Whose got a Sodastream? Do you use it often? And is it worth it?

[Lalala205]

Going off another current thread - Do you have a Soda Stream? Does it seem financially viable in comparison to buying pop/soft drinks? How good do the flavours stand up to the big commercial brands? Are the cannisters easy to swap/recharge? Do you feel it cuts down on your plastic waste for soft drinks within your family? (we had one years ago, and yes lots of fun! But do they stand the test of time?), are the concentrate pods recyclable? Lots of questions! Apologies 😳

I have one, only use it for water so can't help you with the flavour/pods, but I love mine. I was buying a huge amount of bottled sparkling water a week, and even though I was recylcing all the plastic, it felt like a lot of waste.

My cylinder lasts about 4-5 weeks on average. I make at least 1 litre of fizzy water a day. I like mine v fizzy, so am pretty heavy handed on the button... others would probably get 6 weeks to my 5.

Canisters can be bought in Argos, then when you bring one back you can buy your next one at a discounted rate. I don't think I am saving much money... bottled water is so cheap... but I wouldn't go back now. Had it about 6 months

DH prefers to drink sparkling rather than still water. It felt as if we were drowning g in empty plastic bottles.

Soda stream users for just over a year. We got the one with the glass bottles, and have since invested a few more spare bottles.

'S brilliant.

I think I've probably already contributed to the thread you mention, but in brief:

1. Yes. It's definitely saved us money. Our tap water is very hard, adding CO2 makes it almost drinkable. The other option would be to get a filter installed but we've tried the various Brita jugs etc and it helps a bit but not that much. Also other household members like cola a lot. The nice thing about the Sodastream is that you can vary the amount of concentrate easily, as well as the amount of fizz. We have the Spirit model which was on special offer a lot last year. It's even come on holiday in the car with us. (Though we found out it doesn't like being stored on its side.)

1. There aren't as many flavours in the Sodastream range itself as there used to be and as with everything trying to find concentrates with real sugar (as opposed to Nutrasweet or whatever) is increasingly difficult, but the cola is pretty good, the lemon and lime and orange are not bad, and there are other companies out there who offer suitable concentrates as well. Nutrasweet causes other household members headaches, so sugar is the lesser of two evils. We are investigating making our own syrups though, especially for the fruit-based drinks.

1. It took me a few times to get the hang of changing the cannisters but once you know how to it's really very easy. There are then several places you can get refills which are much cheaper than buying the brand new ones; the cannisters then get sent off to be refilled. The only thing I wish we had on our machine is some kind of indicator to tell you when the cartridge is getting low, as unless I'm missing something I can't see one, it's just a case of suddenly discovering the pump is not dispensing much CO2 and having to change the cartridge.

1. It definitely cuts down on plastic waste. We've gone from 6 to 10 plastic 2 litre bottles a week to 1 or at most 2/3 (over Christmas we used more). I loathe sorting the recycling with a passion, there is so much single use plastic still although we are doing our best to cut back and it's a major 2020 focus (we bought some beeswax wraps recently which are going down well). Our recycling people, who are notoriously picky, accept the Sodastream empty bottles happily. The lids are a bit trickier; at the moment I've got pound coins and drawing pins and other irritating tiny things in them and I'm trying to work out what to do with them.

1. The hard plastic bottles last for several years and are nice and robust (except when you forget and leave one a bit too close to the Halogen oven, ahem) and also wash pretty well. We've definitely found it works best if you cool the water in the fridge first and then carbonate.

1. It's not perfect; we know we should be drinking pure filtered rainwater flowing down from the mountains but it's not really readily available where we live. The water is, just not the mountains....And I really wouldn't fancy the water from our rainbutt, really....

We use the Sodastream pretty much every day, and while I'm hopeful this one has several years left in it yet, when it does come to the end of its natural life it will be dismantled, hopefully recycled, and replaced. Just choose your model carefully; I'd really have liked a model with the glass bottles but in the end opting for multi-use plastic bottles was the more sensible choice for us. (When we bought ours it was on special offer for Black Friday, I think they'd just released a new model or something.)

I am a fizzy water addict, and I drink about 5-6 large sodastream bottles a day. I low carb, so my water consumption is high anyway.

I bought one because the amount of plastic I was recycling was obscene. I also have never liked the idea of drinking anything that has been stored possibly for months in plastic.

I am also not sure if I am saving money, but I don't have to carry water back home so it is far more convenient. I change cylinders every 3 weeks or so. A replacement cylinder costs £12 I think, at Robert Dyas. I make it very fizzy. I should probably invest in one of the adapter kits that let you use those massive commercial CO2 bottles.

My sodastream is about 3 years old - I think if you use them properly they are pretty much bombproof.

Had ours for about 6 months and really happy with it, use it daily and replace the canister maybe every 3 months so far. Not tried many of the syrups but the ginger beer one in Lakeland is very good. Think Lakeland have an offer on one of the models at the moment if you have their loyalty card.

I use mine every day. DH and I both drink fizzy water. Not sure it is cheaper but we have significantly less plastic waste from not buying bottles of fizzy water.

We don’t do flavours.

Occasionally there seems to a be a shortage of gas and Argos just won’t have it. I then order direct from sodastream and pay the extra £10 deposit on the gas and then claim back later.

It was my birthday present to myself last year, and one of the best things I've bought in years.

Like pp, I bought it because of the amount of plastic I was going through with my sparkling water addiction. I did the sums and thought it would break even financially on branded sparkly water, but not on my Aldi bubbles - and I was about right.

I'm on a canister replacement scheme, which gets you discounts, and go through about one a month (that's accounting for my heavy usage plus DH, who is an enthusiastic but more moderate user!)

Don't know about the cordials as I don't use them. But I did get two free bottles when I first bought it. They're sitting in the back of the cupboard in case anyone who comes round wants a mixer. But they are at least in glass bottles, so recyclable.

I bought ours because DH drinks a lot of sparkling water and it was an easy way to reduce plastic bottles. We just do sparkling water though, no flavours. They do offers regularly - i got mine with 2 large and 2 small bottles and a spare cylinder for about £70.

We’ve have one for about ten years and I LOVE it.

I only use it for water (and the odd wine/cocktail experiment ). It’s super easy to use and definitely cuts down on plastic waste. We drink tonnes of fizzy water tho. The canisters are expensive, so I’m not sure how much it actually saves us, but worth it for the plastic saving alone.

Oh just remembered that I made homemade lemonade in it a few times and it was lush. The amount of sugar was unreal though.

We have one, great replacement for plastic bottles for DH's sparkling water habit.

BUT - sorry to derail - I realised this week he had just stashed the used up cartridges in the larder, five of them! What's the best/most economical way to buy gas/recycle used canisters? Thanks

You can bring the canisters back to Argos and get a discount off your next purchase.

We use ours a lot. Never the syrups, Just use ordinary cordial if we want flavour (after fizzing unless you want to explode liquid everywhere)

Ooh lots of good reviews then! Yes, @chocolateteapot I'd read your comments on other thread which partly sparked off this one! 😁 I'm thinking it's probably a good investment to make unless there's a load of negative responses that crop up. I can recall we had one/BFF family had one, and GM had one when I was young and 'pop/soda' was more a 'treat' vs commonplace now. I like the environmental element plus the cost saving factor! Pop is crazy expensive for flavoured fizzy water in numerous plastic bottles! I see Soda Stream do small portable ones now? Which would also be a massive plus.

We have one, we were buying several bottles of fizzy water a week and wanted to cut our plastic waste, it definitely has done that. We don't use the flavours but often have squash and fizzy water.

We bought the cheapest model about 10 years ago. Several years if kids drinks, now fizzy water and in place of soda in mojitos, Campari soda etc.

The Soda-stream own flavours were revolting. I might check out some of the new ‘branded’ flavours in Lakeland this summer though.

I got one for Christmas. So far we've definitely cut down on plastic bottles of sparkling water etc.

So far I just buy a cheap concentrated bottle of squash (favourite is Apple flavour). I swear it tastes like Appetiser.

We have signed up to their gas subscription, it seems the most economical. They send you gas quarterly, you get some refund on returned canisters.

I've always wondered, why can't you use normal squash/ cordial?

I love mine. I drink a lot of sparkling water and it has saved me money and drastically reduced the amount of plastic bottles I was going through. I add the carbonated water to juice so not really familiar with the syrups. I have a couple in the fridge I have used a few times. The orange one is pretty awful but the lime one is okay. Still prefer juice with water added.

My tips are to fizz the water only, store it in the fridge. Buy fancier or more interesting cordials (the ikea ones are fab) then make up jugs using both or just splash cordial into your glass before the water.

I’d never be bothered with the chemical flavourings (and price) of the sodastream flavours. You can even buy recipe books of mocktails & cordials using fizzy water.

It’s a great innovation, but a bit of a faff to handwash their bottles. That’s why I don’t put sticky flavours in them. Much faster to wash/refill bottles that have only stored water.

We use it for bottled water for years. Saves on plastic

We've had ours about 10 years because I prefer fizzy water but I'm happy to drink tap water. We do t use the flavours. Look out for bargains, Boots often has them

I love mine I store the water in the fridge and then mix in the glass with bottle green cordials - I particularly like rhubarb and ginger.

Love mine! We used it regularly but not ever day. A canister has lasted quite a few months. We just add squash for a flavoured fizzy drink.

Thanks lauriemarlowe and wonderstuff