Where to buy....

[Delphinus]

Aquasafe may be decent enough quality for all I know. But try to talk to guy selling them, 1) will only accept paypal payments, which is ridiculous, 2) very difficult to get ahold of, gets annoyed if you actually get ahold of him by phone, i.e., you must direct all correspondence to them via email, and every response will just redirect you back to their ebay webpage since apparently it answers any question worthy of asking anyhow, and if your questions aren't answered there then obviously they're just stupid. Now pay up with paypal! Sorry, fly-by-night outfits don't deserve our business, vendors who support their customers with good customer service get my business. If it costs me $20 more than some ebay nonsense then so be it. At least I have recourse in the event that something isn't 100%.

[EmilyB]

I've never had any problem with Aquasafe and I hardly think they are fly by night after this long. I just order and it comes in. It took a while to just get on his plan with conversion to Canadian by myself, but that wasn't too tough. He is obviously a bit eccentric, but if I get what I order quickly, I'm happy. The membranes are put through hell here, probably 350g per month.

[aussiefishy]

I have used Aquasafe for more than 2.5 years. and my experience has been more than terrific. i am not sure which is better than which, but 1 thing i am certain is that i use roughly 100 gallons/week from the unit and i measure my TDS bi-weekly. the RO membrane so last up to 1 year before i replace it, (when my TDS is up to 5ppm), and my DI Beads have not been turned color fully yet. My initial water read about 230-350 ppm TDS. output is 3-8ppm

1. the cost per unit in comparision to others, is the absolute lowest - hence, cheapest upstart cost. The product quality MIGHT not be the absolute best, but i do think it is comparable to a 500-600 unit from GE Systems or other $500 up range DRINKING/human compsumtion units.

2. i have excellent support from the staff at Aquasafe, their quality of the product seems ok to me.

3. efficency/output rate has ALOT to do with input water pressure and temperature, also the water quality. I do know different area in canada have different water parameters, but in the area where i live, it is fine...

last i am not too picky of a guy, as long as it works in a set variance, i am happy with it, but generally speaking, the Aquasafe RO/DI unit IS the best money i have spent for my hobby so far...

I know there are alot of users ion calgary and vancouver area that are happy with their product and support. and that is why i bought it at the first place.

just my 2 cents.

Eric.

[Delphinus]

Ok, so I visited their webpage, aquasafecanada.com. I see they've come a long long way from their ebay days, so I'll take back the fly-by-night comment.

I see that it looks like they accept payments other than paypal now. That's a step in the right direction .. if I needed RO/DI supplies I might then consider them.

But I still see prices in USD. Which to me seems a bit odd seeing as the webpage is aquasafeCANADA.com. I'm sorry, that's still just... dumb.

But obviously they have a winning formula to have such fierce customer loyalty.. they must be doing something right.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by aussiefishy

I have used Aquasafe for more than 2.5 years. and my experience has been more than terrific. i am not sure which is better than which, but 1 thing i am certain is that i use roughly 100 gallons/week from the unit and i measure my TDS bi-weekly. the RO membrane so last up to 1 year before i replace it, (when my TDS is up to 5ppm), and my DI Beads have not been turned color fully yet. My initial water read about 230-350 ppm TDS. output is 3-8ppm

1. the cost per unit in comparision to others, is the absolute lowest - hence, cheapest upstart cost. The product quality MIGHT not be the absolute best, but i do think it is comparable to a 500-600 unit from GE Systems or other $500 up range DRINKING/human compsumtion units.

2. i have excellent support from the staff at Aquasafe, their quality of the product seems ok to me.

3. efficency/output rate has ALOT to do with input water pressure and temperature, also the water quality. I do know different area in canada have different water parameters, but in the area where i live, it is fine...

last i am not too picky of a guy, as long as it works in a set variance, i am happy with it, but generally speaking, the Aquasafe RO/DI unit IS the best money i have spent for my hobby so far...

I know there are alot of users ion calgary and vancouver area that are happy with their product and support. and that is why i bought it at the first place.

just my 2 cents.

Eric.

Quoted for truth.

[albert_dao]

I dunno, I'm thinking to myself:

http://aquasafecanada.com/products.htm

The middle one (Aquarium 100 GPD system) @ 144.50 USD = 161.67 + shipping.

VS. A comparable SpectraPure unit @ $230 CAD

Of note:

- They use a verticle DI cartridge instead of a horizontal cartridge. That's a huge increase towards efficiency since there's no gravity-induced bypass.

- The canisters are CLEAR.

- Those hoses are all clamped down. I have an Aquasafe unit and the hoses are EVERYWHERE. It's completely unsightly and I've had to spend an additional investment of time (half an hour) and money ($10 + gas) searching for hose clamps to keep everything down.

- SpectraPure uses 75 GPD membranes, Aquasafe units use 100 GPD cartridges. What's the big deal? About 8% rejection rate! That's huge! We're talking about reducing the life of the DI resin by something like 40% here (personal communication via RC).

- SpectraPure uses some kinda proprietary blend of DI resin which is patent pending. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but my Aquasafe DI resin + membrane produced a TDS 35. All the SpectraPure users I know, and I know lots, have a TDS of 0 (zero).

So yeah, you save like $50 after all is said and done, but what's $50 over the lifetime of the unit?

[albert_dao]

Or hell, screw the SpectraPure:
http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...t_ID=ro-afb075

Not as good as the SpectraPure, IMO, but here's a vendor OTHER than me who sells quality RO units.

Here's a few more:

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch..._Code=SP4stage

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch..._Code=Aquafxro

http://mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/...796+1162013967

Meh...

[EmilyB]

I'm not exactly sure what that means, but my Aquasafe DI resin + membrane produced a TDS 35

Not sure I understand. You mean your output reads that? Mine is always zero, until I need filters replaced of course.