Aquasana Under Sink Water Filter - Reduces 99% of 78 Contaminants Including Chlorine & Lead from Tap Water - Claryum Direct Connect

I am renting so I needed a non-permanent solution to replace my Brita Pitchers. This is so much more convenient, affordable, and as far as I can tell it filters water even better. It's not as effective as an RO unit, but it doesn't need to be.

It's great.

The tap water in our neighborhood is usually fine, but every so often, it gets a bout of a really unpleasant funky smell that lasts for several days. After dealing with one too many occurrences of it, the wife demanded we do something about it. I wanted something inline, under-sink, and compact due to space constraints. I also didn't want a huge drop in the water flow rate. I settled on this filter after researching various options and seeing it mentioned in The Wirecutter.INSTALLATIONAs some other reviewers mentioned, the plastic diverter part that screws into your water supply line is terrible. It is made of a very soft plastic and sure enough, I stripped the threads on it when trying to screw it into my water supply line. I ended up contacting customer support and they mailed me a replacement in a few days at no charge. Being extra careful to get it aligned properly, I was able to get the replacement one installed. The rest of the installation was as one could expect while working under a sink with a big garbage disposal and various pipes and hoses in the way.Now that it is installed, I'm happy with how little space it takes up in the back corner of the cabinet. I haven't had to replace the filter yet, but it seems like it will be very easy to when the time comes.FILTRATIONI don't have any scientific instruments to measure contaminants, etc. However, I've had this installed for 3.5 months and I'm pleased to say the water has smelled and tasted perfect the entire time.WATER FLOW RATEAs I was concerned about the drop in water pressure, I actually measured it before and after the installation of the filter. We have a Delta faucet with a high flow water mode (4353-AR-DST I think). I measured the flow rate by measuring the time it took to fill a one gallon jug and doing the math from there. Here are the results:Regular flow, no filter: 1.40 gpmHigh flow, no filter: 1.76 gpmRegular flow, with filter: 1.09 gpmHigh flow, with filter: 1.11 gpmAs you can see, it's a noticeable drop. There is essentially no difference between the regular and high flow modes of the faucet now. However, it's really not so bad and we think it's definitely worth the trade off. It's slower, but still fast enough for filling pitchers, pots, etc. Remember, your hot water will still be at full pressure since the filter does not affect that.LOWER PRICE OPTIONI wish I had noticed this before I bought the Aquasana, but there appears to be the exact same item under a different brand for $20 less here on Amazon. Search for "AO Smith Under Sink Water Filter System" and you'll see that the only thing that looks different is the stickers on the filter.

This commonly bought product does not come with an installation video like their more expensive products do. There are only written instructions.After getting the unit mounted, I quickly realized the adapter they send with the product that connects the unit to your water line does NOT fit my waterline, which is pretty standard, if a bit older. They include NO extra adapters or information on what adapters may work in the instructions.I called their customer service line and explained the issue. She told me they do not make, or send out any additional adapters. I then said "Okay, I'm sure this problem happens pretty often, so what do you do for other customers in this situation" - there was about a 30-second silent pause as if I was speaking another language, and she then told me the only option was to go to my hardware store and find an adapter myself. Obviously, this was information I could have figured out on my own. The combination of her complete lack of knowledge, rude demeanor, and inability to help me in any way with a problem that has got to be pretty common was shocking considering the price of this product.When I move out of this rental I definitely will NOT be buying an aquasana unit again. I have yet to decide if I will be returning the system, I will likely try to find an adapter locally and will update this review.

I’ve been using this filter for about 2 months, and it works as it should. My immediate concern was the chlorine odor and taste in my tap water and it cleared it up completely. The installation would have been simple if I was doing a standard installation but mine was a little more complicated because instead of connecting it to my existing faucet I connected it up to a separate faucet that I installed several years ago that I was using with another brand filter that I removed from service. This required some additional parts but it all worked out. Water flow is excellent – much better than it was with my old filter. My only complaint is that the tubing supplied with this kit was so tightly coiled up that it was unusable. I couldn’t straighten it out, and I was concerned that connecting it under tension would have put excess side strain on the push-to-connect fittings which might have caused leaks. The tubing from my old installation was the same size and type so I used that instead. Overall I’m very happy with it.