Which Water Filter Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 12 water filter options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
ZeroWater
Price shown in test: $34
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Copper PPM | Tds After Copper Test PPM | Time To Filter 2 Cups | Chlorine Removal | Tds Second Test PPM | Color Score | Fluoride PPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Dreoaround $270 | 0.04 (same as MegaHome, per narrator) | 0 | about 1 minute 20 seconds | 100% (tied with all filters) | 10 | 0 (perfect) | 0 (almost a perfect match with the zero-ppm test strip color) |
| 2MegaHomeabout $300 | 0.04 | 0 | around 41 minutes (slowest system tested) | 100% (tied with all filters) | 3 | 0 (perfect) | 0 (appears to remove all fluoride, per narrator) |
| 3Waterdrop$16 | over 5 ppm (dedicated tester maxed out) | 81 | very close to 1 minute | 100% (tied with all filters) | 502 (higher than the 461 ppm unfiltered baseline reported just before it, an apparent anomaly, recorded verbatim, not corrected) | 0.31 (unfiltered baseline was 0.33) | 50 to 100, test strip estimate, described as lower within that range than PUR |
| 4PUR$25 | 1.89 | 68 | 2 minutes 28 seconds | 100% (tied with all filters) | 384 | 0.21 | 50 to 100, test strip estimate, described as closer to 100 than Waterdrop, i.e. worse |
| 5Amazon Basics$28 | 3.12 | 72 | 1 minute 28 seconds | 100% (tied with all filters) | 427 | 0.23 | 25 to 50, test strip estimate, described as the best yet at that point in the narration |
| 6ZeroWater$34 | 0.07 | 0 | 2 minutes 48 seconds | 100% (tied with all filters) | 0 | 0 (perfect) | 0, test strip matched the zero ppm color, described as removing all fluoride |
| 7Brita$41 | over 5 ppm (dedicated tester maxed out, same as Waterdrop) | 73 | about 1 minute 30 seconds | 100% (tied with all filters) | 397 | 0.14 | just over 50, test strip estimate, described as better than average |
| 8LifeStraw$52 | 0.03 | 28 | about 33 minutes, by far the slowest of the pitcher and gravity style filters | 100% (tied with all filters) | 357 | 0.18 | just over 50, tied with Brita per narrator |
| 9AquaGear$70 | 0.24 | 92, narrator notes the filter had to be conditioned first with tap water at around 250ppm, which likely inflated this reading versus other filters | 3 minutes 43 seconds | 100% (tied with all filters) | 456 | 0.1 | 25 to 40, test strip estimate |
| 10Epic Water Filters$79 | 0.26 | 4 | 5 minutes 8 seconds | 100% (tied with all filters) | 427 | 0 (perfect, tied with ZeroWater at that point in the narration) | around 10, test strip estimate |
| 11Seychelle$80 | 0.72 | 138, narrator notes this filter also needed tap water conditioning at over 250ppm first, same caveat as AquaGear | just over 4 minutes | 100% (tied with all filters) | 574 | 0.07 | 50 to 100, test strip described as light pink |
| 12Clearly Filteredaround $100 | 0.05 | 60 | around 13 minutes | 100% (tied with all filters) | 177 | 0 (perfect) | 0 to 10, test strip estimate, described as coming pretty close to zero |
How it was tested
- copper removal from contaminated water starting at 94 ppm (test strip TDS reading plus dedicated copper colorimeter reading)
- time to filter 2 cups of water
- chlorine removal
- second contamination round with pond water, red food dye, probiotics, and sodium fluoride: TDS, water color/clarity score, and fluoride test strip estimate
- filter construction and media inspection (cut open)
- overall weighted ranking (average finish score, visual scorecard, only the tie for first place and the TDS sub ranking were narrated)
Data notes and caveats
Final overall ranking is a visual on screen scorecard; only the tie for first place (Dreo reverse osmosis system and MegaHome distiller, average finish 1.25, an explicit declared tie) and the standalone TDS clarity sub ranking (ZeroWater 1st at 0ppm, MegaHome 2nd at 3ppm, Dreo 3rd at 10ppm) are explicitly narrated, so the products array orders the tied co-winners first, then the rest by order of introduction in the video, not a verified global rank. Narrator explicitly excluded total dissolved solids from the winning score calculation because not all TDS is unsafe to drink, even though TDS numbers are reported throughout every product's results. All 12 filters tied on chlorine removal (100 percent). Narrator separately names ZeroWater as the standalone budget pick. Two brands required multi step mangled name resolution against the description's product list: PUR (captioned is brand, then the Pure) and Seychelle (captioned Sante Shay, then Santeau, later spoken correctly once). Dreo was mangled four separate ways (Drio, Drip O, DYLN, DYL). AquaGear and Seychelle needed tap water pre conditioning around 250ppm that likely inflates their raw TDS numbers relative to the other filters.