I have been debating among the penguin, entry sodastream, and a traditional old fashioned seltzer bottle. Any opinions out there in apartmenttherapyreaderland?

Have I mentioned often enough how much I love ours? Yes it's expensive, but we use it multiple times a day. (Instead of buying 2 and more cases of seltzer a week.) Love, love, love. And since the only place I can find replacement catridges is a family owned beer and wine store (Beer and Winemakers Warehouse in Hartford, for CT readers.), bonus points for local economy support!

We never used the "soda packets". We usually drink it plain. For flavor, lemon slices are fine, but for sickies, a ginger simple syrup makes you feel better.

We have an entry level soda stream. I absolutely love it - it is easily one of our most used appliances. The glass carafes are pretty, but we can live without them.

I am intrigued by this.

I would love to know how Manka's Inverness Lodge made their sodas. I crave them, they were never sweet more on the herb savory side. Does anyone know how you go about making flavored sodas without the packets and not with Torani syrup?

Would you put the flavor whatever that might be in the water before it gasses up or after?

If I could learn this I might save some money and get one of these.

I found out about the Soda Stream through AT and got a basic one (with value pack, which had an extra carbonator and 2 extra plastic bottles) a month ago. We just love it for making sparkling water and use it ALL the time. I'm not crazy about the design of the glass carafes with the Penguin, and am perfectly happy with the plastic bottles.

I have a penguin soda machine and I love it. Although the carbonator refills are pricey at Williams Sonoma at 30 bucks a pop. I just found out they are half that price at the sodastream website.

Ah, but you have to pay haz-mat shipping if you get them online so that negates the savings.

We have a Penguin and *love* it. In fact, we gave one my in-laws.

As for making sodas without Torani, you can make light simple syrup and steep herbs, etc. in and then strain it to make more "sophisticated" soda flavors that aren't cloyingly sweet.

I love a splash of St. Germain w/ muddled mint and a cucumber slice. Instead of throwing away half used bottles of club soda, we just make it fresh. The carbonators seem to last quite awhile even though we have a 9 year old operating the machine and me, who loves super fizzy soda.

Oh and Lori, you flavor the water *after* you gas it up. Otherwise, major mess.

I still think I'm going to go with their lower-end model. By my calculations, it'll pay for itself in a year and a half, just off the savings from not buying store bubbly.

Add that to the cut down on my environmental impact and the ability to trade canisters instead of throwing them out closeby...I'm pretty much sold :)

Do these things need to be plugged in? It doesn't look like it but I've got a serious shortage of outlets in my kitchen so I'd hate to find out I'm wrong.

thanks grlwprls! just what I needed to know.

I drink a ton of bottled seltzer and have wanted one of these for some time.

I have a very very very dumb question though: is there any explosion hazard for improper use? I'm pretty clutzy.

We bought the Penguin last year and LOVE it. We no longer have to carry heavy water/soda bottles up to our apartment, it is environmentally friendly, and it is cheaper in the long run.

I would recommend the higher priced model for two reasons:
--the glass carafes are dish washer safe...the plastic bottles must be handwashed
--it is much quicker and easier than the lower-priced model. put it in, press down, take out in a matter of seconds.

Oh, and much prettier and more interesting to look at.

I buy big 2 liters of seltzer at the store for 70 cents...not sure I can justify this guy at that price.

I bought a SodaStream "Pure" a few months ago -- it's a new, more attractive model that uses the screw-on plastic bottles. For me the size of the Penguin bottles and the expense of the machine were a deal breaker. The "Pure" is a lot smaller than the old plastic bottle carbonator; it uses the same CO2 cylinders as the Penguin. They also have an all-plastic version of the Pure that costs less, I think; it wasn't on the market when I bought mine.

I find I can screw the bottle onto the Pure pretty quickly -- one handed, even.

To answer a couple of questions -- ec05, there's no danger of explosions -- the gas only goes into the bottle while you're holding down the lever, and it makes a buzzing sound when it's fully carbonated. Just don't put anything but water in it -- if you try to carbonate sugary stuff it will make a big mess.

As for the seltzer siphon, I read a review comparing them with the SodaStream when I was shopping around, and it said that a seltzer siphon can't get water quite as fizzy due to the size and pressure of the smaller capsules. I wish I could remember where that review was. I like mine extra bubbly so I went with the SodaStream.

I used to drink a bottle of San Pel nearly daily which was both expensive and resulted in lots of waste (which I recycled, but still...). Then, I bought one of these about a year ago from William Sonoma and absolutely love it. I redeemed credit card points, so it ended up costing me nothing, but I've saved tons. Plus, it encourages me to drink more water, which is always a plus - especially since I'm a runner and live in a hot/humid climate. I really, really recommend this product! And, no outlet is needed.

I've got the base model and the thing is maybe my most beloved possession. Not such a fan of glass bottles for traveling (I carry one to and from work) but the penguin sure is nice looking. I probably drink 3 liters of soda water a day now.

100x better than the old school soda makers.

I've had the basic SodaStream for a couple of months and absolutely love it.

Does anyone know if you can get the cylinders at the William Sonomas in Canada? I've been thinking of doing this but it's been tricky finding a vendor allowed to ship the product to Canada with transport laws in flux.

Tiamat_the_Red no it does not need to be plugged in. Mine sits in my pantry where I can reach in a stick a bottle in it easily.

I love mine! My mom and my aunt got one after seeing mine as well, it is great because I end up buying a lot less soda. I think my mom's has already paid for itself in a couple months since they drink a lot of sparkling things- theirs is also one of the ones that has a smaller carbonater, so it doesn't last as long.

I usually mix it with some juice to make it sweet. I use the plastic bottles so I can take them with me places. Not as pretty, but since I am usually only putting water in it they are not hard to clean.

The only downside I have heard from my mom is that the orders for soda flavors and things from the website took awhile.

I just got my (entry level) soda stream in the mail today after reading a recommendation on AT a few weeks ago. I love fizzy water, and was buying case of poland spring sparkling water from fresh direct on a regular basis. Just doing the math, this is going to save me much money, not to mention room in my tiny fridge since I can just continually cycle through a few bottles.

I thought about getting the penguin, but when I saw it in the store I actually didn't like the bottles - the plastic ones fit better in my fridge.

I was actually pleasantly surprised to discover that I didn't need to plug it in.

And I ended up getting the "starter" kit, so it came with an extra CO2 cylinder and extra bottles. The extra cylinder was key, as you can send back the old ones for recycling/credit, but I don't want to have a gap, so when one runs out, I can install the second and send back the first/wait for the refill.

Can someone tell me if the size of the bubbles can be adjusted - for someone like me who likes the less bubbly san pellegrino more than seltzer--

I have both a Penguin (at home) and a plastic-bottle machine (in the office). I love them both. In the end, having the attractive glass bottles that work with the Penguin is worth the price difference to me for home use, though the fact that the bottles are smaller is a slight hassle. But in truth, they are all great, and simple, machines. I have convinced my parents, brother, in-laws, and various friends all to buy them.

A couple responses to two other comments...

1) If you bring empty carbonator tanks to Williams Sonoma, they give you a $15 credit off a new carbonator tank (so it is $15 per 60-liter tank, rather than $30); that is basically the same price as ordering them online, and far less hassle. Those tanks work in both the penguins and the plastic-bottle machines, though some plastic-bottle machines *also* can use 110-liter tanks, which work out to be cheaper per liter of water.

2) Yes, you can entirely customize how carbonated the water is.

Does anybody in the Chicago area know how the carbonator refills work? I called the hotline and they said I could either go to Williams Sonoma (downtown, pay $20 for parking) or leave the old one out on the street for courier pick up ... which would take place, you know, within a two-day time block while they sat out on Division Street. Neither option was very appealing.

Can you recarbonate flat sodas? Milk? Make New York egg creams? If so, can you easily clean the dip tube through which the co2 flows into your beverage? Would your SodaStream warranty cover such misuse? Click the link and C 4 yourself.

Making your own? I suggest you try putting pure cane sugar straight from the bag into freshly carbonated water and watch what happens. Stand back.

This product is awesome. A fizzy water lovers dream.
I recommend the penguin model. Glass is better for your health and the environment. And the penguin is powered by you! So no coal fired power plants necessary to run it.

SodaStream is OK. There is a lower cost way to make soda taste the way you want using ingredients in your kitchen cabinet it is available at www.mypopsoda.com

Well, I’m still working on my savings toward a $250 Penguin unit. In the meanwhile, I use a $30 Fizz Giz. The small hand held portable Fizz Giz soda maker and their special Fizz Giz caps lets consumers make their own delicious carbonated drinks in the same bottles you buy soft drinks in now – so the bottles are free.

You can buy name brand soda syrups of your choosing just by dropping in at beverage distribution warehouses. Yep, Sunkist Orange, Coca Cola Classic, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, A&W Root Beer, Mtn Dew – all of them are available. You can even buy them at places like Sam’s Club. Your 12oz home made name brand drinks will cost you about 19-cents each. That’s not much more than a buck-a-six-pak. Compare that to $3.50 in grocery stores. If you like that, it means you’re in to saving money. So why spend $250 on a carbonator when you can get one for $30 that does the same thing and doesn’t take up counter space?