Brita UltraMax Filtered Water Dispenser
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I almost did not buy this pitcher because of the negative reviews by people complaining that they could barely disassemble the unit to clean it or replace the filter. I just got this thing, and had no problem doing any of that. The water tastes great, and the dispenser fits very nicely in my fridge. The nozzle hangs off the shelf, but I can still close my refrigerator door, and my fridge isn’t even that big.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I'm leaving this a 5 star review because the repair was very easy. details below:\n\nPROS:\n+ Tall/Thin and space saving\n+ can hold a decent amount of water for 2 to 3 people\n+ replacement filters are much cheaper than in-faucet filters\n\nCons:\n- You'll have to wait for water to get cold if you use up the entire contents\n- takes 5 to 10 minutes for water to filter down (if you have the filter seated properly and its not leaking through)\n- have to fill reservoir twice to be at full capacity.\n- after about 1.5 years i had to replace the spigot, as the plastic handle snapped.\n\nNOTES:\nReplacing the spigot was fairly cheap and painless. a plastic spigot will be 4 to 8 bucks, and a metal one will be 10 to 20 bucks.\nThe metal spigot in the picture is this: https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00RPBQBQ4"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I tested the quality of my tap water and was alarmed when I received a 322ppm rating. I purchased this assuming it would help purify my water. I filled and emptied this pitcher 4 times with the carbon filter and then reassessed the water - I received inconsistent reading199-220ppm. Ideal drinking water should be 0-50ppm and carbon filtration should produce water 50-100ppm. Did I just get a bad filter?? Brita seems to be a reliable brand. Also, make sure you check the measurements of your fridge. Two of our fridge shelves are adjustable and this still wouldn’t fit, so I had to take one shelf out.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating', 'review_body': 'The concept is great, a large-capacity Brita filtered water pitcher for the fridge with a handy spigot so the whole thing doesn’t have to be removed for each use. I’ve always seen the convenience in that idea compared to the Brita filtration pitchers I’ve used for years that take up space in my refrigerator door and have to be refilled after each use.\n\nOnce I got this dispenser home I began to realize that there are pros and cons to its design, some of which may be difficult to overcome.\n\nHere’s a brief outline about what I like and what turned out to be not so great about this dispenser:\n\nPROS\n\n1. The unit seems to be made about the same as most Brita filtration pitchers, which is to say, it is made well. The plastic is a hard polycarbonate that does not alter the taste of the water, is easy to clean and is relatively safe from cracking and shattering.\n\n2. Part of the top is hinged and folds back to refill the dispenser (using another container) so the whole thing doesn’t have to be taken to the sink.\n\n3. There is a drainage trough molded in to the bottom of the dispenser (one of the reviewers who didn’t like this product is not accurate about not being able to fully empty the container, the drainage trough permits the dispenser to drain almost fully empty. Look at their photo of the product … it is for an entirely different product that doesn’t even look like the one being sold here, apparently the dispenser has been completely redesigned).\n\n4. It uses standard Brita filters which are available almost everywhere.\n\nCONS\n\n1. The #1 negative is the actual height top-to-bottom of the dispenser is about 10-1/2”. It is impossible for me to arrange my refrigerator to accommodate something that tall. Checking with family and friends most of them said their shelves don’t adjust that far apart either.\n\n2. The hole in the spigot is about ¼” from the shelf the dispenser is placed on so there is no way to actually use it without pulling the spigot out over the edge of a shelf each time.\n\n3. The idea of the hinged refill lid sounds great until you learn that it takes up about eight more inches above the dispenser (even more to allow room for the container you’re pouring from), so in reality you need almost 20” between the shelves in your refrigerator.\n\n4. Removing the entire lid (like to replace the filter cartridge) is awkward. The best way to do it is to open the hinged filler lid to grab the lid for removal. That puts a lot of strain on the hinge.\n\n5. There are no real carry handles on the dispenser, which can get heavy when filled with water. There are only two very small plastic handles at either end which are difficult to grab and make the dispenser difficult to carry.\n\nI still like Brita pitchers and I actually still like this large dispenser, but with the caution that you will need a space to put it that is almost 20” tall and that you can hang the spigot over the edge of the shelf without it getting in the way (if I were to hang it over the edge of the shelf in my refrigerator it would hit the door shelves which are spaced the same as my interior shelves). I did find a handy alternative location but I would rather have been able to use it at reachable level on my refrigerator’s main shelf.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I've had a Brita pitcher for years. One of my friends had this dispenser and I liked the idea that it would hold more than my pitcher, but because it's taller and thinner, it actually takes up less room in my fridge. I've had it for a week and I'm very happy with my purchase.\n\nOne word of caution, if you put it near the edge so that the spigot is hanging over a shelf, making it possible to hold your glass underneath, be sure that when you close your fridge door, that nothing, such as a door shelf is hitting the spigot. I thought it only worked if you pulled the spigot down, but it also works if you push it back. About 30 minutes after I filed it and put it in my fridge, I came into the kitchen to find water all over my floor and the dispenser was empty. I have a french door fridge which has shorter doors, but deeper door shelves. When I closed the door, I wasn't aware that one of the door shelves was pushing against the spigot, causing the water to come out. It was easily fixed by adjusting the shelf and it was definitely not a fault of the product, but hopefully I can spare someone else from making the same mistake."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I just received this product two days ago and want to clarify on a couple of the negative comments I read before purchasing it.\n\nFirst off I read a comment stating that you are not able to use the blue Brita Longlast replacement filters, and that is incorrect. I purchased the Longlast filter to put into this and it works perfectly fine. My guess is that the person who left the review stating that you couldn't use them failed to line up the little indentation on the filter with the groove on the inside of the dispenser.\n\nSecondly some people said that they had to pull the unit forward a little from their fridge to be able to dispense to water into a cup, otherwise it would pour right onto the shelf. I did not have this issue at all, the spout sticks over the edge of my fridge shelf just enough to put a cup under it and fill without moving the unit.\n\nThirdly, some people stated that the lid was difficult to remove fully from the top. And maybe this is a case with the black version of this dispenser (I purchased the grey and if you look the two colors are different in shape and style as well) but for the grey, the lid on top removed very very easily with no need to pull hard on it whatsoever.\n\nThis is a tall unit and it fit fine on my shelf, but I can't have the filling lid open all the way because it then hits the shelf above it. I have to hold it open and pour from another pitcher into it. A slight irritant, but my fridge is also somewhat small. So those of you with large kitchen fridges shouldn't have that issue unless it's an old fridge without movable shelves.\n\nSo overall this dispenser is perfect for what I needed, and I felt that some of the negative comments were not quite accurate and perhaps more user error than anything (Again I don't know how the black version of this unit functions in regards to everything I've written since the grey and black are completely different styles of dispenser)"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I ordered 18 cup Brita dispenser & 27 cup dispenser & kept them side by side. they are exactly the same. Not even a notch difference. (Except for the logo) They advertise different dimensions for both of them but they are exactly the same. & they don’t match with 27 cup dispenser (15 x 11.25 x 5.75 inches). Box says its 27 cup. I doubt'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I was hoping there was human error with the filter that caused this to not purify the water. I attempted to make sure there were no gaps allowing tap water to sneak in. My normal water is 213, this brought it to 181, bottled water is 26. We should only allow up to 50 in our human systems. This does not work.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'i hated how much plastic i was throwing away with bottled water, and at the end of the day- it’s usually not very good for you anyways. i feel much better using this. the water tastes great, it filters decently fast, the spout is so convenient and the water comes out quickly. the sleek design is aesthetically pleasing and fits nicely in the fridge. i was worried it might be too big, but it’s was a bit smaller than i expected (in a good way). much easier than a pitcher and you have to refill WAY less often. i recommend getting a 6 month filter though.. they last longer and filter out more things.\n\ni’m conclusion… it’s worth the money please do yourself a favor and buy it.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "So I love how it holds so much water so I'm not constantly refilling it, but my biggest complaint is the spout. After a few days, I'd notice water under the milk or eggs. I figured my husband spilled some when refilling the filter. Few more days, I add a dish towel underneath it and sure enough, the next day the towel is soaked. So, I decide to watch it after I fill a glass. Sometimes it'd be just fine, but otherwise it would drip maybe a few seconds after I turned it off and wouldn't stop. Again, I love the size, it's easy to refill and clean, the filters are a little difficult to install, but I'm super bummed I missed the return window and wish I could've just bought this in a store. Too bad I noticed the leaking too late, but maybe this review will still help you watch out for that in the future if you do plan to purchase. So I just change the dish towel every other day. It's really inconvenient!! :("}]