Why You Should NOT Buy A Portable Water Ionizer Bottle or Pitcher
Why would one want a portable water ionizer?
Well, the market is full of different devices that can make alkaline water.
Among the most popular devices are water ionizers. These are home based appliances that can change the pH level of any water through a process of electrolysis.
However, these machines tend to be bulky and need to be both plugged and connected to plumbing. This is why more and more people seek out a portable water ionizer.
A smaller portable water ionizer works by running your water through several layers of minerals, while also adding ions and minerals to your water. A good quality one will also have a filter that removes impurities and heavy metals.
On the other hand, there are also versions of the small portable water ionizer that performs electrolysis to separate the acidic and alkaline parts of your water. With these types, you can usually program and set the precise pH number that you want.
Did You Know That You Can Make Alkaline Water Yourself?
Yes that’s correct, you don’t need to buy a fancy ionizer machine or portable water ionizer to get alkaline water. In principle, you can reproduce what is effectively alkaline water with everyday items that are already in your kitchen.
It can be as easy as adding baking soda to your water.
This is because dissolved baking soda raises the pH of water. In fact, this is a well known remedy that treats things like heartburn because it’s able to neutralize stomach acid.
However, be careful when doing this yourself. The drawback of using baking soda is its sodium content. Sodium is not good for anyone with high blood pressure.
Another quick and easy way to alkalise water is to add lemon. Yes, lemons are technically acidic (at least when it comes to taste) but they become alkaline when digested.
In a perfect world, a small portable water ionizer can save you all this work and do it for you while you are on the move.
But this article will tell you why buying one might not be worth it. If you’re serious about getting good quality alkaline water then an ionizer machine may be the only way to go.
Let me explain.
Portable Water Ionizer Buying Guide
Before buying a portable water ionizer there are some things that you should know.
I have put together a short buying guide to explain all the features you need to understand. Understanding all the different terms related to the water ionizer market will help you get the right product for your needs.
Oxidation-Reduction Potential
This is often referred to as ORP for short. The ORP number lets you know the extent of antioxidants in a substance.
Pool owners use this number to see if their pool has enough chlorine. Beer and wine makers use it to determine if there is no more fermentation.
The reading is shown with millivolts. A negative number means it is a reducing agent while a positive number means it is an oxidizing agent.
Getting a low reading is a very good thing. The lower the ORP number the more enriching antioxidant power it has.
You probably remember this term from school when you had to do a litmus test on something. When the test results were red or pink, the substance was acidic, whereas alkaline gave a blue/purple test result.
The litmus test analogy is a good way of understanding what pH (or “potential of hydrogen”) means.
Numerically, pH is on a range of 0-14, where 7 indicates neutral.
Anything with a pH result that reads below 7 is acidic (i.e. it has fewer hydrogen ions) and a substance with a pH above 7 is alkaline (i.e. it has more hydrogen ions).
So, alkaline water is anything that has a pH greater than 7.
When buying a portable water ionizer, make sure the pitcher is able to generate water above a 7 pH. Ideally you want one that can go to a pH number that is as high as possible.
Filters
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get a portable water ionizer machine or device that does not come with filters.
If your ionizer product doesn’t have filters you may end up drinking perfectly alkaline water that is full of contaminants and harmful bacteria.
There are some brands like Tyent that go above and beyond in this area. For instance, Tyent machines typically come with dual .01 micron filters. This is more powerful than some whole house filters.
Quick Ways To Avoid A Water Ionizer Scam
Here are some quick things to look out for when buying an ionizer machine or portable ionizer device. There are many alkaline water scams on the Internet and here is a quick way to not become a victim:
- Always buy from a reputable source or direct from the manufacturer. Do not trust a no-name online ionizer outlet, especially if their prices are radically lower than the standard prices.
- Look for a good warranty and guarantee. I used to be impressed with a 10-15 year warranty until I saw a lifetime forever warranty from Tyent. The reason why a good warranty is so important is it shows the level of confidence the company has in its products.
- Seek out external accreditations and awards. For instance, does it have a CE watermark? Does the company have a good profile on the BBB (Better Business Bureau)? All of these will indicate a company worth buying from.
Types of Alkaline Water Machines
Counter Top Water Ionizers With Filters
These are the most popular and well known types of water ionizers. They use electrolysis and filters to generate ionized water.
It first runs your water through its filters and then changes the pH through electrolysis.
There are high tech devices that sit on your countertop or there are below counter devices with a high tech faucet like this.
Pitcher Ionizers / Portable Water Ionizer
These are smaller devices that look like a regular water filter pitcher. However, instead of just storing or filtering your water, they also change the pH. They create alkaline water when they’re able to change the pH to one that is above 7. A good quality portable water ionizer will change the ORP of your water too.
Benefits of Ionized Water
Before talking about the benefits of ionized water, let me highlight some caveats.
Many of the most bombastic health claims around alkaline water don’t have any scientific proof, support or evidence.
So do not believe any claims about alkaline water curing serious health conditions.
Personally I think alkaline water is something that is nice to add to a diet and lifestyle that is already healthy.
The little research around alkaline or ionized water shows that its real benefit is down to its potential for antioxidants. A diet that is rich in antioxidants helps to reduce the amount of free radicals in your body.
Why Portable Ionizers Are a Waste of Money?
You Can’t Use The Pitcher To Store Water
This might seem counter-intuitive because it defeats the whole point of getting a portable water ionizer in the first place. You buy it so that you can create alkaline water and take it with you on the go, right?
But the alkaline you produce starts to lose its potency as soon as it’s generated. Hence you should really be drinking it immediately.
Portable Ionizer Filters Are Usually Rubbish
A water ionizer machine is only as good as its filter.
Tap water is usually full of contaminants and tastes disgusting. Turning that horrible tap water alkaline will not make it safer to drink or taste better.
Using fresh tasting filtered water is the way to really get the benefits and delicious taste of alkaline water.
However, most portable ionizer machines come with weak filters. This is because it’s very difficult to get good quality filters in such a small device.
High quality filters need space to do their job properly but this luxury is not available with tiny pitchers.
On the other hand a larger water ionizer appliance come with filters that are so powerful they can filter chlorine, bacteria, lead, mercury and 99.99% of contaminants.
Low Quality Electrolysis and Technology
A regular ionizer appliance comes with 8 – 13 plates. This is what is responsible for the quality of the alkaline water that it produces.
However, the average portable ionizer pitcher comes with 0.
So you can expect – 300 ORP Levels instead of the – 1150 that come with the bigger machines.
Poor Customer Reviews.
Most portable ionizer machines come with extremely poor customer reviews. And this is of no surprise when you consider all the factors that I’ve just mentioned.
I think you’re better off buying alkaline bottled water or if you can afford it, a proper home water ionizer appliance.
Top Rated Water Ionizer Brands
- Heart Water (Artisan Alkaline Rainwater).
- Tyent.
- Essentia.
- Alkaline88.
Heart water is artisan alkaline rainwater. Not only do they produce great tasting water, they also re-invest heavily into charity.
Tyent is a US based company that produce the most advanced water ionizer machines on the market today. These include machines with 13 platinum plates – the highest of any currently available.
Essentia and Alkaline88 are bottled water that have among the highest alkaline ph level on the market today.
The WORST Water Ionizer Brands?
Kangen water from Enagic.
Don’t get me wrong their products seem fine. However, their prices are outrageous given the comparable offerings from other companies.
The value of what Kangen produce should be $1000 – $1500 at the absolute maximum. However, their machines are valued at $4000 – $5000.
Outrageous for what else you get for this money.
For instance, Tyent machines are slightly cheaper and come with 13 titanium plates. More plates = better quality alkaline water.
However, Kangen machines come with a maximum of 9 plates, yet still cost more than Tyent.
Tyent give you a LIFETIME warranty meanwhile more expensive Kangen products only give you 5 years.
I just think that you can get better value for money by avoiding Kangen water ionizers.
The Best Counter Top Water Ionizer?
I have mentioned the Tyent Counter Top ACE-13 so many times in this article so far, so let me explain why.
I find this to be the best quality, top rated, and most advanced water ionizer machine.
Being an over the counter machine means that it is not as hard to install as the under counter versions.
However, its biggest selling point is the massive 13 titanium plates. I stress this because the number of plates has a big and proportional effect on the quality of ionized water you receive. The plates are dipped and baked in platinum. This means that they are not going to crack or break.
Another big selling point are the powerful dual filters.
These filters treat down to 0.01 micron which makes it more impressive than many whole house filters. The filters treat 99% of contaminants and are powerful enough to treat lead.
It looks great and makes a great addition to any modern kitchen. There are lots of great high spec features like automatic self clean, the touchscreen controls and voice prompts (which can be turned off).
The final piece of icing on the cake is the lifetime FOREVER warranty.
This is the most generous warranty provided by any ionizer company that I know of. It means that you don’t have to worry about future breakdowns.
**UPDATE: ENDING SOON**
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