Pur has vastly improved its products!
Written: Dec 14 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Only filter (in this price range) that removes the most harmful chemicals from municipal water.
Cons: Slow filtration (about 10 seconds for 8oz -- 20 seconds toward end of filter life).
The Bottom Line: Absolutely the best water filtration for the money.
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| nativegirl's Full Review: Pur Ultimate Water Faucet Filter Fm |
Pur's new faucet-mount filters are much better than they were a few years ago -- although still not trouble-free.
In 2001, I gave the Pur Plus Faucet Mount a bad Epinions review. It did a decent job filtering the water, but the unit kept leaking, loosening, falling off the faucet -- basically driving me nuts. I phoned customer service and spoke with a very nice, professional person who immediately sent me a new unit for free, but that one gave me the same problems. I trashed it and went back to drinking unfiltered water.
Then, research started coming to light on trihalomethanes -- a group of chemical by-products of water chlorination that are linked with major health problems, including miscarriage. How to avoid trihalomethanes? Buy a filter that filters them out. Which filters do that? Only the Pur Ultimate. (Note: I believe some whole-house filters and reverse osmosis systems also remove trihalomethanes, but I couldn't afford that. Pur was the only faucet-mount that pledged to remove these chemicals at the time I was filter-shopping in 2004.)
I had just inherited a refrigerator with an in-door icemaker and water dispenser -- an older refrigerator, built before they started putting filters in all of them. So I originally shopped for a filter that could be added to my water dispenser. Too bad: None of them that would fit my fridge filtered enough chemicals to make them worth my while. I was going to have to go faucet-mount.
Fortunately, Pur's products have come down in price. I spent $40 on a Pur faucet mount in the late 1990s that didn't filter nearly as many chemicals as the $30 Pur Ultimate I bought in 2004 (which came with one filter). I figured if it didn't work, I wasn't out too much money.
The filter looks and works the same as ever (except this time I got chrome instead of white -- same price). The filter itself is housed in a chrome or plastic capsule (you can easily change filters by screwing off the bottom of the capsule). The capsule is attached to a short arm, which ends in a fitting that screws on to your faucet (the filter comes with adapters in case your faucet is made funky). The capsule pivots on the arm, allowing you to flip it down for filtered water or up for unfiltered water (which comes out of the regular faucet at regular speed -- useful for dishwashing, etc).
The biggest drawback? Speed. Or lack thereof. Even when the filter is new, you'll wind up leaving your pitcher in the sink to fill while you do something else. The water comes out that slowly. And when the filter gets toward the end of its life, becoming clogged with contaminants, you might as well pitch a tent on your living room floor (or just change the filter -- never mind that the little white "time to change the filter" indicator hasn't moved all the way across yet).
And just like the old days, you can still only filter cold water. But who drinks hot tap water?
After six months of use, I have found that the Pur Ultimate Faucet Mount does not leak. It is trouble-free as long as you change the filter when it needs it (I'm partway through filter No. 2 -- these things last a while). All in all, I have found that this filter is worth it for my peace of mind. I know it makes more healthful drinking water for me and my family.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
nativegirl
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Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 4 members
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