Big Berkey Gravity-Fed Stainless Steel Countertop Water Filter System 2.25 Gallon with 2 Authentic Black Berkey Elements BB9-2 Filters

This is the second one of these we have ordered. My husband ordered the first one over my objections to the price, but as soon as I put this water into my countertop ice maker, I was 100% sold on the quality and value. Because this filters out all the junk, the ice is very soft and chewable, and I love it. I also can really tell a difference between the filtered water and ice that come out of our refrigerator and this water/ice. This is soooo much better. So I bought one for my mother as well. Easy to use, easy to clean, and great water.

* Great for 7 months.* IMPORTANT: Prime filters (5 min water) for good flow.* Storage (was out of town) - Clean reservoir, let filters dry. Upon return, lazy didn't re-prime filters so REALLY slowed flow after storage.* Drank tap water because Berkey was so slow. Realized how BAD it tastes (had never notice before).* Re-priming fixed slow processing.* 2.5-gallon fills in ~30 minutes.* VERY pleased with performance.* Will track water use for 6,000-gallon filter life.* Amazon stand makes dispensing easier.* Expensive upfront cost BUT well worth it due to taste, convenience, low long

I have been totally happy with this water filtration system. Water taste great and it is nice looking sitting on my cabinet.

Def the best water filter I've ever used, our water tastes slightly sweet and delicious! Super easy to use as well, I love that I dont need to use any energy to make it work. Couldn't be simpler! Well worth the price

I swear my dog drinks more water because it tastes better. True story.

After caving to the pressure of family and friends to order this water filter, I couldn't be more pleased with it and kicking myself for putting it off for too long. It's easy to assemble (be sure to really tighten the tap!), it fits on my kitchen counter well, and the water tastes exactly how clean, fresh water should taste. Being raised in a city with artesian well water, I got spoiled and have not been able to drink tap water in any other city I've lived in. No more lugging gallons of bottled water home every week or two, no more chemical tasting tap water. The only thing I'm second guessing is that I probably could have done just as well with a Travel Berkey rather than the Big Berkey, being a one-person household. Otherwise, I'm very pleased and would encourage ditching the environmentally irresponsible plastic bottles, questionable bottled water quality, and go for a unit that you can trust. In my case it will pay for itself in just over a year. The filters may be costly but they last a very long time. I won't need to replace them for many, many years. I definitely recommend Berkey water filtration systems.

I was fooled back in 2017, the claims Berkey makes are just too good to be true - and it turns out they are. One obvious example is they claim to filter 99.999% of VIRUSES; no authority on water quality will tell you that water filters (including reverse osmosis) can effectively remove viruses - even pure chlorine bleach claims "only" 99.97% effectiveness on viruses. This is a Logarithmic Scale, it does not mean 0.029% better; it means Berkey is claiming to do over 1000% better than pure bleach on viruses!Berkey misrepresents their "independent" tests as meeting or exceeding NSF standards. NSF runs 6,000 gallons of water through the filter BEFORE testing, Berkey's tests ran 2 liters at most. NSF requires surprise onsite inspections annually and will purchase filters on the market randomly to test. Private testers are paid by Berkey and will only test what they are given. There are several competitors that are competitively priced, yet manage to be NSF certified and transparent about how they manufacture their filters.Be cautious when searching for "Berkey third party tests," many do not do any technical testing, merely rate based on convenience and aesthetics. Other top results claim to not be funded by Berkey and give the filters top marks. Scroll down those pages and do a little investigating and you will see that either Berkey provided the specific filters tested, provided discount codes, or the sites are straight up Berkey dealers or directly owned by Berkey! Sites not affiliated with Berkey will give far more scathing reviews.The red food coloring test proves nothing except that the filters can filter out red food coloring. Carbon block water filters are not like sieves, they would clog up almost immediately if that was the case. Oversimplified, they are an absorbent material with varying ability to absorb and bind a variety of contaminants. There is ZERO evidence that food coloring is an accurate analog for contaminants we are seeking to filter out. A filter that allows food coloring through may still effectively filter contaminants; conversely, a filter that does not allow food coloring to pass may still be passing contaminants - possibly more than the prior example because the filter is binding with inconsequential particles.Again, Berkey's claims are too good to be true and even if accurate, the company has no truly independent mechanisms for consumers to verify that their filters perform consistently.(FYI, the Water Quality Association [WQA] is another rigorous, transparent, and reliable water filter certification body. Berkey also lacks WQA certification).

Assembly instructions could be more clear and updated to accurately reflect the parts sent. I watched some videos made by a guy in the U.K. and also by a couple of homemakers in the U.S., all of which were very helpful.One thing I didn't understand ahead of time, which might have affected my decision to purchase a Burkey--apparently, the filters aren't supposed to "dry out." I'm not sure how long "drying out" takes, but it's only my husband and I here now. We're retired and we won't be going through gallons of water every day. In addition, we do travel a fair bit--a week here, two weeks there, another week a month later... If I understand correctly, we're supposed to disassemble the upper unit (where the filters are) every time we will be gone longer than a couple of days and then upon return, we'll need to prime the filters over again.I'm not ready to admit to myself that I made a poor purchase, but this revelation wasn't happy news for us.