Mavea 1001496 Universal Filter for Water Filtration Pitchers

I use Brita water filters so my comparisons will be to that product. There are two things I dislike about Brita filtersone, you must presoak them and two, carbon from the filter seeps out into the filtered water. It is very upsetting to see. When I first read about the Mavea Universal Fit filters which require no presoaking and use a micro screen to keep carbon from leaking out of the filter into the filtered water, I was ecstatic. When I read further that they are substantially cheaper than Brita filters I was over the moon.

Now, it''s reality timeputting the Mavea filter through its paces. Not having to presoak was wonderful and I did not see any carbon in the filtered water. So far so good. However, it is recommended that the Mavea filters be prewashed with two pitchers of water which is a bit of a nuisance. You have to get into Mavea''s fine print to find out about this. The same thing must be done with Brita filters. Next up is Mavea''s claim that their filters are dramatically cheaper than Britar''s. Well.......yes and no. If you''re buying a small number of Brita filters (one or two), there is quite a price difference. However, Brita sells their filters in small and large packages. If you compare the price of a Mavea filter to the cost of one or two Brita filters, you''re going to have some pretty dramatic savings from buying the two pack Mavea. However, if you buy Brita in three-packs or greater, the price difference between Brita and Mavea disappears.

With the price difference really nil,, I would buy the Mavea filters because they don''t have to be presoaked and because I didn''t get the ugly black carbon residue in my filtered water. They seem to perform just as well as the Britas in all other respects.

Also to Mavea''s credit (was probably government mandated as these filters come from Europe) is their total recycle program. So nothing goes into a landfill. If you''d like to show a bit of your green side, Mavea would be the way to go.

We''ve been using the Brita filters for years; I didn''t know there were alternative filters.

Though you don''t have to soak these filters for an extended time period, you do have to dunk them first before putting in the pitcher.

These Mavea filters are shorter than the Brita filters and they sit up higher in the upper chamber. What I like most is the complete absence of those black specks that sometimes find their way into the lower section of the pitcher. With the Brita filters those black specks are omnipresent no matter what you do.

The only negative I see with the Mavea filters is that they seem slower to filter the water than the Brita filters.

I guess that doesn''t matter unless you are in a hurry for some filtered water.

So now Brita pitcher users have a choice charcoal specks in the pitcher or the painfully slow filtering of the Mavea.

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We use our Brita all the time & the filters aren''t cheap. These clock in at about half the price which is good...but there are a couple drawbacks:

The filter sits high in the slot so to cover it with water you almost have to put in so much that it easily spills over the top when you try to get the lid back on and the "micro screen" makes for some slow pour-through. And the most annoying thing is that it says "No pre-soak required" but the instructions tell you to discard the first two pitchers full of water...um, Guys, THAT''S a pre-soak.

I do like the idea of a recycle program for old filters but you have to save 6 filters up to do it. The water does taste about the same as the Brita filters we usually use (gets rid of the earwaxy taste of our local water).

So, good but not great. I might buy them if they appear in the local grocery store, but I won''t go out of my way to.

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I''ve been using this Mavea filter for over 2 months, I have the original model of the PUR pitcher and it fits just as good as the OEM PUR filters do.

The Mavea seems to filter the water better than the PUR, especially when it''s just about time to change out to a new one.

I also like the fact I don''t have to take time to soak a new filter, but it is recommended to run through 2 pitchers of water through before drinking one.

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I have a Pur pitcher, and got fed up with the Pur filters because they clog up so fast. This one has lasted much longer, and filters much more quickly.

No noticeable difference in taste from the standard Pur filter, which I will never buy again. I''ll pick this one instead, every time.

It''s pretty easy to fit it into the pitcher. I was worried because my pitcher has a screw-in filter design, and this one isn''t threaded, but it''s really not a problem.