
Compostable all-natural water filters - zachallia
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zachallia/soma-beautifully-innovative-all-natural-water-filt
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mhp
I think the design is great, and from a business perspective I like their
desire to do it on a subscription basis (like Proactiv for example). As a
consumer, that annoys me a bit, but I guess they'll see how it turns out.

HOWEVER, the United States has pretty awesome water coming right out of the
tap. And charcoal based filters are mostly taste filters. They aren't going to
remove most pollutants (you'd need a reverse osmosis filter for that). It's an
aside to this product discussion, but I really don't know how we've been duped
into buying products that support a whole industry of bottled water and water
purification. I say that as I look at my dumb brita filter on the counter...

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chm
Chemist here:

Drinking bottled water is like paying taxes twice. Drink tap water unless the
taste is prohibitive.

This company seems just another gimmick. The only person who might have a clue
of the chemistry going on is the "world expert" David Beeman, who chooses to
entertain us with marketing gibberish rather than facts. The vocabulary is
chosen to confound the chemistry-illiterate viewer and appeal to chemophobia.

Organic, BPA, PLA, vegan, plastic, "Catalytic activated coconut shell carbon",
etc. I would like to have a chat with this "world expert".

A big chunk of the world would give everything they have for access to our tap
water. Gimme a break with your pathetic fear mongering.

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zachallia
Email him! He developed the filtration for many major coffee chains (i.e.
Starbucks) and has worked in the industry forever. I promise you he isn't a
gimmick, and a regular consumer wouldn't understand the same things you would
understand.

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chm
I might email him once I'm done studying.

My point is that precisely because he understands what he's doing, he has the
duty to explain it to others, or at least not confound them. From my
perspective, the sales pitch is relying on chemophobia to hook viewers.

No wonder people think of Kickstarter as a store. If the company really is
serious, they should offer technical details concerning their product, the
kind of details an investor wants. I'm willing to bet most people who funded
the company so far have done so with blind trust in the designers/developers
of the product.

I hope I'd lose my bet!

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saidajigumi
This and other products roughly similar to Brita filters all seem a bit
ridiculous and wasteful. At least this one is glass and so free of
plasticizers[1]. A simple drip-through filter isn't going to do that much to
improve most U.S. water supplies.

Instead, just get a multi-stage reverse osmosis filter unit. That'll take out
virtually everything potentially nasty and/or bad tasting: chlorine, flouride,
metal salts used to control algae, misc. minerals and so forth. Coffee and tea
brewers, you really owe this to yourselves. The maintenance amounts to
replacing a few filters in an under-sink unit every one to three years
depending on your local water supply. No remembering to refill a pitcher, just
a little extra spigot on your sink.

[1] BPA-free isn't good enough. Replacing one plasticizer with another that
also has high estrogenic activity is pointless.

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chm
Do you know what a plasticizer does? When it is used? In the preparation of
what polymers? This is not an assault, just a hint.

Read up on BPA, then go to your local dept. store's bottle section. Most of
the bottles will be made of polymers that do not even involve BPA or BPs, but
still advertise as BPA-free. It's only marketing.

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CJefferson
Nice idea, but I dislike claims like:

    
    
        Soma's proprietary formula produces the best tasting water.
        You'll notice a crisp, pure taste you won't find anywhere else.
    

Really? While I appreciate water filtering, I want some real evidence that
this water filter is considerably better than any other water filter on the
market.

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ekianjo
Good idea. Like testing water from two indistinguishable cups and A/B and B/A
fashion. That kind of data is easy to produce and can be used as a sales
pitch.

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revelation
What exactly is filtered by this? In Germany, water from the tap is commonly
found to be cleaner than the stuff you can buy in plastic bottles.

The only application that comes to mind would be regulating water hardness.

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LaGrange
In fact I tried San Francisco water, and it was completely fine. And there's
also the obvious question about the carbon footprint of bringing coconut
shells to US for manufacturing.

On the other hand, in several places in Poland a water filter is, actually,
fairly useful.

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chockablock
I use a carbon block filter (Clear2o) for SF tap water, and appreciate the
lack of chlorine taste. (Or more properly, chloramine:
<http://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=357> )

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nostromo
I wish they'd show someone using it.

How big is it? Seems like it's about the size of a gallon jug. Maybe bigger.
The hourglass shape, unlike a traditional filter, wastes a lot of fridge
space.

Do I have to remove the filter to pour? That would be a deal-breaker for me.
If not, is it spout directional, or can I pour at any angle?

Pouring from of a top-heavy hourglass could be awkward. Especially if it's
weighted down with a filter.

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zachallia
It's smaller than in the video. We had to use an early prototype there to have
the video ready in time. It's designed to fit nicely even in small hands. You
do not have to remove the filter to pour, there is a spout that is hidden but
runs up the side. I'll make sure we get some pictures of the pitcher from
angles that you can see the spout / lid.

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001sky
Main Q is Can it fit on a d00r-shelf like a 1/2 gal milk? That's probably the
once critical size constraint, IMHO. Without it, you are limited where you can
put it (as well as taking up extra space). This is something I personally
check for every pitcher/flask i get.

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mixmastamyk
Have seen a few comments about US water quality. It may be good in general,
but the water here in Los Angeles is horrible (though sterile?). I grew up in
Ventura County and never thought twice about tap water (and laughed at others
too) until I moved here.

Part of it is LA's fault, they use so much chlorine it smells like you're
drinking from a jacuzzi. Even after letting it sit for a day or two for the
chlorine/ozone to dissipate, it still tastes bad in a similar way. I'm not
sure what the other minerals/contaminants are. Finally, our current building
is old and we get red rusty water first thing in the morning once a week or
so.

So yes, we filter our water before drinking, pretentious or not. We have a PUR
3-stage attached to the sink, and it costs a bit more than I'd like, but
honestly ~10 bucks a month is nothing compared to the night/day improvement we
get from it. I hope the claims about removing heavy metals are true for my
daughter's sake.

~~~
ekianjo
Have you considered buying 20L water tanks from fresh sources as well? I guess
that is probably the most expensive option but it might be the "safest" since
they probably test the water thoroughly before shipping it.

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mixmastamyk
I did schlep the 5/2.5 gallons around for a year or two, objecting to the
upfront cost of the filter, but once I gave in I quickly regretted taking so
long.

Fresh sources sounds nice, but I'm lazy at heart. The alternative, having it
delivered while living on a water planet (a stones throw from the Pacific)
just seems too environmentally hostile.

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ekianjo
Well there are many things we are doing which are not environmentally-
friendly, but it's not like they will build road and new trucks just to
deliver your water. They use existing commutes and transportation pathways to
deliver it, among other things. Most cities in the world now are heavily
dependent on everyday delivery of food, water and other critical supplies - it
is part of the system and it is not going back.

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morsch
How big is it? Seems like pretty essential information, but I can't see it on
the page. The entire top half seems to be made of glass, so it's pretty big
relative to the amount of water it carries.

I'm not sure if having a filter delivered to you every two months is all that
sustainable. And the people I know who filter their water wouldn't want any
kind of plastic in it's path; but the people who filter water here are pretty
fanatic about that. I guess the main attraction in the US is to get rid of the
chlorine?

Oh and $33 per delivery also seems like a lot? Are filters that expensive?
(The page says the 3 filters in the first real pledge are $100+ in value.)

(Edit: it's $15, see below, much more reasonable, sorry about that.)

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zachallia
This also includes the value of the pitcher! The filters come to you for $15
every two months

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morsch
D'oh, yeah, sorry, at second glance it's fairly obvious.

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DareOlonoh
Seems like a great product and business model. I ditched my Brita filter for
bottled water a couple years ago because of the black dots. It was
embarrassing to pour water for people when there were black dots floating in
it. Might have to switch back to a filter now.

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JshWright
Are you in the U.S.? On municipal water? What's wrong with your tap water?

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aioprisan
how do you pour the water out? don't you run into the same issue of taking
that filter out? and the shame wastes so much space in the fridge, for better
or worse, Brita ones are pretty efficient, space-wise

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zdgman
The ability to recycle the filters should have been played up more! That's one
of the biggest things I hate about my current Brita filter.

Would be interesting to see the subscription cost for filters after the
initial run.

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zachallia
It's going to be $15 every two months

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zdgman
That's great considering that a single Brita is about seven bucks.

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gfosco
Seems about even, or more expensive if you put it that way... However the
grocery store doesn't automatically charge you if you decide not to buy a new
Brita filter this month.

It looks like this will be a successful Kickstarter, so bravo to them! It's
not directed at me. Words like organic, vegan, and compost-able do not attract
me, and I could care less if my water pitcher is beautiful.

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stephengillie
Interesting. This isn't just a product, it's a product-as-a-service.

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zachallia
We spent a lot of time figuring out the problems with current in home water
drinking. One of the main things was that people forget to change their
filter. We're looking to change that behavior!

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JulianMorrison
Now they will forget to be at home when the filter deliverer comes around.

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cchuang
Just looked at the Kickstarter, looks like an interesting product. I could
totally see this being pitched on Shark Tank for some reason.

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ImJasonH
Does the filter fall out when you pour it? I noticed the video never shows
anybody actually pouring water out of it...

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edzme
Oooo the caraffe is slick!

