it's very confusing!
That's a good point. But to be fair, both Brita and PUR have versions of their filters that remove lead.
Lead is sort of it's own nightmare to deal with.
Regarding Clearly Filtered - we recently tested them here - moderncastle.com/clearly-filtered-review/ - We were more than a little surprised by the less than great performance. You might be interested in seeing their laboratory report.
Brita elite filters out lead
@@sneezygibz6403 Thanks - I was very confused about that.
Appears a waterdrop followed by zero water is the way to go - remove disinfection chemicals and then the fluoride ------ add some electrolyte I'd assume after.
@@WNYXeb777 how would you deal with the microplastic coming from the Zero Water
Interestingly, Waterdrop's marketing material advertises their filters as reducing fluoride content, but your findings show no reduction at all. Kudos for not touching the debate on fluoride.
That is very interesting. I hadn't seen that.
I did see that Epic made similar claim's about removing flouride, but didn't quite get to the 100% removal they advertise.
@Ostsol what type of water do you drink
@@Jacielgg City tap water.
This is annoying. Waterdrop is good except for the fluoride. It looks like I need double filtration 😅
Thank you so much!
Moving from South Korea to Michigan, I noticed the stark downgrade in water quality. Even causing health problems(diarrhea, skin irritations etc).
Using this guide, I'm doing a lot better.
I'm glad to hear it.
Unfortunately, water quality varies widely in the US. And what comes out of the tap is viewed as a bare minimum for safety standards.
Water filtration is almost a necessity here in the US.
Also - welcome to the US! I hope you enjoy your time in Michigan.
Michigan has poison water.
Please which filtration system did you get?
In michigan ...what water filter did you get? Also we supposedly have the best water in US
Here is my strategy for fixing the cons of the ZeroWater and keeping all of the pros.
There are two downsides to the ZeroWater--
1) By taking everything out, it begins to absorb CO2 from the air and become acidic.
2) Because you take out all the minerals, the water will absorb a bit of the healthy minerals from your body and you will pee them out. Look up the supposed risks of long term distilled water drinking to see this argument. Some people have had long term health problems after months or years of distilled water drinking.
You can quickly and easily fix both of these downsides by
1) adding a little bit of baking soda to the ZeroWater's filtered water to fix the pH,
and 2) adding a little bit of sea salt or electrolyte drops to counteract the low TDS.
Interesting, will look into this. So confusing to pick one. So you think zero is healthiest? This is the best video I've found though.
1. Only true for distilled water and it doesn’t matter if it’s acidic.
2. If you are only getting healthy minerals from water you have other problems.
@@MP-mg7og It's by far the most effective filter in an objective way. I strongly disagree with the video presenters' conclusion, they didn't think through the results at all.
As you can see in the video, Zerowater removed 100% of the TDS, the total dissolved ionic solids, whereas the rest of the filters simply allowed the majority of the water's dissolved contents to remain in the water. As you can see at 9:50, the Zerowater removed 10x as much ionic material as its average competitor.
As a result, if you look at the rest of the water filters in the bunch such as Pur and Brita, they all failed on the Fluoride test whereas the Zerowater passed. Most of them only removed 33% of the fluroide which is absolutely pathetic. Why would I waste my money on a product that only got rid of 33% of the problem?
Fluoride is the worst thing in tap water, it is poison for the thyroid gland and it's a neurotoxin that accumulates in your brain, and it's guaranteed to be there every time you turn on the tap, because our malicious-idiot-run government has mandated we add it to the water supply continuously.
Furthermore, there are literally hundreds of possible ionic/metallic compounds that would get counted among the TDS of these water samples. It is not feasible to test for every single one of the possible contaminants.
So it's very possible that the positive results from these sorts of tests for most of the water filters are misleading, and they did well at taking out contaminants A and B, but failed with C D E F and G and now you are drinking those poisons unaware.
With Zerowater you don't have to worry about that. Because it just takes out everything, 100% of the ionic solids are gone, just like that. And you can test it with the TDS meter included in the box to prove to yourself it is pure.
Just think about it. ANY ionic solids in zerowater are ones you add yourself such as sea salt from your source of choice.
Overall the peace of mind you get is vastly superior and the results are superior as well.
It is true that the Zerowater did not do as well as some of the other filters at removing the Disinfection Byproducts. The Zerowater got beaten by the others in the pack when it came to these non ionic contaminants. I still haven't come up with a strategy to deal with this. But for me, I am much much more worried about fluoride. None of the disinfection byproducts are even close to being as bad as fluoride.
All I know is: 1. Zerowater fixed my getting sick from Nitrates! AND 2. I now take more "electrolytes" than I used to. I am 100% happy to add the electrolytes back in rather being sick in the gut! I also switched to Himalayn Red Salt. I'm doing the best I can to keep this 80 year old body moving down the trail!
I hate to post negative comments about videos and I truly appreciate the fact that someone went to all the trouble to lab test filtered water in order to "prove" what they are or are not doing, the results posted here from the lab and the lab scores seem to me to be a bit, if not very, misleading. I REALLY appreciate that all the lab results are available for review, as they really reveal some interesting things if one is not too lazy to take a look. The Zerowater filter system absolutely kills the rest of the filters in most of the categories and to have it listed close to the bottom seems strange to say the least. Someone already commented that the chloroform is the single (or almost only) area that the Zerowater filter didn't surpass the others and they were penalized by the lab for that, possibly harshly. The other posted that mentioned this also noted that this can easily be handled by letting your water evaporate away the chloroform by boiling for a few minutes and leaving uncovered for a few hours. Don't believe me? Check the lab results and compare ALL the items checked for. Pay attention to the Langelier Saturation Index results as those also skew the numbers. I'm not accusing anyone of anything underhanded but it might pay to see how the raw data stacks up to the scores based on the lab's weighting. Compare the #1 filter, Waterdrop, to the Zerowater and judge for yourself if the 93 verses the 71 score reflects the truth or not. YMMV.
Thanks for your feedback.
In my view, the notion that Zero (or any purifier for that matter) only missed "one contaminant" is a weak argument. The simple truth is that some contaminants are more dangerous that others. Chloroform is one of those contaminants.
Moreover, if the purpose of a filter is to provide safe drinking water...and yet I still have boil my water after it's gone through your filter, then the filter did not do a good job. I really don't understand this line of thinking that accepts that boiling drinking water is a reasonable step you'd take.
In any case, that is my view of these lab reports and their analysis. I don't think the lab is trying to be deceptive or biased.
Hey there! SimpeLab here. We provide the Tap Score water testing kits.
We should mention that the laboratories themselves do not penalize the filters. The evaluation is provided by Tap Score and is meant to provide a measurement for the best possible health outcome.
The labs that run the tests don't provide comments on what they find. That's done entirely by Tap Score.
The Tap Score ranking considers a variety of factors, particularly those that may affect your health. So the number of items filtered is not how the score is calculated. The number of -dangerous- items and how well they were filtered is what matters.
Hope that helps clarify a bit. :-)
TLDR: The labs don't evaluate the results. The results are evaluated by Tap Score/SimpleLab.
@@ModernCastleJust to piggyback on your comment - unless you’re boiling your water outside, you’re also not actually reducing your exposure to chloroform. Maybe one could make a case that breathing it in is somehow less carcinogenic than drinking it, but as you said, why not just get a filter that removes it altogether? Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the great review! All I know is that I started getting sick in the stomach/intestines in 2019. I had been drinking "purified water" from the "street machines" for 20+ years. I found out I was getting sick from "Nitrates/nitrites". Zero Water "CLAIMS" to filter out 100% Nitrates. SOOOO, Now I buy the "street filtered water" and run it thru my ZERO filter. I don't get sick anymore! Zerowater WORKS for me.
Huh? sounds like SOMEONE (@sjhorton1184) is biased. and what do you mean: "Compare the #1 filter, Waterdrop, to the Zerowater.." that's exactly what this test DID! SMH...and yeah, let me get a filter that I still have to boil the water after since it failed at removing a harmful contaminant. FAIL. THINK MCFLY, THINK
As a Phoenix resident, this is so unbelievably helpful! Really hard to find fair and unbiased testing. Bought into the ZeroWater TDS thing for several years. Thanks for your incredible efforts!
You're very welcome! Thank you so much for you kind words.
I'm glad to hear you found the video helpful.
What do you use now?
@@nightscesar Bought the Waterdrop from the link above. Pretty happy with it.
The thing to realize about filtration is every filtration method filters out different things. These results are specific to the water source in the video.
Many of the things the Waterdrop filter excelled in are contaminates that are not present to any detectible level in the water supply of my locality, yet the things Zero water excels in are VERY problematic here.
Basically, like everything, which water filter is the "best" is a complicated answer, and can most effectively be summed up as "it depends."
@@300fans Well said. I discuss this exact point at the end of the video, but what you've put here is a better summary.
Thanks!
I use ZeroWater filter, but only for humidifier use. Completely removing the TDS makes it so that we don't have hard water buildups in the humidifier and it stops our heating unit filter from clogging.
Yeah, that's a good way to do it. Basically budget friendly distilled water (or close'ish to it at least)
@@ModernCastle This might be difficult to answer/speculative, but do you think the Waterdrop filter would reduce the metals in water enough to make it viable for humidifier use? (I'm particularly trying to avoid the white dust problem with ultrasonic humidifiers.)
@@indestructibleobject It would certainty be better than straight tap water, but not as good as distilled.
ZeroWater would be better than Waterdrop in this respect, since those water dust particulates are primarily hard water minerals that become airborne when vaporized. ZeroWater also isn't as good as distilled, but closer, and better than Waterdrop.
I use ZeroWater for humidifiers too. Absolutely no white film/dust.
What are the costs of using dehumidifier water in relation to the range of humidity in the atmosphere?
Thanks!
You're very welcome! Thank you very much for the super like! The very first super like I've received :)
Thank you very much for this extensive review! I am beyond interested in knowing the same, specifically including PFAS levels for popular water brands like Evian, etc. and larger popular filtration systems like the big Berkey, reverse osmosis system, etc. Hope you do a video on that!!!
You're welcome!
We're definitely hoping to do updated videos like this later this year. RO systems would be cool, as would expending to more water filters (including Big Berkey, among others).
@@ModernCastle yes I have a Berkey and I would love to know how well it really performs.
@@minkymandy6065 Maybe we'll just order their most popular filter system and send that water of for lab testing.
I'll try and get that into our testing queue soon.
@@ModernCastle Can't wait to see Berkey vs Waterdrop.
@@qweety123 Indeed - I've heard both really good and really bad things about Berkey. Interested to see how they really perform. I've got it on our content calendar.
I wish you also did a hypothetical worst case scenario tests where you added lead and other toxic materials to the water and see which one filtered them best.
Thanks for the suggestion. Perhaps if / when we do an update to this we'll have more extreme sample to test against.
This would be SO incredibly helpful to be able to do, but unfortunately it's incredibly difficult to artificially 'spiking' water with contaminants in a way that allows for easy comparison.
There was a test of lead contamination with a variety of filters and zero was by far the best
A news channel posted their results on Cleveland tap water with 1000 ppm lead added. Every brand mentioned in this video removed almost no lead, but Zero Water removed all of it.
@@ModernCastleLead and mercury testing would be very helpful!
Great test. I live in a region where tap water is relatively clean and highly drinkable. I just wanted a filter that removed some extra taste influencing particles and excess calcium. No need to remove TDS or bacteria. I am glad that Brita does just that job. The water tastes like tap water, while it's just a bit purer.
No tap water is healthy
Why would you not want to lower the TDS? I just ordered the WaterDrop and it only lowered TDS from 300 to 270, that's just not acceptable...
@@orion9k did you watch the video, TDS doesn't say much about water quality. Zerowater reduces TDS to 0 but is scoring quite low
I can assure you your tap water isn’t healthy
@@orion9k
I'd rather have a high TDS than high uranium.
Always remember, manufacturer's labeling tell you exactly what the filter will do. The Brita I have and bought purposely for helping to remove TASTE and ODOR. As far as all the chemicals through lab testing is what the outcome after the filter as far as minerals etc....is totally irrelevant to me that's it and is OK. I think you have done an excellent video! Thank you.
So you don’t care that what your drinking contains harmful chemicals and fluoride which is carcinogenic aslong it tastes okay 😂😂🤦🏼♂️
This is the best pitcher filter vid I have seen yet and is a keeper👍👍
Thank you!
I would like to see a follow up on the top 3 perfoming filters. Do the filters become a incubator for bacteria during it's recommend time usage? If yes, how much bacteria is added compared to the tap water, how dangerous are those bacterias and can boiling the water kill it?
Hi Derek. I have been looking at your videos many times. I also carefully examined the lab results sheet. And I believe the best solution would be combining few pitchers together.
ZeroWater(71 score) did BRILLIANTLY on most parameters - more than the others- but failed on total THMs(40%) and chloroform(40%). Plus the PH is a bit too acidic- 6.1.
The acidity can be easily fixed by adding sodium bicarbonate(baking soda).
Now with the THMs and chloroform(I believe this is the reason why the low score of ZeroWater) - you need an extra pitcher. From reading the data sheet - EpicWater(89) could be the best option - it removed 100% of total THMs&chloroform, plus it was the only pitcher that didn’t remineralize(along with ZeroWater).
So I believe that combining these two pitchers - ZeroWater&EpicWater - could get us close to 100% of filtering contaminents - even better than AquaTru.
What do you think?
Thanks.
Yep, 100% agree. ZeroWater + EpicWater would be a perfect combination to remove essentially everything.
Great idea. Would it make more sense to filter it through the Zero or Epic filter first?
@@austinleblanc9241 I don't think it would make a significant difference either way.
I'd probably go Zero first and then Epic.
I did watch this video last week. It looks like without sending samples into have water tested, we really can't know how good or bad our water is actually. I almost threw out my Brita but I am glad I didn't at this point. Thank you! For now I have both Brita and Zero Water.
You're welcome. I'm glad the video was helpful!
While Zero Water isn't as good as Brita and others, it's still far better than drinking straight tap water in almost all cases. It's not a bad filter by any stretch. But I do think their whole concept feels more like a marketing gimmick than anything else.
@@ModernCastle Agreed. For use with ice makers, humidifiers and all machines that take water the zerowater looks to be by far the best option to avoid mineral build-up and minimize maintenance in the machines. Right? Or can I be missing something?
@@felixisme Definitely, that's a fair assessment and a good use case for Zero. It's not to the level of distilled water, but for many different tasks, machines, and cleaning it's a perfectly fine choice.
@@ModernCastle Love to hear it. Thanks for the confirmation that I'm thinking about it the right way.
Bought a pitcher and has worked great so far, though I'm glad that the tap water here in Sweden is great as it is since the flavour of the Zerowater is.. not the best.
@@felixisme My pleasure
I been using waterdrop filter pitchers for 1.5 years, very happy with the taste and quality of the water
how are you the only comment ive seen about the top rated pitcher/filter from the test lol idk if i should buy it because no ones said anything
@@alalal123421 They supply filters for Samsung smart fridges and many other companies
@@alalal123421 i bought one, rebrand from chinese oem, p65 cancer reproductive harm warning on box, doesnt remove any flouride, NSF 42 certified just means "aesthetic impurities" chlorine taste and odor
now i think zero water might be best only missed chloroform and otherwise massively outperformed all the others and has 0 tds because no metals and filters flouride and micro plastics
Aquacrest and Waterdrop seem to be owned by the same company,
HongKong Ecoaqua Co., Limited / Qingdao Ecopure Filter Co., Ltd.
In Qingdao, China.
Thank you for doing the work for us! Great job.
My pleasure!
Wow. I was really drawn in by ZeroWater's TDS meter. I'm glad I watched this before buying.
Yes but it is the only one that removes 100% of the flouride. Big win in scary government America! The only downside is it doesn't get all the chloroform and somehow that knocks it way down the list here, compared to other filters missing so much more of the scary stuff. Not sure of his scientific method on that one. TDS is a little gimmicky though. Aquatru RO for the win in countertop filters.
This is b/s zero water is the best...
It's not clear if you're claiming total dissolved solids is the most important measure or if you're claiming the lab tests were wrong, @@jonhawkins2374. What makes it _"the best"?_
@@KenJackson_US total dissolved solids.
But _"dissolved solids"_ include healthy minerals, @@jonhawkins2374. Don't remember the details, but the zero water filter didn't remove all of the chemicals that the others did.
Super useful test! I’m curious if there is any idea how “Clearly Filtered” would rank on this list. Heard good things about their system/pitcher.
Not sure, it's not one I've tested yet. But I too have heard many good things.
If / when we do an update we'll definitely test it.
Would appreciate this too, thank you!
I've been using zero filter segwayed through brita filter. It keeps the zero filter more viable for longer and covers the missing capabilities from brita.
I recently started doing the same as TDS from my apartments have increased 3x and filters were running out faster so hopefully this will extend that life
I've been doing the exact same for two years.
Same. This combo filter removes everything. What zerowater can't filter, the carbon filter does.
Thanks for making the introduction! I hadn't heard of Epic Water Filters; very impressive test results posted on their website (but for the Nano filter only). Looks like it even reduces Radium 226/228 (which we have here in Tampa, FL at 19X EWG's safe levels guidelines).
My pleasure! Glad the video was helpful.
Have you tested the all glass and stainless steel Aarke Purifier Water Pitcher? It uses simple granules but maybe it's good enough?
We haven't tested that one
@@ModernCastle I hope you do because, on one hand, a water filter which doesn't have plastic coupled with a pitcher that's all glass and steal is superior to plethora of plastic watcher pitchers in the world which may or may not leach harmful chemicals in the water. On the flip side, the filter in the Aarke could be no better than a Brita. The removal of chlorine, lead, microplastics, and PFAS is paramount, amongst many other harmful substances and chemicals. Based on my amateurish research, the Waterdrop seems to be the best but, then again, it's yet another plastic watcher pitcher.
I would be curious to see how the Berkey water filter stacked up to this pack.
We will take a look at Berkey if / when we do an updated version of this video
Id love this . I just purchased a berkey
Can’t thank you enough for all your work and well thought out scientific process. This is exactly the kind of review I needed. New home. Horrible water. Need a really good filter. 👍👏👏👏
You're very welcome! I'm glad my video was able to help :)
I would love to see some of the more high end filters like Berkey, Lifestraw, Sawyer, and ProOne compared
I'll keep those in mind next time we update this video. Thanks for the suggestions.
I have already seen it done and Zero Water filter beating out all you mentioned . I still have Zero Water filter picture . I take Zero Water filter first and used Sawyer Water filter .
i agree @modern castle please do one with such
@@richa.s9912 Bot detected
@@richpryor9650 Hi I have also seen such videos where the zero is ALLEGEDLY removing all TDS, so zero with it's 5 stage filter, the brita did almost nothing, are you saying these folks are lying in their videos or the TDS measurements were not true? I have one coming on the strength of a few videos I have watched, I have several TDS meters as i would not rely on the one that comes with their product. Cheers Rich.
By far the best video on water filters! I thought TDS was everything!
Thank you very much!
Did you do a test video with the Pur Plus filter that does lead? Wondering if it filters anything else better.
We did not. The PUR filter we tested was the Max ION.
That’s the test I wanted. And thanks for clearing up tds, I see too many people using that as proof that tap water is unhealthy
You're very welcome!
My husband & I used to live in Bullhead City, AZ, for years. We finally relocated Mat 2019, to SE Idaho.
I can vouch for the fact that the water in Bullhead City was so bad, it sent me to the ER, twice. The ER doctor told us to NEVER drink the water from the tap, as it has high levels of Calcium...and phosphorus that damage the kidneys. No ontrlligent person should ever drink from the tap, in Arizona or Nevada.
And taking a shower...ugh....it felt like acid was being poured on my body.
Wow! Scary stuff. Crazy to think the taps could be THAT bad. Glad you're in a better water area now.
Uhhh, lawsuit?
Recently I ran into Oxalobacter Formigenes, basically. The chlorine in the water, and other antibiotics, kills off this bacteria, along with MANY MANY others that are almost impossible to get back into your gut because they die in stomach acid. Once the bacteria is weakened or gone, it can't break down the oxalates from the food you want and water you drink. The results are many associated health problems such as arthritis (rheumatoid and osteo), osteoporosis, anemia, low red blood cells cound, Gout, kidney stones, etc. Because this bacteria isn't breaking chemical bonds into separate atomic and molar particles that your body can use. And those oxalates can end up in cartilage, joint fluids as Gout or in the kidneys where they attract and bond more oxalates and insoluble calcium to form kidney stones.
Going back to hippocrates "all disease begins in the gut", combined with the fact that they know that your body is 50% or more bacterial/fungal cells and 50% or less human cells... each microbiological organism and enzyme has a purpose ever if we don't understand it. And they know this. Why do you think they throw antibiotics AT EVERYTHING? They know by killing off the gut bacteria and the microfuana in the body they can cause unlimited diseases and health issues that will have a person in the hospital constantly and on so many prescriptions it will make your head spin. The more sick and unhealthy you are, the more they profit. Also.. not only does the chlorine and chloramine kill off good bacteria and potentially cause cancer. But remember this video mentioning chloroform? Yeah, it's a sedative, in fact was what was originally used for surgeries way back in the day. Want to keep a populace sedated and unaware?
Which filter had the best tasting water? Thank you for your test and review. It was very helpful.
Unfortunately, we did not evaluate taste for this test.
Nice testing, very professional and highlithing a lot of details on the limits of this test
Thank you very much!
This is the best video on this on youtube
You're too kind :) Thanks so much, Katherine! I'm so glad to hear you found it helpful.
@@ModernCastle i watched the Project Farm video on this topic a while ago and he only used tds. You actually did testing.
You could even turn this into a good deed next time by testing the water/filters at someone’s place with known water issues. & then leave them with the best filter.
@@ModernCastle i just bought the waterdrop. I live on city water in west Philly, and all of my neighbors buy bottler water. I had to replace my 100 year old lead service line with copper line about a year ago. My 20 & 5 micron whole house water filters always turn brown after a month.
My point is, thank you for doing all of this testing. It helps ppl like me protect ourselves against city governments that don’t care about their constituents.
@@katherine8333 Wow, scary stuff that a whole home system could be brown within just a month.
I'm sorry to hear the water in Philly is like that. Very sad that various government branches involved in our water cannot ensure safer and better drinking water.
I hope the Waterdrop is able to make a big difference for you!
@@ModernCastle Thanks! I'm going for a layered approach in filtering my water & the waterdrop will be one of them.
Well presented. I’m surprised that zero water fell below brita. I’ve just ordered a zero water jug. Given the overall reviews it seems to get good reviews. I watched a similar video earlier that rated zero water at the top. So confusing. You definitely need something to tolerate London tap water.
I too was shocked by the Zero performance. Seems like it should have done better.
Most reviews out there for filters is done by affiliates. So the filter brands with the best affiliate programs rise to the top. There's also a ton of reviews where nothing else is tested but taste and capacity, or they focus on just TDS, or worse; they just read the specs on the packaging.
Props to Modern Castle for putting in the hard work for what might be one of the most thorough pitcher tests online! :-)
@@mytapscoreplaceholder Thanks, Jorgen!
Just got my zero water pitcher today haha and now second guessing
For PUR faucet water filter, the green light means nothing regarding if a filter is still good or not. It simply is keeping track of the times used or the days/months.
If after three months it goes from green, to yellow, to red and you take out the filter and put that same exact filter you just took out and is three months old back in, it will show green again.
That little button or lever in the filter is only paying attention to time, not the actual quality of the filter. Something to think about.
Yes, It is sad to see how dumbed down people have become. Fall for anything these days?
@@msladydi123 some one mentioned on an official PUR water filter video, that a piece of rubber washer for a valve or something is discontinued and the water filters now just bubble the bad water with the filtered water, making it practically useless. Not sure how true that is, but it was a cost saving feature if it was for PUR.
Thank you for testing these and comparing them. My favorite Lifestraw Home 10 cup water filter pitcher wasn't among them though. Would love to see you test it and compare against Brita.
If we do an update to this video in the future I'll be sure to look at Lifestraw.
@@ModernCastle thank you! I was looking and searching everywhere for a comparison of water filter pitchers that included different components that a mere TDS water tester meter can’t measure. I had done enough research to find and read the actual lab reports for Lifestraw from their internal lab data (available for free online) as well as external lab report (also Available online). But couldn’t find any other companies that made those actual lab reports public with lab name and actual lab report (certificate of analysis) visible. Plus, I found zero water filter pitcher actually adds microplastics to the water. It also added another substance that was harmful. And most reviewers have no idea what substances to test for when they reviewed their “best water filter pitcher” on YT. Your current video was the only one that covered all the aspects I was searching for, so I hit subscribe so fast! Thank you again for doing this. Even my paid subscription which I got specifically for lab test data didn’t compare so many brands and didn’t test for uranium and a bunch of other stuff. Your video made my Day, my Week! My Month! 🙌 👏
@@seraphinajadeite You're too kind. I'm glad to hear our video had all the info you needed!
We really do our best to pile as much objective data in as possible to our reviews and comparisons. We've got lots of cool stuff coming in 2022, including best air purifiers, best cordless vacuums, most quiet air purifiers, best uprights, best robots, and more.
Thanks for the sub and welcome to the family! :)
PS - if you find yourself in the market for a new mattress, check out our new mattress testing lab here - naplab.com/ (we also have a young TH-cam channel for that website)
@@ModernCastle please do life straw
@@junebuglove34 Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add it to the list.
Have you ever tested any faucet water filter systems? I'm trying to decide which is better for apartments.
Yes
Here's what we've tested thus far:
moderncastle.com/aquasana-review/
moderncastle.com/sorso-reverse-osmosis-review/
Did you use the standard Brita filter or the "elite" version? If not the ultra could you add that as well? The elite clearly outperforms it's standard version and wouldn't be fair to compare only the standard considering the difference
We used the standard.
If we update these tests in the future I'll see if we can do the Ultra and/or Elite versions.
I'd really love to see Britta LongLife/Elite filters tested. In addition to being more expensive, they claim to catch stuff like Lead and mercury. The white Britta filters make no such claim.
If we do an update to this video in the future I'll see if we can include those. Thanks for the suggestion
Yep, that is what I use and if the regular Brita white did this well I would like to see the Elite.
I sent mine back, just buy the white ones. They must have changed makers of the filters.
Thank you so much for this video! I lived in nyc for 18 years and had no big problem with tap water but the place i recently move to seemed like they have old pipes that when water dries it leaves some whiteness which is really gross so i wanted to get a faucet filter and used this video as reference to choose and i ended with waterdrop faucet filter. Did you guys consider doing a shower filter video? It would be SO helpful if you guys make a video on it!
Because you guys are the only ones who get an actual lab tests not just what the brands advertises and aesthetics (which is a plus but in the end i want what works)!
You're too kind, Willow. Thanks so much! So glad to hear the video was helpful.
Most likely that whiteness is just calcium deposits. Not necessarily dangerous, but not great either. A water softener or water conditioner system may be able to help you as well (that's something that's usually installed in your garage or laundry type room, and it's a much larger tank).
Shower filters is something on my list, but unfortunately, pretty far down the list. We're still a very small team (just me and my friend, Kyle, who are working full time on Modern Castle). We're doing our best to get as many great videos out as we can.
Pro One makes a shower filter.
Useful information. I bought Zero about a year ago based on a review that used TDM as the metric. One thing I did not like about Zero was the filters were costly and my Tucson, AZ water is so full o DM, it clogged these expensive filters quickly. So also useful would be how much water the filters can make using a give water source and how much the filters cost.
We can try and include more of that info...but honestly, it gets tricky fast.
1) Different water sources will lead to longer / shorter filter life. You live in AZ, which has some of the hardest water in the US. Getting 2 weeks out of Zero would be normal, while those who live elsewhere in the US might get 4-8 weeks.
2) Prices of course are subject to change
In any case, I definitely hear your suggestion. I will try and come up with something for our 2023 video.
@@ModernCastle Thanks. I guess it would be relative numbers - filter A lasts X and under the same conditions, filter Y lasts Z. Yes, AZ has pretty disgusting tap water. I'm not a 'water snob', but I find the water here to be undrinkable.
@@arevee9429 I could put some guesses as to how long they would last by region...but they would be guesses at best. There are just so many variables that I cannot account for you.
We're on Phoenix city water and the water here as horrendous as well. Honestly, it's just not safe to drink without some type of filter / RO system.
At 11:53 you said PUR added Lead to the water? Isn't just the opposite PUR should do? Please reply
I did say that and PUR did add lead.
However, it was such a minuscule amount that the scientists at the lab thought it was not material enough that it should be considered statistically relevant.
My gut reaction was far stronger, but I am also not a scientist. As a result, I leaned on the advice of those who are more informed at the lab.
Before I bought a pitcher filter and used consumerlabs (independent testing group of consumer products) and they found that zero water filter leaches plastic particle to the water.
Yikes...
What filter do you think would filter pfoas and micro plastics the best?
Unfortunately, I am not totally sure.
My guess would be that the Waterdrop and Epic, which were the top 2 performers overall, would also work well for PFAS, but that's just a guess. We didn't have any PFAS in our water sample, so it's not something we tested against.
Can you do another test where you run the water through the Zero Water pitcher and then run that filtered water through the waterdrop pitcher? Kind of like a 2 stage filter with zero water removing all TDS and waterdrop removing the chemicals. It’d be interesting to see the results.
It would probably work like you've described, however, I am not currently able to run another test.
This is what I think I’m going to try I have a zero filter which I’m glad to some extent it does remove some impurities however disappointed it’s not the most important ones for health concerns I was literally gonna try this just to keep some extra cash.
@@musicloverxoxox3 Been doing this for 6 months now and the water taste 👅 great 👍🏻.
@@JohnDoe-ht1de omg thank you good to know! I appreciate it! Have you tested it in anyway by any chance? I’m so curious lol
@@musicloverxoxox3 No, I haven’t tested it but maybe I will.
Just switched back to Waterdrop. I wondered if it was really doing much as the filter seems really small but I guess no smaller than an pure or Britta.
Performance on the Waterdrop was much better than I expected it to be.
So buy water drop then run it though the zero filter for the floride. got it. thanks.
I don't understand, how could Waterdrop rank first if it removed 0% of fluoride? If that's important to a buyer, then ZeroWater would be a better option and EpicWater would be the best overall.
SimpleLab doesn't score fluoride removal one way or another. Needless to say, if it is important to you then by all means, go with one of the options that does remove it.
But certainly, removing fluoride isn't the only health concern.
Zero removed 100% of fluoride, but also failed to remove 100% of disinfection byproducts. So there are pros and cons no matter what you do.
@@ModernCastle What if I only filter spring water? I have Zero & have had Brita and I think Zero is the best but I'm only comparing maybe 4 filters.
@@7pM3 I really can't say in that case. All of these filters are designed for city / municipal water, not spring water. I don't know enough about the challenges of spring water purification to say one way or another.
@@ModernCastle I'm just factoring IN your DBP rating & that it strips flouride as maybe that will miss my pitcher.
@@7pM3 Ah gotcha
My kitchen has a GE under sink filter. I put that water into a Brita pitcher for drinking. Recently, I got a ZeroWater pitcher for coffee so my kettle would not scale up. Now I just run the sink water into the Brita and fill the ZeroWater from the Brita. That way my drinking and coffee water all have been filtered 3 times. Tastes pretty good and gets rid of that slight odor the city water has to it.
Are these filters safe to put tap water in? I’m a college student and I want to save money because I drink about 80oz a day, but buying
2 or 3 cases of water every week isn’t realistic. I would like to buy the waterdrop filter and fill it up with tap water everyday, but is it safe/healthy? Or is it safer to keep buying distilled water, and then maybe placing it in the filter?
Yes, all of these filters are designed for tap water.
@modern castle is the most underrated channel on TH-cam. I love you guys!
Oh you're too kind. Thanks so much!
We use Aquagear and love the taste. Not only that but we get told by guests all the time how good our coffee (using the water from the aquagear) and water with ice tastes. We always gift it to anyone moving into an apartment building and they notice the difference right away. We have ZeroWater and Brita as well (when the filters for the Aquagear were on back order) and they both don’t taste anywhere close. Our water sources here in Canada are pretty clean but full of fluoride and I am moving to an older building so I will have the original water tested and again with the Brita, Aquagear and ZeroWater.
This was immensely helpful! Thank you so much for conducting this objective test!
You're very welcome!
I don't want my girlfriend to be able to filter out the chloroform I've been adding to her water. Looks like I'll be switching to zero water
Update: I think she's using PUR or Brita. She broke up with me.
🤣
ZERO WATER FOR THE WIN!!!! for fluoride removal. I love them~
Did you check these with the TDS Meter or did the dye test? You list Waterdrop as #1, how can you have a filter that filters without lowering the TDS readings? How can the filter remove the bad things and not remove the good things? I was going to buy the Waterdrop but they say you can't go by the TDS readings as it doesn't change that. I was wondering?
Lab TDS results were in the video here - th-cam.com/video/HeRGnHuYol8/w-d-xo.html
TDS is not a measure of water quality performance. High TDS doesn't necessarily indicate bad water any more than low TDS indicates good water quality. Perfect example here with Zero water...has a low TDS, but didn't remove Chloroform, which is a chemical that doesn't count as a dissolved solid, so it doesn't show up on a TDS meter.
Thanks, deffo the most concise and precise water jug testing vid i could find on 29/08/2024. Cheers!
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful.
I get Brita compatible filters from Costco under the Kirkland brand for $2 / filter. It'd be nice to compare not only effectiveness, but also cost. Because of Brita's ubiquity here in the USA at least, there are many third parties that make 'Brita compatible' filters that fit in Brita pitchers. I think that's a small advantage for Brita.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add it to our list.
Not sure if / when we'll be able to do Kirkland filters, but if enough people request it I'll make it a higher priority.
@@ModernCastle Oh sure, was not necessarily saying Kirkland would be nice to be included (though there might be interest?), but rather cost also be mentioned/considered.
For example, Brita filters are typically about $4 / standard filter in my area (SF bay area). Kirkland filters come out to $2 / filter (in a pack of 10 - so $20 for 10 Kirkland filters compatible in Brita pitchers).
I see the Waterdrop and Zerowater filters (just as examples) costing about $11-$13 / filter. Of course, it'll also depend on the quantity of water each filter can filter, so it could get complicated.
I guess what I'm getting at is, some people may be ok with lesser filtering performance...for the right price. It's just one way you could consider to potentially improve these types of videos, if you were to do a follow up.
Even mentioning the price of each filter would of been a nice additional feature in this video (ignoring filtering capacity of the filters).
I'm only intending this to be a constructive suggestion. The video as it is, is still great and appreciated.
@@simplefinance Yeah, that's a good idea. In our recent test of the Aquatru RO system we did a quick cost comparison. I think we'll start doing something similar with all water filter tests moving forward.
Here's that data in case you're interested:
Filtered Water Source Price per Gallon
AquaTru $0.12 per gallon
Brita $0.20 per gallon
Waterdrop $0.05 per gallon
Zero Water $0.44 per gallon
PUR $0.20 per gallon
EpicWater $0.31 per gallon
Amazon Basics $0.10 per gallon
LG Fridge Filter $0.28 per gallon
Water Bottles $1.07 per gallon
Water Delivery $1.40 - $4.00 per gallon
Depends what you want to filter out. May want to filter well water to remove the TDS and alkalinity to basically make your own distilled water as a base water for coffee machines. For that reason, zero water wins.
Of the 3 pitchers/filters above that I researched already (Brita, Pur, and ZeroWater), Zero Water wins for me too, because I have old plumbing and want to be sure lead is filtered out. Brita and Pur do a poor job with that. I just ordered one. Clearly Filtered does an even better job, but it's pricier than ZW for both the pitchers and the filters.
We are on private well and our water is horrible. (TDS above legal limits). We use Zero Water. It is truly zero. The down side is, after removing so much mineral the water becomes very acidic.
Best informative video ever! Thank you so much! I was wondering which one of Brita or amazonbasic was better 20min ago purely based on the Amazon ranking, but now I feel like I’m an expert😂
You're very welcome! Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad to hear the video was helpful :)
Just what I was looking for. Thanks!
Glad I could help!
I am impressed with the analysis. Thank you for the easy-to-understand video.
Thanks very much! Glad to hear the video was helpful.
Wow.. Incredibly accurate and helpful analysis. Thank you so much for all the work you put into this. 🙏🏾
You are so welcome
Zero Water said on some of the reviews on their site that you can extend the lifespan of their filter by running the water through a less effective filter first. Not as easy as just using the Zero Water but might help reduce overall cost.
I guess so...but man, what a pain to have to use 2 filters.
I tried that, but the problem I ran into is the bad taste you get (when the filter life ends) carried over when I poured that water into a new filter. Now I have a Megahome water distiller I use first and then run that water through my ZW to improve the taste.
@@NerdNest0 "you are talking about a quite large piece of glass in the water?" not sure what you mean by this.
I don't hate ZeroWater. It's a perfectly fine water filter. I had a bunch of ZeroWater filters left over and I'm still happily using those for my dog's water. However, once those filters are gone I'll give my dog RO water.
I also don't hate TDS readings. I just don't think they are the end all be all when it comes to measuring water quality.
At the end of the day, I took water samples, sent them to a lab, then reported the findings. I removed my subjective assessment from this video and replaced it with the lab's scoring system.
Living in Europe and after owning many water filters including a brita which makes water taste like metal I can hands down say that Zero Water has been the best filter to date with a very natural cleaning process and for Europe it is ideal 🙂
dude zero water was crap in the video how can you suggest it against science?
@@varieedeventualii it has a really nice resin based filter it knocks other filters when it come to softening water, it didn't remove chloroform because I guess it lack activate carbon. Until they fix the filter, i would use zerowater and other more carbon based filter
@@fares3651 there is another video where someone cuts apart the filters, and most only have activated carbon as the filter, zero water has more complext stuff going. There is also a disclaimer that they didn't use multiple water samples, so I'm not sure they might have even properly set them up to filer best. Seems rather odd, because another videos show you zero has some of the best filtration.
About Brita I just got that about 30 minutes ago I had some sitting out in the kitchen wasn't refrigerated and it ended up tasting like water but usually when it's fresh it doesn't
I live in Canada and I'd say the same. Our national broadcasting company (CBC) had a series called "marketplace" where they tested all these water filters, and zerowater came out on top, way better than Brita. I also just prefer the taste of zerowater over Brita.
So of the two, would you choose a faucet filter or a pitcher filter? I would assume a pitcher filter is better, since it takes more time to sort the water. The faucet filter is instant water and not as filtered.
I would go with the pitcher, for the exact reasons you stated here.
I just don't see how the filter on the faucet would be as effective.
@@ModernCastle After asking I researched not using TH-cam, and they say the reason pitcher filters take so long is because they only have gravity to make the water go through the filter, which makes sense.
On a faucet it has the water pressure making it go through. Some sites claim they effectively do the same thing. But still... Pushing through instantly seems a little odd to me. And yet the claims are there and certified right?
Then again as your tests and others show, they do not remove what they claim to either.
@@tilasole3252 Yeah, I guess that makes sense. In any case, this is something I'd like to test down the road. Would love to see if those claims really hold up...clearly not all marketing claims hold up when tested in a laboratory setting.
@@ModernCastle can you drink the first (full) pitcher of Zero Water? Or do you have to dump it and fill it again? And if so, how many times before it can be used for drinking? I just bought one on sale. It was cheap so I won't be disappointed if it does not work to expectations, provided it is indeed better than tap water.
Another video claimed you had to know your tap water to get the best filter possible. I understand that, but if something says it removes 99% of such and such, it better remove 99% of such and such. They claim it is 99% with the water "the company" tested. The consumer is only worried about the 99%, not some made up number from some water source the public will never get to use.
And either from your tests or others, it's clear that they do not filter sometimes even half their claims. It is why I was so surprised you put Brita and Pur at the top. Looking at other videos, they were not doing so well.
@@tilasole3252 You can drink the first full pitcher on Zero.
In any case, the lab tests definitely showed some less than great results from Zero and a number of other popular brands. So clearly the marketing claims aren't all they are cracked up to be.
We purchased a Zero Water system (as FT RV'ers) based on another video. So disappointing! We were replacing water filters about every 15 gallons of water. First it tasted like lemons, then smelled like dirty shoes. We didn't believe it could go bad so quick. After 3 weeks and 4 filters (1st one didn't work that came with it. Only got an inch of water at a time). I called company and was told that that is about right for TDS pre-filter of 425. Can't afford this system and also feel it MAY be cause of stomach pain I developed. Funny how they tout TDS meter as a selling point and it isn't a real indicator. Thank you for this video.
You're welcome.
Sorry to hear about your experience...unfortunately, that sounds like pretty normal behavior from the ZeroWater. The filters go so hard on TDS that just don't last very long.
Not sure what kind of water you are putting through it but I would be checking your source water before putting that through any filter at all. I have lost track of the gallonage I have put through mine but I have never had any adverse issues due to the water coming from it nor have I had any tastes good or bad.
@@EverydayJohn931 Thank you. We are Ft RV'ers, so water sources vary. But we were long term for 2 months when we got this. I called into Zero water and they said based on the 324 ppm reading, I could expect to filter 20 gallons of water before needing to change the filter. I had stocked up in filters and have found that to be pretty accurate. E are in a different place now and I just changed filters. We shall see. That's with another filter at the spigot Rv'rs use. I am glad you don't have sour water taste or "dirty sock" (my grandson's description) smells with yours. Drink up!
@@grammyg8x As a solo, stationary RVer, I just replaced my first ZeroWater filter after 3 months, drinking and boiling from nothing else, working from home and bringing my fluids with me basically everywhere else. TDS is typically around the 110-160ppm range. About 250ppm range from the hot water tank, so I run the faucet line with cold for a bit before filling to preserve longevity. It's well water so it varies quite a bit and smells/stains particularly bad with iron, occasionally is fizzy, etc. This is all post-Camco 20 micron filter at the hookup (which frankly doesn't seem to help much at all). I was a bit surprised at how fast the ZW filter went from 0ppm to faucet levels and smelling like rancid fat or septic, but so long as it was at 000 it seemed to work great. No smells, no stains in the kettle.
Have you tried TDS comparing the faucet with and without the spigot filter? I'm thinking it's not even worth replacing when it's expired, but haven't wanted to remove it from my setup to find out. Getting it to not leak from the input fitting was more difficult than it should have been.
Thank you for making this video!
If possible, can you elaborate on the chemicals/metals PUR increased in the water? One of the main reasons that decided me on PUR at the store was its claim on reducing Lead, so I was pretty taken aback when you mentioned that lead was increased during the testing.
PUR increased lead, manganese, and silver.
Full review = docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15s6AyQ8Eay7G0lIUe2g_CX05wK9g7OT14cGX6NNu_2A/edit#gid=759150934
There was 0 of each of those in the water before filter, but a non-zero number for each of those after filtering. I too was shocked and concerned by the results. However, I discussed the data with the scientists at the lab we used and didn't seem particularly concerned. They were all extremely small levels.
...even so, any lead is problematic. For my money, I'd get something other than PUR.
@@ModernCastle
Thank you for the quick reply, and again for the video! I really appreciate your publishing the data as well, I can only hope that the ads and support balance out the cost of the lab test and your time
I put a decent amount of effort into comparing the PUR to some other competitors, and while I think based on the box I picked the right option, it's pretty clear now that isn't super reliable. I guess I know where I'll be looking for info in the future!
It really is a head scratcher, with the lead. Having started work with a manufacturing business, I know that its common to check the effectiveness of products going out the door, usually grabbing one of every batch. All I can imagine is that you may have happened on a test sample one, that had leaded water run through it at the factory. PUR only claims to reduce lead, not eliminate, so the trace amount would likely be allowed on.
Speculation, but I'm hesitant to believe that they've utilized lead in their lead-reducing filter.
In any case, thanks again for all your hard work!
@@iandyke4412 I think your assumption of what happened makes the most sense. It just makes zero sense that PUR would put lead anywhere near, on, or in their filter. There is just no reason for it.
Thanks so much for all of your kind words and support. I really appreciate it.
I'm assuming they used the basic pur filter while the pur plus filter claims to reduce lead.
Question, thank you for doing this research it was very helpful, I would like to know the chlorine results as well if they are posted I checked the raw lab results and the simple lab ones you posted on the links and I couldn’t find chlorine in anything, would this be a separate category?
I wasn't able to find it in the lab results either. Not sure why it's not there.
1) Possibly because they don't check for it
2) Possibly because it's broken down in multiple different categories (this is the most likely)
Sometimes SimpleLab reads these comments. Maybe they'll see this and give us an answer.
Excellent question!
Due to chlorine being REALLY volatile and not traveling well, chlorine is best tested on location via strips. All Tap Score City Water Test Kits come with a Chlorine test strip for that reason.
Chlorine is easy to treat, however, as most of these filters will filter it with their activated carbon elements. Even leaving your jug in the fridge overnight will reduce chlorine since it's so volatile and evaporates easily.
For that reason we typically focus more on the side-effects of chlorination of water. This must be tested in a lab and encompass MANY different issues, collectively known as disinfection byproducts. These can make you really sick if found in too high concentrations and is why ZeroWater scored lower than many of the other filters due to their performance of removing Bromoform. Bromoform is a disinfection byproduct. Read more about it by clicking it in the report: gosimplelab.com/42QHysgu2L/all-results
It's always good to test for chlorine though! However, since this was our first big collab on TH-cam, we might have been so focused on the lab results that we forgot to remind Derek and Modern Castle about the strips. Whoops! That's on us. We'll do better next time!
This review has lead to an extremely hot debate between my wife & I who are debating on Epic Water vs ZeroWater respectively ;-). I see how or why Epic Water rates above Zerowater primarily due to DBP, but in other aspects (e.g. fluoride, etc.) Zerowater performs better than Epic Water. I think the lesson learnt here is that we'd need a baseline reference and that'll vary from location to location.I don't know if my area has any significant DBP to remove in the first place.
I did all kinds of research on the zero and it always rates number one and that’s the one I choose and have to same I’m very happy and test it regularly and I tested it with my sink water and got 000 before filtered then tested bottled water I bought at the store and got a reading of 24 but have to admit that we have had our water professionally tested and it got a great rating only reason we got a filter is there are times the water taste bad I figure it’s during treatment times
yeah. when you look at the data it is obvious it is very biased. They're totally promoting ones like Waterdrop and Epic water by giving them grade A and B and Zero water C though OVERALL Zerowater filtered way better..
I like zero but it also removes a lot of things that our bodies do need. Plus there newer filters don't seem to last half as long as the older ones do.
@@williammaddox3155 The minerals you drink in water are so insignificantly tiny it does not matter at all assuming you have a good diet. Its why reverse osmosis is safe to drink while RO water is also 0 PPM. Also you just cut your filter open, rinse the contents 5-10 times and pour back in and the filter is new again reading at 0ppm and no bad taste.
I'm compelled to test the Kruger brand gallon water jug from Fry's. I also want to test our well water. We did set up filtration canisters out by the well, but I'm still skeptical and use a Brita or just buy the kroger jugs of water.
I've been skeptical of Zero water for a long time. I'm glad you cleared that up. Thank you for the research!
My pleasure. Glad the video was helpful!
We have a rust problem in our tap water. Did you test the water pitcher filters for rust? I would love to know which ones take out the most rust.
The lab does test for iron (which is what causes rust). However, we had no iron in our baseline water sample, as a result, we don't know how well the filters would perform vs. iron specifically.
Thanks mate. I recently moved and the tap water in the area I have tastes absolutely terrible, still probably "below threshold", but terrible tasting. I used to have a 9 stage RO system for drinking and cooking but that takes up a lot of room and is sort of pricey and not portable. Instead I got a waterdrop filter! Keep up the good work! I'd be very curious to see how the gold standard RO systems stacks up to these passive filters. I have a suspicions it would trounce all of them, but not really sure as these filters have gotten pretty good.
You're welcome.
I agree with you. I am fairly confident most RO systems will crush passive water filter systems. But for the price / storage / complexity, these passive filters are also a nice option for many people.
I use a faucet mounted Pūr filter, and then pour it into our Berkey. I'd LOVE to know what you think of Berkey units, Modern Castle... I also use the Pur water to haul it downstairs in a gallon jug to filter in my distiller, lol. (Family hates the noise and heat from the distiller.) The water still smells like the gunk left in the bottom of the distiller after processing so I add about a half tsp of activated charcoal powder to the distiller before processing... I worry about the lack of minerals in distilled water but is the cleanest in my opinion. I also didn't buy the extra fluoride removal thingy which, in hindsight, is dumb. So, Morden Castle, if like to hear your thoughts on my thoughts, lol... thanks in advance. (Re:Berkey and distilled water)
Interesting, projectfarm contradicts results with zerowater, aquatru on top if chart. Also zero water is NSF certified
Never heard of Aquatru, I'll have to check them out.
I'm shocked at the results, I thought Zero Water would have scored better due to the size of the filter.
Honestly, I too am surprised Zero didn't do better.
Could be just a bad filter or other anomaly, or it could accurate. Ideally, I'd love to re-run these tests at a future date.
I don't think you understood the results. Zerowater removes all contaminants. It's absolutely the best filtration. The taste test is meaningless. We are used to the taste of the contaminants.
@@brianwicker1455 The lab findings show that ZeroWater failed to remove 100% of Chloroform, a disinfection byproduct and chemical that's dangerous to human beings. Many other filters removed 100% of chloroform.
This has nothing to do with taste.
@@ModernCastle I stopped using Zero after seeing this. But the Waterdrop doesn't seem to filter anything and the TDS jumped to 221 after filtering, from 217 (tap water).
@@blissss0 TDS is not a measure of water quality. Lower TDS does not indicate better quality any more than high TDS indicates worse quality. TDS in terms of water filters is largely a marketing tactic.
This was very helpful! Thank you!
You're so welcome!
Great video. Will any of these remove estrogen from the water?
Thanks!
None of them explicitly make that claim and it's not something the labratory tested for. So I am unsure.
Sorry that I don't have better info for you.
@@ModernCastle Ok, thanks for the reply!
@@PatrickSteil My pleasure
Too bad the Larq pitcher didn’t come out in time for this. I am curious if the UV light makes a difference.
I hadn't heard of that one, but I'll put it on our list if we do this again.
Though I will say, I would be shocked if the UV light has any significant impact. It's my understanding that for UV light to work it needs be of sufficient power and sufficient duration.
In my view, there is no way that a battery powered UV light is going to be strong enough to have any notable impact.
Isn't UV light meant for bacteria and microorganisms? If so it wouldn't make much of a difference since the chlorine treatment at the treatment plant would kill them first. I'd like to see the Larq pitcher tested though!
@@lemuriansettler Yes, that is correct. If you're using a city tap then bacteria and microorganisms are already taken care through Chlorine and other additions.
Totally agreed. They also claim their filters are better than others.
Can't believe you guys didn't test the extremely popular gravity-fed, countertop Berkey filter.
We considered it, but felt that the Berkey was in a class of its own and not really similar to a standard pitcher filter. We wanted all of the filters in this video to be fairly similar on price, form, function, etc.
However, it's one I'd like to test in the future.
We hope Modern Castle will test the Berkey in the future too! In the meantime, here's a lab test of the Berkey: th-cam.com/video/z3JwjN27dTE/w-d-xo.html
Would be interesting to see Clearly Filtered pitcher tested.
If we do an update down the road we can test that.
Please test ProOne as well please
@@marss4536 I'll put it on the list.
@@ModernCastle That would be awesome! Thanks.
@@SummarizeEverything My pleasure
Very thorough + helpful!! THANK YOU.
You're very welcome!
You tested for fluoride and for taste but not PFAS?
Fluoride is relatively easy for the labs to test alongside the standard battery of tests.
PFAS is unfortunately more complex and requires a separate and more expensive testing kit. Unfortunately, we did not have the budget to also do PFAS testing.
This was a very informative video very good also can you do another video like this but with shower filters instead of water pitcher filters
Thank you!
I'll see if we can do something for shower filters, but it might be a while. That's a pretty narrow topic and we are kind of slammed at the moment with other projects. But I'll put it on our list.
@@ModernCastle This would indeed be a great test. Shower filters are a huge market with many questions and tests to be made.
Zero water is underrated. You notice the difference between that and Brita when you switch.
Wait, wait, wait, Pur *added* lead? I feel like that needed more emphasis.
I thought so as well...however, the lab techs and scientists that I consulted with on this video felt that it was almost certainly an anomaly.
Doing the lords work. Thanks
You're too kind :)
Finally a real test thank you keep it up
Thanks, will do!
I use zerowater but I also have an "under the sink" inline tap water filter (waterdrop). My tests reveal that the final product of waterdrop + zerowater is somewhat acidic so I add ph drops to raise the alkalinity and add trace minerals.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Hi, I have a bladder condition & buy alkaline water. Trying to switch bc it’s expensive & so many gallon plastic jugs. Where do you get ph drops?
@@bsadventures742 amazon