So, I got a SodaStream for Christmas this year. I looked it up and saw that it cost about a hundred dollars. The one I received came with 2 diet options, an energy drink, and 3 other regular soda syrups. I'm the kind of person who does not drink anything with sugar except 100% juices BUT I love seltzer water. This really seems to be a great product for that purpose. Reading the instructions, I found that you cannot carbonate anything BUT water or the warranty is axed. So, you have to carbonate water and THEN add the syrup/flavouring of your choosing. I'd think that might be a deal breaker for people. Overall, I was impressed with everything except the size of the carbonation tank. For some reason I am not aware of I have a really small one as opposed to the one I saw in the product description. Anyone else have any experience with this? Tips or tricks maybe?
If you have to carbonate the water before adding the flavoring, I don't understand why people wouldn't buy fizzy water and add flavor syrup to it instead of buying a kitchen gadget. I heard that the hidden cost of a Sodastream is having to refill the gas. I'm not a fan of gadgets that generate their own additional costs, I like items to be complete and not need additional refills or parts.
I have heard these are a lot cheaper than buying 2 liters or 24 packs of cans. My family drinks a lot (I know that is not a good thing) I have considered getting one of these to help with the expense. Like the above statement I heard about the gas expense. Does it even out to be about the same of better for your family?
Thanks for posting this. I had considered getting this for my dad for Christmas, but ended up deciding not to. I was thinking I might get it for him for his birthday instead, but after reading this, I think I may need to do a little more research. I think my dad would appreciate being able to create his own flavors of soda (a little more/less syrup, maybe combine a few flavors), but it sounds like maybe that isn't too easy with having to add syrups after the water has been carbonated. I'm basically wondering if it creates better tasting soda or if it's just a way to save money. Please share more of your experiences with it!
Thank you for this review. I was always under the impression that the Soda Stream was to make soda. I didn't know that it was to make carbonated water which you then added flavoring to. I'm not sure that I like that at all. This just does go to show that I need to do some more research before I decided whether or not a Soda Stream would be a good purchase for our family.
UPDATE: Alright, so I did the thing that should not be done. I carbonated not WATER!!! DUN DUN DUN! Mind you, I did this after watching a bunch of hilarious videos of people getting sprayed by their machine when trying to carbonate things that had sugar. Here's a good one: [video=youtube;5cC8M0xHzvo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cC8M0xHzvo[/video] Anywho, I make my own wine from time to time and I really could not resist making it sparkle. What worked for me is carbonating the fudge out of half a liter of wine and then sloooowly releasing the air from it until you could take the bottle from the machine without it spilling over. It worked out great AND it was delicious. I found that the tiny CO2 that came with it could be traded in for a dramatic discount at quite a few stores. Plus there was a mail in rebate that refunded that in full. I feel like this is the much cheaper option as opposed to purchasing soda. The one complaint that I can agree with others on is that the SodaStream syrup brands do not taste like the brands of soda most of us are used to. Also, their syrups are a tad pricey. Solution? Sam's club sells syrup that you can use in connection to this product. All the flavours under the sun!
Buying a SodaStream is a waste of money to be honest. You would do better just buying some seltzer water and flavoring it yourself. I hope you got the receipt so you can return it for something else.
A,Realitive of mine gave my parents a soda stream for xmas last year at,first it seemed like a really cool idea but then it ended up not being that great My mother still has it but she just doesn't use it,I guess its becaucause the bottles are kinda spendy I,mean if your going to buy a box of flavors it might be okay, but if your only going to buy one or two bottles at a time, it might not be worth it for your family.
Not the case at all for me. I did the math and found that the seltzer I was buying costs more than using the SodaStream. I, personally, do not need the syrup. Taking that into account would still add up to less than what I was paying to buy soda. There are hidden costs when you purchase a product from a company as opposed to making it yourself. The volume a box of syrup and a CO2 can will produce per cost weighs heavily in favour of making it yourself. There's quite an expiration date on that syrup. Regardless of the amount you drink per week you're making them as you consume them.. mistysauro: I understand that concern. However, the gift I received came with four bottles which was more than enough for me.
