I have always been a big fan of the faucet-mounted Pur water filter. It produces great, clean, pleasant-tasting water at a fraction of the price of bottled water. Each Pur filter produces about 100 gallons of filtered water which rivals anything I've tasted out of a bottle...for mere pennies.
However, I have found something even better.
Last night my wife and I were taking advantage of a store-wide 25 percent-off sale at Walgreen's. There, I noticed something in the housewares aisle: a Walgreen's brand faucet-mounted water filtering system. It's actually made by Culligan, but sold under the Walgreen's brand name. At about $15, the faucet mount and filter cost less than a replacement filter for the Pur system. We needed to replace our Pur filter anyway, so we bought it. With the 25 percent discount and my son's Walgreens employee discount, the whole unit was about $10.
There are a couple of major differences between the Walgreen's/Culligan filter and the Pur filter. First, there is no indicator on the Walgreen's faucet mount to tell you when to change the filter. However, the Walgreen's filter lasts twice as long as the Pur filter, filtering 200 gallons of tap water. That's about two month's worth of drinking water, so you just put a reminder on your calendar to change the Walgreen's filter after two months.
The water from the Walgreen's filter tastes every bit as good as the water from the Pur filter. Replacement filters for the Walgreen's unit are about $10, nearly half the price of the replacement Pur filters.
Savvy Frugality Tip: Seek store brands not only for food and paper good items, but housewares and other things you purchase on a monthly basis. This move could save plenty of money over time. My move from the Pur filter to the Walgreen's filter saved me 50 percent.
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Thanks for writing this, I use the same pur thing and when you are spending so much in filters it is hard to justify the expense
The faucet-mounted water filter is a must in my house, because the water coming right out of the tap doesn't taste very good. It has a distinct chemical aftertaste. The faucet filter eliminates that, and it's still much cheaper than buying bottled water.
the culligan filters taste funny! it's adds a weird after taste to the water.
Is the filter recyclable? Saving some money now and dealing with severe environmental costs later may not be worth it...
Well, it's made out of plastic and has carbon and other filtering minerals inside, so I doubt it is recyclable. However, I contend it is less waste in the landfill than continuing to purchase bottled water.
I second the funny taste comment. I switched to Culligan filtration because of the price, but it's quite evident by saving in price I am sacraficing flavor. Not only is the initial taste strange and unnatural, but the after taste is dry and chalky and leaves you wanting bottle water or even straight from the faucet water, which totally defeats the purpose. I am quite surprised so many people online have found the water from Culligan filters pleasant. Hmm.
We just picked up the Walgreens filter for $8, as they are supposedly discontinuing it. However, we have heard that the Culligan Model FM-15RA filter replacement cartridges will fit the Walgreens-branded filter body too... they are pretty much the same thing.
Details here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R31N6QRYMVCGEQ
I am having the same taste issue. I tried to look for support on the Culligan website but there is none. As much as I like our Walgreens branded products I think I'm gonna have to stick with the brand name Pur products.