Santevia Gravity Water System Filter | at Home Water Filter That Makes Water Alkaline and Adds Minerals | Chlorine and Fluoride Filter (Countertop Model)

UPDATE: THIS MUST BE DOING ITS WORK because for a 1st ever our dogs stainless steel dishes are not getting a gross residue and build up after multiple refills of water that came from this product!!!We luv how much water this holds/filters and that it does have such a great filter system. It purifies and dispenses the water at a fair speed and chose the filter that removes chlorine as well as fluoride. If I remember soon to find a way to test for removal of both i will update what we find. I found it to be a good price & prepping it before first use was easy.

This is amazing and makes the tap water so smooth. It removes the fluoride, metals, and that awful sink smell. The additional rocks at the bottom inside the water make the water more alkalized which is a plus, we also use it to cook with. It doesn't take too long to filter through the process, but I find filling it up at night has better results.

I really liked this product when I first got it. I wanted it for the purpose of raising pH and also for removing flouride. I ordered some professional grade testing supplies to verify that i was getting results. I had two separate sets of strips, one for pH, and one for the different metals in the water. Although these tests are in the form of strips, both are designed for testing drinking water. There is no reason why these strips should not work for water. Both types of strips showed that the pH was the same for the santevia filtered water and the tap water, at about a 6.5. The strips that also test for metals in the water indicate that lead and flouride are exactly the same in the two samples of water. I spent extra money on a flouride filter and it has absolutely no effect on the fouride in the water, with a reading of 20 in both samples. Lead is the same in both samples as well. I tested multiple samples from both sources and the results were consistent. The only thing that shows up different between the tap water and santevia water is nitrates. Everything else- pH, lead, flouride, hardness, chlorine, copper- are exactly the same before and after being filtered. I used strips from the same kit to test other things around the house (like vinegar, etc) to make sure that the strips actually work, and they do.I reached out to customer service to see if something can be done, and they completely avoided the issue with the flouride still in the water, and then basically insisted that the pH really is different but that I have to spend a lot more money on a much more expensive form of testing (that i obviously wouldn't get reimbursed for) in order to see the results. They just left it at that. He said i can return it if it is still within 30 days, but that is all they will do. He did not offer any troubleshooting suggestions to try to make the product work. My time limit to return it is up. It took me 30 days to test the product two different times in order to see that it doesn't work. I, of course, am out the $35 that it cost for the testing supplies as well, in addition to losing the $200 I spent on this product.When contacted for customer service, the company completely avoided major parts of my question, tried to get me to spend more money on more tests (that cannot be refunded) and offered no realistic options for returning the product. They are not accepting any responsibility and are being completely uncooperative, leaving me with a loss of over $200.I tried to give this 0 stars, but it won't register that way, so i had to give it 1. It really should get negative stars because of the hassle and extra expenses involved.Update: customer service did respond again. They just emailed me a picture of tests on the water saying that their tests show that the product works. They stated that they just tested the same water and were able to get 95% reduction for lead and flouride. That is completely ridiculous. The water from the unti on my countertop does not have any reduction in flouride or lead. They dont even know how to resolve that. They just insist that it really does when it definitely does not. They count on customers not being able to test for accuracy.Update (again): i am glad that I purchased this product through Amazon and not directly from santevia. The customer service representatives at santevia were avoiding my questions and were completely unwilling to take any steps to resolve or even address the issue. It was more than 30 days after i received the product that i realized it is ineffective, so i could not even return it to them anymore. I would have had to take the loss on the product and also the additional expenses for testing supplies. When i called and explained the situation to a representative at Amazon, they were willing to refund to me the cost of the product and the cost of testing supplies that were ordered through Amazon and were willing to take things up with santevia themselves. If I had ordered this product any other way I would have lost all of that money, so I am grateful that Amazon was willing to step up and take responsibility and make the effort to resolve the issue when santevia was completely uncooperative.

I put my countertop unit together yesterday, and so far, so good. In my opinion, pay attention to the leaky spigot feedback, but don't let it keep you from buying this product. I was wary of the negative installation feedback, particularly the leakiness factor. First off, putting this thing together requires a chunk of time, and patience. Have something else to do while you're waiting for certain steps - like a movie you can pause or a book you can put down. And be sure to watch the installation video! If you do all of this, installation is a cake walk. (be sure to pause regularly -- the video on my iPhone did not have the ability to back up). Regarding the leaky spigot... The washers for it are made of silicone - a rubbery substance. They are very effective -- unless you tighten the nut too tight. This can cause the washers to distort and wrinkle slightly -- allowing water to wiggle its way through the edges. So when the video says, "Tighten securely", it doesn't mean you should crank it down until your fingers are blue (I'm not saying the rest of you did this. I'm sure there may be a percentage of spigots that are faulty. This is just a common possibilty). If you don't think you tightened it tight enough, test this section with some tap water before you continue. Once you get this thing all put together and filled with water, there's pretty much no going back. And then, in the words of the Car Rental Agent in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Edie McClurg), "You're f***ed". I'm looking forward to drinking my mountain stream water! BTW - if you have questions, ask them on the Amazon website and other users will answer. It's awesome! I had four responses in a matter of minutes.