OT - soda stream

StillH2OEgger

I know this topic was covered a few years back, but apparently it was sunk because when it tried to resurrect it stayed buried. Anyway, we're considering a Soda Stream purchase and looking for some feedback. I linked the previous thread below, so if anyone's opinion has changed or if there's a better option out there, would appreciate anything you are willing to share. Thanks

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2530072#Comment_2530072

U_tarded

I’m too lazy to read it, we have one, it’s been in the pantry about 3 years because we always forget about it.  The soda is ok sparkling water is nice but not worth the price of admittance 

poster

If you like diet sodas its ok, i cannot stand the taste of diet sodas and it seems every syrup available for these is "low cal" so they have the usual diet taste

GrateEggspectations

We only ever use it for soda water, so I can’t speak to other applications. One observation I have made is that, invariably, when I make a bottle, only half to 2/3 of the bottle gets used before the carbonation disappears. When you factor in this waste, I am not sure the Soda Stream is any more economical than buying cans of soda water. 

Lit

Wife and kids love sparkling water so it gets used alot. We had a fizzi original bit it broke and now we have a fizzi one touch that has to be plugged in but is much nicer. 

wla1mjd

I have one that gets used constantly for sparkling water.... the economics didn’t make sense until I started refilling my own CO2 bottles from a 20lb tank instead of exchanging them. Went from $15/tank to about $2/tank. I refill the 20lb tank about twice a year. 

kl8ton

Tried it.  We buy sparkling water.  Returned device. We liked it fizzy. Ran thru CO2 fast. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Had one for 6-7 years. It mostly sits idle. The refills were really hard to get for while (all their retail partners bailed on them) but they have that fixed through mail order now. Still really expensive and a PITA to mess with. We only use it for sparkling water so I can’t comment in their mixes. We use it from time to time but I wouldn’t buy one (ours was a gift). All the other comments ring true. It’s just...meh. 

Brason

We love ours. We use it for sparkling water and go through a bottle or 2 a day. We trade in the CO2 bottles at Bed Bath and Beyond. With the $5 off coupon it is $10 a bottle so worth it for us.

Brason

wla1mjd said:

I have one that gets used constantly for sparkling water.... the economics didn’t make sense until I started refilling my own CO2 bottles from a 20lb tank instead of exchanging them. Went from $15/tank to about $2/tank. I refill the 20lb tank about twice a year. 

How do you refill the cannisters? I would be interested in that.

StillH2OEgger

Thanks everyone. We're still on the fence a bit, but really appreciate the feedback.

HeavyG

Brason said:

wla1mjd said:

I have one that gets used constantly for sparkling water.... the economics didn’t make sense until I started refilling my own CO2 bottles from a 20lb tank instead of exchanging them. Went from $15/tank to about $2/tank. I refill the 20lb tank about twice a year. 

How do you refill the cannisters? I would be interested in that.

Find your local paintball gun shop.

GatoGordo

While I would not purchase one myself, my daughter gave me one last Christmas. I drink a lot of diet sodas and she did not like the number of cans I would go through. The taste of the syrups is good for the most part. I also like the fruit drops that give a light taste to sparkling water.

As for cost, this comes out to be just slightly less than buying soda in the store, even when refilling the CO2 at home. If you are just looking for sparkling water, then after paying for the soda stream, 20 lb CO2 bottle, CO2 adapter, and CO2 refills it would eventually pay for itself.

In short, I like it, but would not buy it for myself.

GatoGordo

Brason said:
How do you refill the cannisters? I would be interested in that.

I had a CO2 tank from when I made my own beer and purchased an adapter from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MFXQ15J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

wla1mjd

Refilling is pretty straightforward... you need a siphon CO2 tank and the refill adapter (available online, at amazon, even some paintball shops). There’s a bunch of YouTube videos that show how to do it.

AprèsSki

Have had one for at least a decade, on our 2nd one now. Wife loves it I like it. Not soda drinkers but do drink a lot of sparkling water.

It helps if you have good water to begin with (freshly melted Wasatch powder tastes pretty good). We leave the bottles out on the counter overnight with their caps off to to off gas as much Cl2 as possible. We don't puff the bottles until we drink them, keeping the in the fridge until needed.

Our biggest reason to buy one was to avoid all of the empty bottles we'd truck off to the recycle bin each month. I still prefer the little cans of Perrier.

GatoGordo

wla1mjd said:

Refilling is pretty straightforward... you need a siphon CO2 tank and the refill adapter (available online, at amazon, even some paintball shops). There’s a bunch of YouTube videos that show how to do it.

A siphon tank is not required. If using a siphon tank then hold the CO2 tank upright. If using a non-siphon tank, like me, then hold the CO2 tank upside down.