I used to think that drinking tap water
was just fine and safe, but I no longer
believe that. So, the question is, is
this $16 water filter just as good as
the one that cost $300? Well, let's find
out. In the first test, we'll see which
water filter performs the best at
removing copper. Then we'll see which
one does the best job with chlorine and
fluoride. We'll also see which one
clears up water the best. Finally, we'll
cut open all the water filters and see
how they're constructed. At a price of
only $16, the least expensive water
filter we'll be testing is made by
Waterdrop. They claim it's NSF and ANSI
certified. They claim a 3-month or
200-gallon lifespan. It has a capacity
of seven cups. They claim it reduces
chlorine. We're going to test that. And
the Waterdrop is made in China. Soak the
filter in tap water for 10 minutes.
Let's kick off our first test and let's
continue using distilled water, which
has zero parts per million of dissolved
solids. Let's begin using these water
test strips. The distilled water that
I'll be using passed the test and
doesn't appear to contain any of the 17
contaminants. Let's create our test
water first by adding 5 gallons of water
into this water jug. The water inside
the water jug is still at zero parts per
million. The water also passed the test
for the 17 contaminants. Let's add 40 ml
of copper to the water. I'll stir the
water to make sure that the copper is
spread throughout the water as evenly as
possible. And water is now at 94 parts
per million of copper. As expected, the
test strip is showing that the water is
very high in copper. Let's see how long
each water filter takes to filter two
cups of water and then we'll test the
filtered water for copper. It took very
close to a minute to filter two cups of
water for the Waterdrop. I'll toss out
the first two cups of filtered water and
then run two more cups of contaminated
water through the filter. The water
started off at 94 parts per million and
now it's down to 81 parts per million.
Unless the filter is exchanging
something for the copper, it appears
that there's a lot of copper still in
this water. According to the test strip,
there's still a lot of copper in this
water. So, let's use a tester
specifically designed to test copper in
water. I'll add the filtered water to
the cuvette and then I'll add the
reagent. And there's obviously a lot of
copper in this sample as the water is no
longer clear. The tester maxes out at
five parts per million and the tester is
indeed maxed out with this sample at
over five parts per million. At a price
of $25, is this is brand? It has a
capacity of eight cups. They claim it's
certified to reduce two times more
chemical and physical substances
compared to Brita. They claim that their
water pitcher is BPA-free. The Pure is
made in Mexico and the filter is made in
Mexico or Thailand. Rinse the filter in
cold water for 15 seconds before using.
Carbon dust is normal in the first
filling. Insert the filter and twist to
lock. Press and change the filter light
for 5 seconds to reset. Just like the
Waterdrop, I've already purged the
filter and I did use distilled water.
The Waterdrop is basically an activated
carbon filter and the Pure is an
activated carbon filter with an ion
exchange. The Pure needs more than twice
as much time to filter the water
compared to the Waterdrop at 2 minutes
and 28 seconds for 2 cups of water. I'll
dispose of the first 2 cups and run two
more cups of test water through the
water filter. The water started off at
94 parts per million and now it's very
close to 68 parts per million of total
dissolved solids. So, the Pure seems to
be removing more dissolved solids than
the Waterdrop. The test strips aren't
too precise, but it appears to be
between 1 and 3 parts per million of
copper. Once I added the reagent, the
water filtered by the Pure is changing
colors, but it looks quite a bit better
compared to the Waterdrop. And 1.89
parts per million of copper is quite a
bit better than the Waterdrop. At a
price of $28, this Amazon Basics brand
has a capacity of 10 cups. WQA certified
against NSF 42, 53, 401, and 372
standards. It's supposed to remove quite
a few different contaminants. The
pitcher is made in Poland and the filter
cartridge is made in the UK. The Amazon
Basics is making a lot faster progress
than the Pure at filtering 2 cups of
water. And the Amazon Basics is finished
in a minute and 28 seconds or about a
minute faster. I'll continue to toss out
the first 2 cups and I'll filter two
more cups of water that have the high
copper levels. And 72 parts per million
is a little bit higher than the Pure.
After adding the reagent, there appears
to be quite a bit of copper remaining in
this water. And the results from the
tester show 3.12 parts per million,
which is better than the Waterdrop, but
not quite as good as the Pure. At a
price of $34, this Zero Water brand is a
10-cup ready to pour five-stage water
filter. They claim zero total dissolved
solids for improved tap water taste.
Just like the previous brands, this one
is also certified. The Zero Water is
assembled in Mexico with imported
components. And the ZeroWater even comes
with a TDS meter. Twist filter into the
bottom of the reservoir. Tighten the
filter until there's a complete seal
between the filter, blue o-ring, and
reservoir. Fill reservoir with cool or
ambient water directly onto the filter.
Discard the first two reservoirs of
water and replace the lid. With the
ZeroWater, the water has to travel
through five different stages before the
filtering process is finished. As you
might expect, the ZeroWater takes the
most amount of time yet at 2 minutes and
48 seconds for two cups of water. Let's
repeat the process one more time. And
the ZeroWater is at zero parts per
million of total dissolved solids, the
lowest number yet. The water test strip
is showing that there's no detectable
amounts of copper in the ZeroWater's
filtered water. And the ZeroWater took
some really contaminated water down to
only 0.07 parts per million of copper.
Very impressive. This is definitely a
safe number and the drinking water is
safe. At a price of $41, is this Brita
filter? It's supposed to remove 99% lead
and a whole bunch of other chemicals. It
has a 10-cup capacity. The water filter
is supposed to last 6 months. It's a
product of the Dominican Republic with
global materials. The ZeroWater filter
is on the right and the Brita is on the
left. There's a huge difference in size
between the two filters. Press firmly to
ensure that the filter is secure. Go and
add cold tap water. Pour out the first
three pitchers of water. Brita has a
much smaller filter than the ZeroWater
and it's also filtering water a lot
faster. This is probably the most
popular water filter brand in the US.
The question is, is it the best water
filter? And the Brita is finished in
about a minute and 30 seconds, which is
pretty fast. Brita feminine name with
Scandinavian and Germanic origins and it
means exalted one, strength or high one.
And the Brita is at 73 parts per
million, but the question remains, is
that copper or did the filter exchange
the copper for something else? And
there's definitely a lot of copper in
this water as it now looks purple. And
the tester is completely pegged at five
parts per million. At a price of $52, is
this LifeStraw brand? The pitcher has a
capacity of seven cups. They claim the
filter will last for 264 gallons or 1
year. The activated carbon plus ion
exchange cartridges last 40 gallons.
They claim it reduces chlorine, lead,
and a whole bunch of other chemicals.
They also claim protection against
bacteria and parasites. And the
Lifestraw is made in South Korea. Rinse
the carbon filter under cold water for 1
minute. Put the filter housing back in
the pitcher and run one batch of water
through the filter. Remove the filter
housing and pat dry. Pull down and twist
the bottom cap of the filter housing to
remove. Install carbon filter into the
housing cap. Press cap back onto
housing. They don't call this system the
Lifestraw for nothing. After 6 minutes,
I stopped the camera and we're now back
at 33 minutes and the Lifestraw is
finally finished filtering two cups of
water. Let's go ahead and filter two
more cups of water. Lifestraw uses a
microfiltration membrane, activated
carbon, and ion exchange. And the
Lifestraw is showing around 28 parts per
million. Since this filter does use ion
exchange, is there still copper in the
water? Is it possible that those
dissolved solids are now safer ions such
as sodium? And the Lifestraw did a great
job of removing the copper at only 0.03
parts per million. Very impressive. At a
price of $70, is this AquaGear brand.
They claim it removes 20 times more
contaminants than a traditional pitcher.
They claim third-party tested to filter
lead and chlorine. They also claim that
it keeps the good minerals in. They
claim the filter is supposed to last 120
gallons or three times longer than most
standard filters. And the AquaGear is
made in the USA. Attach or hold the
flushing assembly to the faucet. Run
water for 2 minutes through the filter
at low pressure. Screw the filter
cartridge onto the reservoir securely.
Place the reservoir into the pitcher and
secure the lid on top of the pitcher.
The AquaGear is quite a bit faster than
the Lifestraw at around 3 minutes and 43
seconds for two cups of water. I had to
condition the AquaFilter using my home
tap water, which is around 250 parts per
million. This is definitely going to
throw off the TDS results, but let's go
ahead and test the total dissolved
solids anyway. 92 parts per million is
pretty high, but some of that is from
the tap water. And the AquaGear's
filtered water appears safe to drink at
only 0.24 parts per million, which seems
pretty good. At a price of $79, is this
Epic Water brand. They claim it
eliminates 99.9% of contaminants. They
claim it removes 2,000% more
contaminants than leading water filter
pitchers. It's supposed to be good for
150 gallons of fresh water. They claim
it's been tested against official
testing standards. It has a capacity of
up to 10 cups. According to the
manufacturer, this filter system does
not remove 100% of the contaminants in
the water. And the Epic Water system is
made in the USA. I'll go ahead and fill
the reservoir with cold tap water and
let it filter through completely. I'll
go ahead and throw out the first two
jugs of filtered water. I believe that
the Epic Water system uses both carbon
as well as an ion exchange system. And
the Epic Water takes quite a bit longer
than most of the other brands at around
5 minutes and 8 seconds. According to
the TDS meter, only four parts per
million. The Epic Water doesn't seem to
be experiencing too much color change
with the reagent. And 0.26 parts per
million of copper should be safe to
drink. At a price of $80, is this Sante
Shay brand. They claim it's a pH
enhancing filtration system. Designed to
remove lead, mercury, asbestos, and
chromium and several other contaminants.
Water has to pass through both water
filters for several minutes under
pressure from a faucet. It's supposed to
enhance the pH up to 9.5. They claim a
capacity of 64 oz or 8 cups. And the
Sante Shay is made in USA. The Sante
Shay seems to be making a little bit
faster progress than the Epic Water. And
the Sante Shay is finished in just over
4 minutes. I did have to condition both
filters using tap water, which has over
250 parts per million. So, the TDS
results are no surprise at 138 parts per
million. And the Sante Shay is also
delivering safe drinking water at 0.72
parts per million. At a price of around
$100, is this Clearly Filtered brand.
They claim it targets 365 plus
contaminants. They specifically mention
fluoride and chlorine. It's supposed to
remove up to 99.9%. They claim that
their filter is supposed to last for 100
gallons. Third party independently
tested to comply with NSF and ANSI
standards. Remove the protective sticker
covering the filter's intake holes. Flip
the priming bag upside down so the
priming disc is facing the faucet. Hold
the disc below the faucet and fill the
priming bag with cold water. Once the
bag is full, twist the threaded base on
the filter onto the disc until snug to
create a seal between the two. Flip the
bag right side up so the filter is
oriented beneath the bag. Forcefully
squeeze the bag with both hands to force
water out of the filter. And the Clearly
Filtered System is made in the USA. The
Clearly Filtered Water System is quite a
bit slower than average and is finally
finished in around 13 minutes for two
cups of water. We just finished running
another two cups of water through the
filter and there's a total of 60 parts
per million of total dissolved solids.
Some of that might be sodium or some
other exchanged ion. And the Clearly
Filtered Water System did a great job at
only 0.05 parts per million, which is
safe to drink. At a price of around
$270, is this Drio Reverse Osmosis
Countertop System. What's nice about the
Drio is that you do not have to hook up
any sort of water lines. It's a
seven-stage reverse osmosis water filter
system. The reverse osmosis membrane
filters down to 0.0001
microns. They claim to remove up to
99.9% of a thousand plus contaminants.
It's very simple, you plug it in, flush
twice, and enjoy purified water. They
claim that the filters that come with
this kit can purify up to 1,050 gallons.
And the Drio is made in China. Fill the
water tank only with fresh tap water
just below the max water line. Place the
raw water tank in position. The system
automatically flushes and refills the
pure water pitcher. The Drio is making
pretty quick progress and I'm not
entirely sure when we reach two cups.
So, I'll go ahead and stop the test at
two minutes. And the Drio filtered three
cups in two minutes, which works out to
around a minute 20 seconds for two cups.
And the Drio is showing zero parts per
million of total dissolved solids. The
Drio also removed just about all the
copper at 0.04 parts per million. And
the most expensive system we'll be
testing costs about $300 and is made by
MegaHome. Unlike the other systems, this
one is an actual water distiller. It
distills the water at 212° Fahrenheit.
It takes approximately 5.5 hours to make
one gallon of distilled water. The
interior and the exterior are made of
304 stainless steel. Water does not
touch plastic. This is a used system
that's been in use for about two years.
As the water boils, vapor enters this
tube and exits here. Water then
transfers into a one-gallon glass
pitcher. The system also includes a
charcoal filter. I'll run just one batch
of water through the water distiller.
The water distiller is using around 575
watts, which is quite a bit of
electricity and heat. I know from
experience that this distiller takes
about 5.5 hours for 1 gallon of water.
The water distiller is the slowest
system in the lineup at around 41
minutes for 2 cups of water, and the
distilled water is at zero parts per
million. There's right at 0.04 parts per
million of copper, the same as the Drip
O. Let's go ahead and test the water
that's inside the water distiller, and
there's just under 400 parts per million
of total dissolved solids in the water
that is still left and yet to be
distilled. So, the Lifestraw Drip O made
at home clearly filtered, and Zero Water
did an excellent job in reducing the
copper content below 0.1 parts per
million. Aquagear Epic and Seychelle
reduced the copper levels below 1 part
per million. The amount of time a water
filter takes to do its job might be a
factor to consider, and the Waterdrop is
the fastest at filtering 2 cups of water
in very close to just 1 minute. The Drip
O reverse osmosis 1 minute and 20
seconds, and Amazon Basics is close to a
minute and 28 seconds. Let's add 1
gallon of very dirty pond water to 4
gallons of distilled water. Let's also
add some red food coloring. Let's also
toss in some probiotics. Right on the
sodium fluoride bottle, it says toxic if
swallowed. So, let's go ahead and add
some sodium fluoride to the water. The
water is definitely rich in fluoride and
has maxed out the test strip. Let's see
which water filters do the best job at
reducing fluoride content and improving
the appearance of the water. Let's first
test the Waterdrop after I add some
unfiltered water to a cup. The Waterdrop
is improving the appearance of the water
a little, but it still looks pretty red.
The Waterdrop has around 502 parts per
million, and the unfiltered water is
actually lower at around 461 parts per
million. Before we test the fluoride
level, let's first test the color of the
water using a copper tester. I'll start
with the unfiltered water. The tester
only measured the concentration of red
dye in the water and not parts per
million. And the unfiltered water has a
color score of 0.33. We want this number
to be as close to zero as possible, and
the filtered water by the Waterdrop has
just about as much color with the score
of 0.31. The Pure seems to be doing a
better job at removing red food coloring
and improving the appearance of the
water than the Waterdrop. And 384 parts
per million of total dissolved solids is
better than the unfiltered water. The
Pure also performed a lot better for
appearance with a score of 0.21. The
Amazon Basics didn't perform quite as
well as the Pur removing copper and the
Amazon Basics water doesn't look to be
quite as clear as the Pur water. And 427
parts per million is better than the
unfiltered water, but not by much. The
Pur scored 0.21 for a color score and
the Amazon Basics is at 0.23. The Zero
water has a five-stage filter. This is
some really nasty water full of food
coloring, bacteria, and fluoride. And
the Zero water is looking very clear
compared to the previous three brands.
Very impressive. And the Zero water is
now at zero parts per million. Very
impressive. At zero parts per million,
I'm looking forward to testing the
fluoride content in a couple of minutes.
And the Zero water scored perfect with a
color score of zero. Very impressive.
The Brita doesn't seem to be helping the
appearance of the water by too much, but
maybe it's helping a lot with the
fluoride. And the Brita is at around 397
parts per million of total dissolved
solids. And the color score is at 0.14,
which is good enough to move into second
place behind the Zero water. It's been
around 33 minutes and the LifeStraw is
finished filtering the water. The
LifeStraw is around 357 parts per
million of total dissolved solids. And
the LifeStraw moves into third place
behind the Brita with the color score of
0.18. AquaGear is doing a really good
job at improving the clarity of the
water and it seems to have a lot less
color compared to most of the previous
brands. However, there are now 456 parts
per million of total dissolved solids in
the water. The water does seem to be a
little bit more cloudy compared to the
Zero water. However, a color score of
0.1 is good enough to move into second
place behind the Zero water. Epic is
also doing a really good job at
improving the clarity of the water and
looks just as good as the Zero water.
The water filtered by the Epic is now at
427 parts per million. And the Epic
moves into a two-way tie with the Zero
water with a perfect score of zero. Very
impressive. The Seychelle is doing a
pretty good job at cleaning up the
water, but not nearly as well as the
Epic. The water filtered by the
Seychelle is now at 574 parts per
million. The Seychelle performed quite a
bit better than average with a color
score of 0.07.
The Clearly filter is doing a really
good job at clearing up the water. It's
been around 13 minutes and the water is
worth the wait at only 177 parts per
million. And the Clearly Filtered water
scored perfect on the water color test
with a score of zero. The DYLN is a
reverse osmosis system, and it's working
very quickly, and the water looks
crystal clear. And the water filtered by
the DYLN is at 10 parts per million,
which is pretty good. And the DYLN also
scored a perfect zero on the color test.
The MegaHome Water Distiller system is
the slowest water filtering system in
the lineup, but is it worth the wait?
The MegaHome water does look crystal
clear, just like the water filtered by
the DYLN. And there's only three parts
per million of total dissolved solids.
And the water distiller did a great job
with a perfect score of zero. Just
because water has total dissolved solids
doesn't mean that the water is unsafe to
drink. However, the ZeroWater came out
on top at zero parts per million. The
water distiller finished in second place
at three parts per million, and DYLN
reverse osmosis third at 10. So, five of
the water filters cleaned up the water
and scored a perfect zero for water
clarity. According to a study referenced
by the US Department of Health and Human
Services website, high levels of
fluoride exposure were associated with
lower IQ in children. Not good. In the
next test, let's see how much fluoride
is still in the filtered water. The test
strips will not provide a precise parts
per million count, but it appears to be
between 50 but less than 100 parts per
million. Based upon the lighter color of
the test strip compared to the water
drop, the PUR appears to be closer to
100 than the water drop. Again, this is
just an estimate, and the Amazon Basics
appears to be between 25 and 50 parts
per million, the best yet. And it
appears that the ZeroWater did remove
all the fluoride as a color matches the
zero parts per million color. Very
impressive. The Brita appears to have
performed a little bit better than
average at just over 50 parts per
million. The LifeStraw looks close to
the same as the Brita at just over 50
parts per million. So, let's consider it
a tie. The AquaGear performed better
than most of the other brands on this
test at around 25 to 40 parts per
million. Again, this is just an
estimate, and the color of the water
filtered by the Epic appears to be
around 10 parts per million. The test
strip for the Seychelle is a light pink,
and it appears to be between 50 and 100
parts per million. Just like the
ZeroWater, the Clearly Filtered did a
really good job on this test, and it
appears to be between 0 and 10 parts per
million. The DYL reverse osmosis system
has done a terrific job, and the test
strips appear to be almost a perfect
match with 0 parts per million of
fluoride. When it comes to water
purification, a water distiller is
considered the gold standard by many,
and the MegaHome water distiller appears
to remove all the fluoride from the
water. Using water test strips to
measure fluoride content is definitely
not a perfect test, and I've tried to do
the best I can to estimate the fluoride
content. The test water was definitely
badly saturated with fluoride to
distinguish the filters that most
thoroughly remove fluoride. And the
ZeroWater DYL and MegaHome appear to
remove all of the fluoride. The Clearly
Filtered also came pretty close. In the
next test, let's add just enough
chlorine to the water so that the
chlorine smell is present. Every once in
a while, the tap water in my home has a
very strong chlorine smell. I'm using a
specific tester and reagent designed for
detecting bleach. The unfiltered water
test sample turned red once I added the
reagent. The unfiltered water is in
really bad shape with a maximum rating
of 3.5 on the tester. I tested all the
water filters. Unfortunately, all of
them scored perfect on this test,
removing all of the chlorine content.
Let's cut open each of the filters,
beginning with the Waterdrop. And the
oscillating tool made very quick work of
the Waterdrop. And the Waterdrop is
packed full of loose filtering media.
The PUR performed better than the
Waterdrop throughout most of the
testing. And the PUR filtering media
does look quite a bit different than the
Waterdrops. The Amazon Basics trailed
the PUR in some of the tests, but seemed
to perform better at filtering fluoride.
And the filter media looks similar to
the Waterdrops. The ZeroWater performed
very well in this review. There are five
stages in the filtering process with the
ZeroWater, and this filter is packed
full of filtering media. The filter
media inside the Brita does look quite a
bit different than the previous brands.
The LifeStraw has two different filters.
The first filter appears to be a
carbon-based filtering media. The second
filter's media looks quite a bit
different than the other brands and
appears to be some sort of
microfiltration membrane. The Epic Water
Filter seems to be quite a bit different
than the other brands. I believe that
this is a carbon filter with ion
exchange. The filter media with the
AquaCleer looks similar to the Epic. I
believe it's carbon as well as ion
exchange. The Santeau has two of these
filters, and they're both the same. The
filter media looks similar to the Aqua
Clears. They clearly filtered performed
very well in this review compared to
most of the other brands. And the filter
media looks much more robust and complex
in the previous five brands. So, which
water filter is the best? The left side
of the scorecard contains some basic
information about each brand that was
not included in calculating the winner
of the review. I decided not to include
total dissolved solids in calculating
the winning scores since not all total
dissolved solids are unsafe in drinking
water. The graded categories are on the
right side of the chart and I've
converted the raw performance into the
first to last place ranking. And the DYL
reverse osmosis and the Mega Home Water
Distiller tied for first place with an
average finish of 1.25. Beginning with
the DYL, it's pretty expensive at a
price of around $270, but the filters
are supposed to last for around 1,000
gallons. It's a pretty quick water
filter and it does an amazing job of
cleaning the water. If it fits within a
budget, it seems like a great choice for
families that go through a lot of water
as this thing works quickly. The Mega
Home Distiller is another great system.
It does use quite a bit of electricity
and is pretty slow at around 41 minutes
for two cups of water. On the other
hand, there aren't any filters to
replace, but it does need cleaning
periodically. If you're only needing 1
to 2 gallons per day, this would
definitely be a great choice. By the
way, this is what's left behind after
distilling 1 gallon of drinking water.
Looks worse than the pond water. If it's
all about the budget, I really like the
Zero Water and this would definitely be
my choice at a price of around $34. It
filters water pretty quickly and it does
a terrific job. The Zero Water strips
the water of just about everything and
for that reason, the filters will
probably have to be replaced more often
than most of the other brands. However,
if you buy the filters in bulk, you can
acquire the filters for around 12 to 13
dollars each. Some people want a water
filter system that leaves the minerals
in the water. Me personally, I'd rather
take everything out and add back the
minerals that I want to consume. All of
the videos in this channel, including
this one, are viewer suggested. So, if
you have a video idea, I hope you'll
take time to leave a comment. Thanks so
much for watching. Please take care and
I'll look forward to next time.