Helps with the taste
These are good filters, as long as you understand the tradeoffs between these and Brita's other filters. Brita did succeed in getting water to flow through faster, but it's by no means free-flowing, and it doesn't remove as much as their traditional filters. But it probably does a good enough job that most people will still be happy. First, the flow rate. I'd call it a heavy trickle. It doesn't hold a candle to pouring from a regular pitcher, or the flow from a sink, but it's not bad. I'd say it's about on par with a refrigerator's in-door water dispenser, to give you an idea. It does get significantly slower as the pitcher is getting closer to empty, but that's not a huge deal since you can refill it instantly. I've also noticed the flow rate varies a lot from filter to filter, for what it's worth. As for the filtering performance, it's worth noting that this filters out chlorine, and not really anything else. Does that matter? Probably not. Chlorine is probably responsible for most of the unpleasant taste in municipal water. If that's all you care about, then this will probably do the job (although the traditional filters seem to work slightly better in my experience). If, however, you happen to be in an older building, you might be concerned about other contaminants, like lead or mercury. In that case, this filter won't help you. (What you probably want is Brita's Longlast filter, their only filter that removes lead.) So, are these worth it? Well, if you are chronically forgetful about refilling the pitcher until you're thirsty (or if you have lazy roommates), probably. Unless you live in a building with ancient pipes: then you still might want to pass. Read more
