Totally worth it if you drink a lot of seltzer. We go off and on with using it, at times once or twice a day; other times not at all for a couple of weeks, but generally the canisters last on the order of several months.

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely worth it. So happy not to be lugging cases of sparkling water into the house any more...and having to recycle the bottles. And the kids love operating it...and get a kick out of calling it the farting penguin. (We have an older one, which looks like a penguin and releases CO2 in a rather loud way.)

We have the penguin, too. The glass bottles are a plus.

We have this

http://www.amazon.com/iSi-2248-Siphon-Brushed-Aluminum/dp/B00007JXR7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355279684&sr=8-1&keywords=isi+seltzer

If you're just doing seltzer or italian soda/etc it does just fine. Plus the bottle isn't plastic (BPA).

You realize, of course, that all of this junk is just sugar water....

What an inane comment. OP is not asking for your opinion on her beverage intake. She's asking, assuming her beverage intake is what it is, is this product a good way to address it.

I like to mix the fizzy water with a little juice.

We love it it for plain seltzer. As for how long the canisters last, that really depends on how much seltzer you drink.

Anonymous wrote:You realize, of course, that all of this junk is just sugar water....

...not if you drink plain seltzer, which we do. They had some samples of the different syrups in with our Soda Stream when we purchased it and DH and I both thought they tasted gross. We're happy with drinking it plain. We use it every day and make at 1-2 of the 1 liter bottles. Our cartridges last 2-3 months depending on how fizzy we want the water. We did end up buying another spare so we don't have to run out to exchange it when it's empty. We exchange them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and use a 20% off coupon.

You realize, of course, that all of this junk is just sugar water....

http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/jewish-voice-for-peace-endorses-boycott-of-sodastream

At the SodaStream factory, when workers protested that they were being paid less than half of the minimum wage and were forced to work 12 hour days, they were fired. On another occasion, when workers who were fired and were still owed a month’s wages went to the factory to request their pay, SodaStream had them removed from the factory and banned from the entire industrial park.
...
a number of organizations, Meretz USA, Americans for Peace Now, and Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, have endorsed a boycott of SodaStream

For those who have it...how long do the CO2 canisters last?

Yes, it's a huge benefit if you like sparkling water. Everyone I know who bought it for this purpose is happy to be done with lugging twelve packs of cans to the house and back to the curb. Plus, if your drinking water is good, you can have fluoridated beverages.

But I have not heard of people who use it regularly to make diet coke.

Absolutely worth it. So happy not to be lugging cases of sparkling water into the house any more...and having to recycle the bottles. And the kids love operating it...and get a kick out of calling it the farting penguin. (We have an older one, which looks like a penguin and releases CO2 in a rather loud way.)

We swithced about 2 yeas ago. If you like seltzer its great. Saves the hassle of lugging the botttles, buying the bottles, recycling. I don't use any of the syrups but have heard they are gross.

It definitely saves money.

Is it a gimmick? Is it worth it if you are a family that drinks lots of carbonated beverages (tonic, soda water, diet coke, etc?)