So take what I'm going to say as only a semi-educated opinion, based on a little online reading a while back.

My sister asked me beforehand whether I wanted one of these for my birthday. While the initial thought sounded kind of appealing, since I'm really into cooking from scratch, with a lot of kitchen gadgets, after reading some online reviews and sites, I said "not for me, no thanks."

The reasons I decided it wasn't that great of an idea:

The syrups the company sells all contain Splenda, even the non-diet flavors. Mind you, I don't mind Splenda, and I drink a lot of diet pop (we call it pop here in Michigan, no one says soda), mainly Mt. Dew and some Pepsi Max, but when I want to splurge on the calories and have a Coke or Pepsi, or I really need that 3:00 PM sugar rush to get through the rest of the work day, I want something with sugar. Plus, while the company makes versions of all of the most popular flavors, I don't want to trust some generic version of the specific flavor of Coke, Pepsi, Mt. Dew, etc. -- alternate brands, such as store brands of colas, root beers, orange, etc. can be pretty bad compared to the specific taste of named brands, IMHO -- I especially hate a lot of off brand and store brand colas, which to me have a funky, musty taste, nothing like Coke or Pepsi or even RC, which is decent.

The quality of the water source is important, and our tap water here is disgusting as is from the tap. I buy bottled water to drink, and put tap through a Brita to make ice. So, that would be more water to buy or filter for me. Something to consider -- as some of the reviews say, if you don't start with good tasting water, your pop won't taste good, either.

What it does -- all this product really does is make seltzer water/club soda -- you then just stir in the syrup to flavor the pop afterwards. Well, I've been doing this for years by mixing club soda with juice or syrups, and I can buy a 2 liter of store brand club soda for $.88.

You need to periodically refill the gas cylinder - it's not purchased, it licensed from the company, so only they can do it for you. And, you need to send it in. So, to have an uninterrupted supply, you need to purchase a second one while yours is in transit. Many people also suggest buying multiple bottles, since the carbonation bottle is specific to the unit, nothing else fits it.

So, my final analysis -- not worth the expense or hassle -- I can buy a lot of club soda for the cost of the base unit plus the ongoing expenses of carbon dioxide refills and bottled water, and I wasn't sure I would like the finished product when compared to the name brand pop flavors I drink.

Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

I relied a lot on this site to make my decision, I thought it was fair and balanced (unlike Fox News!), giving both the pros and cons of the product line:

http://www.mysodastreamreview.com/

You hit on every nagging piece I was having!

They do sell a line of flavorings that has "pure cane sugar" on top of the non-diet flavors, but those are about half again the price of the others. Don't know how new that is, but I am happy to see it becoming more common lately. Coke with sugar tastes like heaven compared to the Coke we buy here. Will look closer as to the other ingredients.

Water wouldn't be a problem here as I put all drinking water and ice through a Big Berkey to get all of the nasties out, but as one that can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi (and will order Iced Tea in lieu of one of them), I do wonder about the flavors.

My biggest niggly was the cylinder. I was trying to figure out why they would sell them in various combinations of Spare and Exchange, and I don't get it. Wouldn't extras ALL be 'Spares' that you 'Exchange' after you use them? That is the one price point I have not factored into this. The cylinders apparently work for ~65 litres, so 1 cylinder per 10 bottles of flavoring - but what $ amount to use?

I greatly appreciate the link - I will check that out and have a feeling that if they went to the trouble to register a domain name, these questions and more I didn't think to ask will be addressed. That is awesome!

What syrups are you using with club soda and where are you finding them?

I have a few bottles of DaVinci here, but not flavors I would use as soda (Gingerbread, Peppermint Patty). I'll check the Netrition site that sells the sugar free ones and see what else they might have.

Thank you SO much for taking the time to respond so thoroughly to this. This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Still leaning in the buy column, but now I feel like I have the questions I need to go find answers for, and the cylinder issue just may be the kill switch on this whole thing.

Merry Happy to you!

PS - Where I'm from, matters not if you are drinking a Diet Dr Pepper or a 7up - its all "Coke" to us! I am trying to use "Soda" more often, but you know the old expression: You can take a girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl.

I've bought various syrups at Meijer (a regional mass merchandiser/grocer here in the midwest), Gordon Food Service (don't know if these are national or just here in Michigan), and even some at Target a year or so back (sold for snow cones, but worked to make pop as well).

There are a lot of places online you can buy flavoring concentrates to make your own syrup, as well as ready to blend syrups.

One that is fun is Prairie Moon:

http://www.prairiemoon.biz/Syrup-Concentrate-Complete-Flavor-List_c_553.html

This place sells syrups (kind of pricey, though), and also has instructions for building your own cheaper home carbonation unit.

http://pittsburghsodapop.com/index.html

and it is one of his favorite toys! Right up there with his Foosball table! ( I used a 20% off coupon from Kohl's)

I did an asking thread in the frugal forum.
I think this was it. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x87849

There are ways to solve most of your concerns, esp about the canisters. Check out CO2 doctor link from the discussion.

I try to break hubby of his diet coke habit. He still sneaks one in when he's inclined, but he likes fizzy water and you can get your water extra fizzy with the soda stream. For flavor, we don't buy the syrups. We just use a slash of juice. Very refreshing!

I have used various other things like tea or a squeeze of fruit or even a smushed berry or two. The possibilities are fun!

One of these could have really come in handy this weekend with family visiting. I bought 7 different 12-packs and darned if each of them wasn't opened with people all wanting different flavors.

Pepsi has started bottling 1.5 litre sodas. It may be at your link, but I wonder how well those can be reused to store various flavors rather than having to buy the manufacturer's special 1 litre containers... Worse case I would guess is them going flat, but if you only make that variety for special occasions, that wouldn't be a problem.

we did a total makeover on the CO2 delivery system.

hubby was going through 6-8 liters of Perrier a week, and the recycling and cost and pain in my back hauling from the grocery store ..... well, you get the picture.

he got a sodastream from my mom for Xmas last year and the little cartridge that came with it didn't even last the first weekend, sooooo we ordered a conversion unit from this guy http://co2doctor.com/ and went to our local welding shop and ordered two 5 pound brand new clean canisters and hooked it up so the canisters live under the cabinet next to the fridge.

the refill for 5 pounds is about $8 and they last us about 6 weeks.

we love that thing and drink TONS of 'bubble water'

Seems to be the way to go. I'm surprised the Soda Stream people haven't figured out that their product is inadequate for many people's needs and just come up directly with their own version of this, rather than lose business to third parties.

I was a little intimidated by the links as I know *nothing* about gas fittings and storage, but have emailed both your link and Denninmi's to my BIL to see if he can figure out a way of making this work. Good news that - if he finds this interesting, he will jump in first and get all of the potential kinks worked out for them before helping me.

I'm going to have one of these installed by the counter top guy and the plumber. We don't drink that much fizzy water that it is a burden yet, but it would be cheaper!

but now that it's hooked up, it's easy to change the canisters and they take a surprisingly small amount of space under the cabinet. and since they're right by the fridge, it only took a small hole to run the hose out the side.

it's a clean and attractive solution for us.

Last edited Fri Feb 17, 2012, 04:59 PM - Edit history (1)

I found it to be one of those products which seems a good idea at the time or maybe for a while. My mother eventually gave me her one too so then I had two I didn't use. In a similar I landed up with three Breville sandwich presses............

he said putting his finger on the side of his nose and nodding.

Aside from that I wiki'd it out of curiousity . They were invented in 1903 apparently ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodastream

off topic : I will desist from posting joke household hint OPs from a list of 100's I know the whereabouts of other than to maybe post odd ones as add ons occasionally

eg. OLD telephone directories make ideal personal address books. Simply cross out the names and address of people you don't know.

Wowie zowie! Well, happy 109 years, Sodastream.

Oh, and hey - post whatever you got! Never know what someone just might find useful.

with fizzy water, as a prelude to buying the machine.

I found that their flavors were not pleasant. We ended up throwing several away. I also noticed that with the pouring and stirring necessary to mix the flavoring in, carbonation was lost to a distressing level. Since I do not care for unflavored fizzyness, I decided I was better off without paying for another device to find room for in my tiny tiny kitchen.

Also, when I crunched numbers, it did not look like it would save me significant money, since I don't buy soda except when it drops under a buck anyway. Between their carbonation cylinders and the cost of flavorings, it came out more expensive than me buying bottles from a store

I was skeptical of the instructions for aftermarket alterations for commercial gas cylinders. With confirmation that there is a workable solution, that issue at least seems surmountable.

Now they remade it with a way to carbonate a flavored liquid, I would reconsider.

I like the clear sodas and their version of Mountain Dew, but can't stomach the cola. Not surprising, I am one of those who cannot for the life of me drink Pepsi, and the cola syrup is way too Pepsi-ish for my taste.

When you say "remade it to carbonate flavored liquid" - is that the current version on the market?

Im pretty sure all their models will just make a mess if you try to flavor the water, and then carbonate it.

Glad I saw this. I am dumb enough to ignore the instructions and try it just to see what happens. I'd be cleaning up coke syrup for an hour.

I don't have much to add beyond what has already been said here. I filter tap water before carbonating it, because otherwise the end result tastes disgusting. Mine came with a free set of sample flavors. I tried one and didn't like it, and I agree that mixing it in reduces the carbonation. I just drink it plain. So far the cartridge has lasted for me about a month, still going.

I'd like to find out how to add unsweetened lime or lemon flavor. Maybe just squeeze some juice in after carbonation?

I like the convenience of being able to make a liter of carbonated water quickly without having to carry heavy bottles from the store and then recycle them.

but I don't see why it wouldn't work?

I still have a few of those Crystal Lite single packs that you add to bottled water. I used to use them to flavor protein shakes. Sealed, so I think may still be good as they are powder. I was thinking of trying one or two of those to see if the dry mix helps keep the carbonation high.

edit to add, i used to add a 'float' of cranberry (or anykind) of juice to mine

and they are still around for 50-80 bucks and generic cartridges 5 bucks or so for 10.



There's other models now, too...



Goggle "soda siphons" and see what comes up.

I like mine, because it cuts down on having to go back to the store to recycle the empty bottles. (My state charges a refundable fee for recycling on each bottle sold).

I like best to mix the resulting sparkling water with juice (faves would be unsweetened grapefruit or tangerine), and then I add a package of tangerine-flavored EmergenC, which is a powdered vitamin C supplement. I put about 1/3 juice in the glass, add the EmergenC, and then slowly pour in the sparkling water. Yum! The resulting drink is very thirst quenching, and is sugar free, and low-cal. I have not bothered to try out the syrups the company sells, including the free ones that came with the initial kit.

I am not sure if it saves any money compared to buying pop, but at least I can avoid the artificial colors, weird ingredients, and excess sweetener that come with commercial products. I avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague. Most of what I've read says they are much more harmful than regular sugar. I know that artificial sweeteners upset my stomach. If you want to try out a safer low cal sweetener, you might wish to check out stevia, especially the concentrated liquid varieties. Stevia has 0 calories, 0 carbs, and has been used by a native tribe in South America for centuries. It seems safer to me than something cooked up in a chemical lab. About the only disadvantage to stevia is that it has a kind of licorice after-taste to it.

Any way, good luck with the Sodastream.

from this site: 6 Things You Buy That Help Support Israeli Brutality
at: http://www.alternet.org/world/companies-and-consumer-products-boosting-israels-brutal-occupation?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_campaign=hootsuite&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

this idea: "Consumers may not know it, but buying products like Sabra hummus and Sodastream helps fuel Israel’s military control over Palestinians. Some companies have factories located in one of the 125 officially recognized settlements in occupied Palestine, which are illegal under international law."

As a Jew, I am completely against Israel's actions in Palestine, so I try not to support any company operating in or around the occupied territories.

And for this reason, unfortunately we no longer have a Sodastream in our household. It's a shame since it was handy for making cheap fizzy water, but it's a matter of conscience and that luxury isn't worth it.

And welcome to DU!