Not All Water Ionizers Were Created Equal

For the last three years we've been researching the water ionizer market to determine what manufacturers live up to their promises. Our comparisson checklist included various aspects from both the consumer and manufacturer point of view: matterials quality, operational concistency, warranty, deliverables, water quality, ease of use, technical support, price etc.
What follows is a summary of the results and a few key points. We hope that you'll find them equally interesting and informative:

Product	Country	Price	Filter	Filter Cost	Warranty (Years)	Service Centers	Under Sink	Watts	Platinum Plates	US Tested*
Aquarius/ Orion	Korea	1445	.01M	85	3	3	YES	120W	YES	YES
Jupiter Melody	Korea	975	.01M	85	2	3	YES	120W	YES	YES
Jupiter Other	Korea	550 to 719	.1M -.01M	55	2	3	YES	120W	YES	YES
AlkaBlue Nexus	Korea	655 to 795	.03M	85	2	1	NO	120W	YES	YES
IonFarms HighTech	Korea	755	.1M	70	2	1	NO	120W	YES	YES
Alkazone	Korea	799 to 1799	.1M	69	1	1	YES	120W	YES	YES
Panasonic PJ-A3AH	Japan	799	.1M	85	1	1	YES	60W	YES	YES
Toyo	Japan	799 to 899	.06M	89	1	1	YES	120W	YES	YES
Akai Ionizer Plus	Japan	1000	.1M	140	1	1	NO	300W	YES	YES
Nippon Ange Mark 11	Japan	799	.1M	85	1	1	NO	120W	YES	YES
Biontech Batch Only	Japan	1199	Batch Unit	N.A.	1	2	NO	45W	YES	YES
Enagic**	Japan	2900 (mlm)	.06M	140	1	1	YES	120W	YES	YES
KYK Harmony	Korea	1499	.01M	unknown	2	1	NO	HIGH?	NO*	NO
EP Units	Taiwan	495 to 995	1M	59	1	1	NO	200-450W	YES/NO*	NO
Vidalite	Taiwan	495 to 995	1M	59	1	1	NO	200-450W	NO*	NO

• Copy models from China/Taiwan are beginning to show up in the USA.Be careful of products that have not been made for the USA market and have no track record here.These models can disappear as quickly as they have appeared, leaving customers without any backup service, filters or parts. Jupiter Science produces 90% of all water ionizers in Korea with a production plant capable of over 100,000 units a month.
  

• Most ionizer units use only genuine Platinum Titanium. This is because Platinum is by far the most effective and stable element for water ionization.

• Some models made in Taiwan are using Platinoiridium or Platinum mixed with Iridium. They don't use platinum titanium because platinum titanium is 7 times more expensive than iridium. The Japanese and Korean governments does not allow any company to sell iridium for drinking water applications because it is bad for your health. The EP units made for the US market do not use iridium while the same models in Taiwan/China do use iridium.
• Also there are new models on the market using 'white gold' for their plating. This is very misleading as there is no such thing as "white gold" since goldis always yellow. "White gold", in fact, is actually an amalgam and contains at least 62% silver and other minerals. Platinum is about $1250 an ounce while Silver is about $12 an ounce. Obviously all the Japanese manufacturers and Jupiter Science etc would use "white gold" if it was any good.

• The Enagic is very expensive not because it is a better than an average model but because it is part of a multi-level marketing (MLM) company. MLMs require huge markups in order to be able to pay out all the levels of sales representatives.

• A few manufactures make a lot of profit from replacement filters.While most brands have reasonable filter prices there are some that don't.
  

• Some manufacturers are employing larger plating and claiming they are superior. They hope to fool the consumer into thinking "bigger, is better".With electronics quite the opposite is true (consider how the radio, camera, computerand TV have evolved). The larger electrodes draw 3-4 times more power decreasing the electrode life with no additional benefit to the water quality.
  

• The BionTech is different from other water ionizers in that it is a batch system that uses 4 liters of water to produce 2 liters of alkaline water about every 15 minutes. The disadvantage is that it is slow to make alkaline water and needs to have the water added in manually. Advantages is that you can use it anywhere there is power and you control your input water. It is also capable of making super acid water of 2.5 pH.
  

• When looking at what brand to buy look also at the level and quality of ongoing support you will be getting.
  

• By US tested we mean that the company have been selling in the USA for at least one year. It takes a number of years to show that a water ionizer is reliable (less to show it is not).
  

• We do not recommend models that use UV lighting as a means for moving bacteria or viruses. UV light has to shine through a clear surface but in time these surfaces tend to become opaque or dirty (especially where there is hard water). Also the UV bulb may stop working and UV light may not work well with fast water flow. In comparison anti-bacterial filters will always work at optimum strength as long as they are replaced in time. All ionizers that use filters have a filter counter inbuilt.
  

• Some new companies from China, Taiwan and Korea claim to have an inbuilt ORP meter. Although a good idea this is still only at this stage gimmickry. It is very hard to get an accurate ORP reading and an ORP meter needs to regularly recalibrated and cleaned (since its points quickly gets oxidized). In our tests using ionizers with inbuilt ORP we found that the readings were very inaccurate and misleading when compared to the results from a proper ORP meter.

To find out more on water ionizers, follow this link.