Waterdrop Water Filter Pitcher with 1 Filter, 5X Times Lifetime, Lasts 200 Gallons, for Fridge, Countertop and Gift, Reduces PFOA/PFOS, Chlorine, 7-Cup Capacity, Elfin, Pink

I have received no remuneration of any kind from the seller, or associates. No coupons, or promises of a refund, no free product for a review, or any other type or kind. I have no connection with the company whatsoever except as a purchaser. I am not connected by friendship, marriage or business with the seller or their associates. I paid for this product with my own money and I am giving my honest opinion about the product and the retailer.One word about TDS readings. Nowhere in the information about this filtering pitcher does it say that this filter lowers TDS. In fact it actually says that it does NOT lower TDS. You don't get something for nothing. If you want a lower TDS, shop for a filtration system that lowers the TDS! You're not going to get Zero Water filtration quality for the price of this water pitcher. I would not recommend this pitcher for people that have medium to high awful water. The more the filter has to filter out of the water the faster you have to replace filters. The filters are kind of like sponges, except they soak up the bad stuff in the water. The more bad stuff you have in your water the faster you will go through filters. Iron, hard water, and some other things can clog your filter in a short time if you have very high levels in your water. Well water can be a problem too because a lot of well water is mineral rich, and can also have a lot of pesticides if you live in an agricultural area, or in the areas of manufacturing plants and so forth.I've read a lot of information about water filtration and reviews about a lot of water filtration pitchers all over the web. I chose this one because it's just the right size for me. It filters water quickly. The water quality in my area is not awful, but I dislike drinking chlorine. I don't know anyone who would with any certainty say that is IS good for you. Not only that but if you take medications, what does chlorine do when mixed with them in your body? It's dangerous to mix chemicals like that.Our water lead levels are not zero but they are extremely low. fluoride isn't very high either. None of the tests showed high levels of anything. I just want it as close to none as I can get within my budget l Think the water quality rating is 24 if I remember right, and read the water report correctly. Which means it isn't terrible, but I still wanted the chlorine and as much of the other things reduced as much as I can within my budget limits.So I looked at pros and cons of each filter type, big gravity fed ones, and pitchers, and filter bottles, and chose this one. I made an effort to get information about another company's filters and they gave me a run around without answering my questions. So I'm not buying anything made by them. If they can't give me answers about their product something smells very fishy!Distillation will take almost 100% of things out of water but it is slow, and generally unless you invest in a system that can do daily 5 gallons at a time for cooking and a large family, it's not really practical. For one or two people it's manageable. Most distillers make 1 gallon at a time, and that takes a while. I don't know anyone who can babysit a distilling machine all day. Because you have to empty the one gallon and refill it 5 times to get 5 gallons. I don't have time for that.This filter may not take out everything. If you have really bad water I would suggest a gravity fed water filtration device. It filters around 2 gallons. The filters are more expensive. but if you look around and find one, then you can also shop around for filters. They take longer to filter but I really think they do a better job than these pitchers, with the exception of Seychelle, Alexa Pure, and a few others, however they are verrrry slow in filtering the water. Epic makes water filtering bottles that tackles everything, but I don't know if they tackle bacteria and viruses, it is also harder to suck water through the filter, not extremely, but it still more difficult than others.. Life straw makes a water bottle that will filter bacteria and viruses but I don't think it filters out a lot of other things. Life Straw does make a pitcher that seems to filter out a whole lot of things but the reviews are not great on the quality. There seems to be problems with durability and leaking. You can read them yourself.So far this pitcher meets my needs very well. It's slim so it doesn't take up a lot of room, it filters quickly. The water doesn't smell and it tastes good. It is simple to refill, and simple to change the filters. The water smells good and tasted good. I am very happy with my purchase.SO I'm giving this pitcher 5 stars for: Effectiveness, build quality, does what it says, made no false claims, capacity, size, ease of use. ease in replacing filters

*updated review*After I left my original review , Harper from customer service contacted me. I must say, this seller is absolutely amazing. They went out of their way to make sure I was 100% happy. I was sent alkaline filers to try with my pitchers. These filters will be the ones I buy from now on. I can not taste anything at all besides clean water. I am now confident that the water we are drinking from the pitchers is safe for my family. I believe that considering my county's water risk situation, alkaline filters are the way to go. I will now forever be a waterdrop customer, due to the fact that these alkaline filters have made my water taste amazing and safe as well as how much customer service truly cared about my situation. 😊Shout out to Harper for being so amazing😊(Original review below)I realized that bottled water has gotten too expensive every month for my family of 5 and a water purifier was the best solution. I bought a pink one with a smart indicator and a blue one. I was very picky about what type of filter I wanted considering my town released information a few years ago that our mayor was letting surrounding states bring forever chemicals to our county to be "disposed" of, therefore contaminating our lake. Our lake is where our water supply comes from. I followed the instructions for the water pitches perfectly. I even ran a few extra pitchers of water through each before drinking the water. I can still taste chlorine from the water in both pitchers. This really worries me because now I'm wondering if I can taste the chlorine, are the forever chemicals getting through the filter too? I will run about 10 more pitches through each and try again . But right now I'm too scared to give my family this water due to the chlorine taste. ( I gave two stars instead of one because the pitchers are very nice to use . Especially the pink one with smart indicator. My issue is with the filters. )