6.7.2020

You might think that Sodastream's time has finally come in 2020: it certainly ticks the box for the most environmentally friendly way to get your sparkling water or fizzy pop fix. The idea of course is as old as, well, at least me, as I remember the product from its 1970s incarnation with its tagline of "get busy with the fizzy!" and to be honest the concept has not really changed one iota since then.The Spirit Classic model is a simple unit that looks modern and classy in gloss black, and is as compact and sleek as it can be whilst still managing to hold a CO2 gas cylinder which is good for 60L of sparkling water. The process is simple: fill up the reusable bottle provided,connect the bottle to the unit with a simple tilting action, and then press the button repeatedly in short bursts to provide the level of sparkle to your taste. We use 4 bursts per bottle to make medium-sparkle water and it has just about lasted the advertised 60 refills. Beware though that if you get carried away with the fizz you will be renewing the cylinder more often than you might have expected.Which brings me on to the refill cylinders, which still feels like the product's weak spot. Exchanging cylinders locally is possible for £12.99 if you have a Lakeland store (same price as the Sodastream website if you exclude shipping) or £14.99 at the more widespread Argos and Ryman stores. If you are a high volume user you may be able to make use of the Sodastream cylinder plan which works out cheapest at £10 per cylinder but you have to use 12 in one year. Although their website also sells bottles for £12.99 the shipping makes it uneconomic unless you order 3 at a time, and then you have to return all the empties in one go in order to get the £10 cylinder refund back, so it's a bit catch-22. Overall, the ecological saving on buying bottles of fizzy water with its transportation and single-use plastic bottle costs is not matched by the economic saving of using an exchangeable gas cylinder and tap water, but that perhaps indicates perhaps a wider failing with free markets than Sodastream themselves!The unit though is simple and easy to keep clean with few moving parts, little to go wrong, no battery or unnecessary complexity, and seems tough enough to put up with sustained use. You are limited to using customised Sodastream bottles, and so it's worth seeking out the hydration pack which includes extra bottles as the standard pack only comes with a single solitary 1L bottle. Spares can be bought on the website but seem pricey. An innovation that would really help is the ability to use different bottles, but I suspect that legal liability (and perhaps sales targets!) prevent that, rather than engineering capability. Note that the gas cylinder is quite tall and hence the overall height of the unit is 44cm so whilst the Classic has a relatively compact footprint it does need reasonable height clearance on your worktop.Overall the Spirit Classic works well, and if you want to try to increase your hydration by adding a bit of sparkle, or to treat the kids, and don't want to generate a mountain of plastic bottle waste then this is a great way to do it.

27.8.2017

Managed to break my original V1.0 (6ft drop onto solid floor, do maybe not its fault)Was trying to work out whether it was work paying nearly double for the v2.0 version and decided it wasn't - so free upgrade a bit of a bonus.Plenty of other reviews covering what the device is like - makes glass carafes of nicely fizzy water, carafes maybe are a bit small, works better if you chill the water first, don't open it immediately, if you want to make sparkling water nothing better out there etc.Usage is you fill the carafe with water and drop it in the bottom section and then push that section back until the carafe is vertical. Then push down the counter-balanced top until your carafe is enclosed.

8.1.2019

Got a great deal on this Crystal model, which included two extra bottles and a spare canister. Despite other reviews describing flimsy design and non metal parts I have to say they are probably describing different models as the Crystal is reasonably sturdy and has metal interlocking parts for the pressure chamber, which I think offer an important safety measure. The gas canister attaches from underneath so the unit has to be rested on its side to do that. This is a simple process. Once fitted you fill the supplied bottle with water up to its fill mark, preferable with cold water (colder water can accept the gas more readily). Insert the bottle into the metal holder and the top of the unit can be lowered on top of it,

17.6.2018

I almost bought this a few weeks ago but I was put off by unhelpful reviews! I took the plunge and ordered it off prime now for 49.99 as I had a 10 pound voucher. I’ve never used one of these before so didn’t know what to expect - I usually drink Buxton sparkling water in 500ml bottles as it’s very crisp and sparkling whereas big bottles lose their fizz but I hate the plastic use despite recycling everything I use.That’s why I went for the soda stream. I must be honest, I’m really impressed!I’d read reviews saying it wasn’t fizzy?... really?... I pressed the button 5 times and it’s easily fizzier than the Buxton!Some people said it tasted weird...

21.8.2019

The last time I owned and used a soda stream was when I was a teenager in the 80's, but after the hard to watch programme recently on TV by Hugh Fernley-Whitingstall about our Plastic waste issues in the UK, I wanted to do my little bit about avoiding use of single use plastic. As a family we buy a fair amount of bottled water, but now we have brilliantly sparkling water on tap as well.You can't beat a soda stream! I add it to squash or drink it on it's own. I've not yet bought any soda stream flavours, but am intruigued to try the Tonic one in the future. The soda stream is ready to use straight out the box pretty much. Just remove the plastic seal from the gas cylinder,

14.8.2019

This wee Gadget is absolutely brilliant. After reading some ok reviews by some people regarding this soda stream i have come to the conclusion that those people must be THICK. This little gizmo is so simple to use Fill the bottle to the mark (for best results fill slightly over the line marked on the bottle). To Insert Gas cylinder remove back cover. Tear plastic covering off cylinder then unscrew white plastic top from cylinder. Screw the cylinder up into unit and replace back cover. Insert water bottle up into front of soda stream no need to screw into place just push up then push bottle back into unit. Now this is where people may be getting it wrong.

18.9.2012

I bought this version as I didn't want the cheaper mostly plastic versions that are also available. I liked the look of the glass carafe rather than the cheaper plastic bottles.One thing that needs mentioning is that you can't really store this and use it under low kitchen cabinets as when you open the section that houses the carafe it extends vertically by quite a way. I have just placed it on top of the fridge freezer. I'm disappointed by the size of the carafe, it's only about 600 mL which is only two glasses from each carafe, not large enough in my opinion.There are quite a few flavours to choose from but I think it's sadly lacking in the sugarfree department, and the blend of flavours is quite bland.

27.7.2019

Wanted a soda stream for a long while, but was not willing to pay to the hefty price tag. Fortunately a deal came about during the prime day and I could not resist.Out of the box, it is super easy to install the CO2 canister and get underway. The instructions are straight forward with use of clear step by step images.The bottle holds up to around 850ml once you have fizzed it up. To start the process, fill water to the water fill line indicated on the bottle, pull the lever out behind the nozzle, slide the bottle in and everything locks into place.The locking mechanism 'holds' the bottle as opposed to securing it tightly. Everytime the fizz button is held, water always seems to make its way out of the top of the bottle.

20.2.2019

This must be the product with the most contradictory reviews I've come across on Amazon, which almost prevented me from buying one. Turns out they were all right!When I first used the SodaStream according to the instructions (pics only) I barely got any fizz, whereas my partner got great fizz but couldn't remove the bottle afterwards. Over the course of the past weeks we've worked out how to use it properly and are happy with it, but it isn't as easy to use as the instructions make it look like.To give a few examples: I didn't press down the button hard enough, so while it looked like the machine was doing the right thing, it wasn't releasing enough gas for good fizz.

18.11.2018

Easy to use.Convenient.Saves plastic.Makes decent Soda water.The removable cover for the cannister housing at the back feels a bit flimsy.Saves money? I am yet to work out the economics of it. I use this only for making Soda water - not as a lemonade/Cola/fizzy pop replacement. After the initial purchase, each cannister apparently makes 60L of Soda water - though I assume that is with the minimum recommended 'fizziness', and I put a couple of extra pumps in for my preference, which is more like store bought Soda water - and costs £23 currenly on Amazon. This works out at a little over 38p a litre. By contrast Morrisons soda water is 45p a litre (alson on Amazon). So,

26.3.2016

SodaStream has completely redesigned their automatic machine and this machine is a very good, possibly unique, product for quickly producing sparkling water fully automatically and with a consistent amount of fizz.The previous automatic Sodastream (The "Revolution") had a design flaw which caused ice to form on the carbonating nozzle stopping the process and requiring it to be repeated multiple times wasting lots of gas. This machine does NOT have this problem.I have dropped a star due to the following:A massive price increase (70%) that SodaStream have put on there concentrates, by making them less concentrated (A £3.99 bottle used to make 12 litres and now make 7!).I have diet controlled diabetes and originally bought a Sodastream due to the very large range of diet concentrates,

25.7.2018

Love, love, love it!Makes excellent sparkly water. I press the button 5 times, in quick succession. The water remains fizzy for a good while...even overnight if left in the bottle.If you want more or less fizzy, then playing around with the fizz-button will get you your perfect bubble.Make sure you don’t fill the bottle above the line otherwise you’ll get water everywhere.I use my Sodastream on average twice a day and the cyclinder has lasted me seven weeks.When I registered it with Sodastream I got a replacement cyclinder for £12, with £10 refund when I return the empty one!Easy to replace using Click and Collect, so no Post Office hassles. I am sure there are other places to replace them,

9.10.2019

I love this product, drinking at least 2 bottles of sparkling water each day. It is fairly easy to use but the instructions were not totally clear and i nearly sent it back but spoke to a friend that had one and gave it another go. You gave to press the button down about 22 times (you hear a squirting/bubbling noise) before it starts to “fart” (this is when the liquid can’t Accept any more gas, the noise is much louder and noticeably different) then it needs to make about three farting noises before it’s Done. The ibsteyctions gave No indication of How many times you need to press the button and they described the farting noise as a bubbling noise which was confusing as to me the inital noises

2.8.2019

Bought this yesterday as I drink a lot of sparkling water and became bothered by wasting so much plastic.It’s very easy to assemble. As some have said the back is quite flimsy but it holds together fine. My first attempt to fizz was hysterical I had water fountains going everywhere (the picture instructions aren’t the best) but I viewed a brilliant YouTube video and took her tips onboard. I realised I’d not pulled the tab forward before inserting the bottle which secures it in place. Rookie error.Since then I’ve had great success. Top tip was to let the water settle a bit after each blast of gas. I like it very fizzy so do 6 blasts. THEN LEAVE IT for a minute or so to settle before taking it out of the soda stream device.

26.1.2019

I love fizzy water! We used to get through loads of bottles of mineral water and when I saw my boss bringing soda stream bottles to work I considered getting one.Growing up in the early 80s I thought of it as a lemonade or cola maker, we'd always had a simple siphon instead. I chose this model as it was good value for money at the time I bought it.It is easy to operate but you must push the bottle fully upwards as you clamp it in, if not then the seal isn't made and the water won't be fizzy. They could have made that clear in the instructions.I like that you can get money off the gas cylinders when you use SodaStream returns as well.

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