SodaStream-The Good, The Bad and The Price
Well I gave in to the hype and got a SodaStream, Jet model which is the cheapest of course. There are many things that made it attractive in advertisements, saving money, non-electrical, environmentally sound, not having to lug the bottles up three flights of stairs and all those flavors. So I bit the bullet and paid the eighty dollars for the starter kit and an extra 30 for the spare carbonation canister. The starter kit comes with (1) 1-liter special carbonation bottle, the machine, (1) carbonation can that supposedly does 60 liters and (6) 1 liter sample flavors. The flavors are an energy dink, orange, root beer, lemon-lime, diet cola and diet cranberry raspberry.
So my almost four year old was ecstatic when we got the box home, he was psyched to make his own pop, so after a bit of tweaking the machine was up in running. You basically have to take the back off and twist the CO2 bottle in and you are pretty much good to go. The machine is not too sturdy, but it is the cheaper version so I was prepared. I read a lot of the reviews and posts on this product, so I was hoping they would lead to promise. So if you can tell by the tone of this, it may not leave you in love with this product. I sometimes wonder if the people who write all these flowery reviews get a kick back or something.
So first things first, the claim that this is cheaper……if you can do the math, you will realize when you have the numbers this just is not so. So here are the numbers for you to decide..
Flavor bottles are five bucks a pop, which makes 12 liters. 5/12= .41
Carbonation Bottles…spare is 30 and refills are 15 dollars. These canisters cover 60 liters.
60/30=.50 60/15=.25
But this is for one liter, not 2 which is what we buy, so for a 2-liter with the initial carbonation bought and we will give them the price of the refill (I am feeling generous)
2-liter cost is 1.32 Name brand cost 1.35 all day long at Wal-Mart and you can catch them on sale every month. So with the .03 cents saving on each 2-liter, you will only have to make 2,667 2-liters to break even with the machine and then the money will just roll in. Although, the three spurts for the carbonation are not enough and I doubt it will make 60 liters. So there goes all that savings huh? Not to mention Wal-Mart off brand can be less than a dollar, which is what this will taste like anyways.
Sorry SodaStream, one lie down.
Next is non-electrical, which to me is it’s redeeming quality and that is because I like non-electrical.
Environmentally it is better in the way it saves all those bottles from the landfill, especially since you will have to make over 2,500 2 liters to merely break even. The fact that you don’t have to lug all those bottles back from the store is another big plus. There are also 60 flavors to choose from and I am sure some of them are good. I have tried a few and am not thrilled, but my son’s less refine taste buds find them yummy. Whoever said they taste like name brand surely doesn’t have any taste buds of their own, but I digress.
So will I keep it, sadly yes, my son is convinced. So I will keep this machine even though the advertisements are well false, because my almost four year old thinks it is better than slice bread and if you have seen him eat toast, you would know the big deal that it is. But to others, maybe it will not be worth it. If you have one and have found a flavor that taste decent, let me know in comments.
