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Jupiter Melody, Orion, Aquarius and Delphi ionizers are still the only ionizers to always give alkaline water (even when cleaning).
This patented system means that there is no waiting, no risk of drinking acid water by mistake and also means that scale build up on the plates is minimized.

Most ionizer units use only genuine Platinum Titanium. This is because Platinum is by far the most effective and stable element for water ionization.
Some models made in Taiwan are using Platinoiridium or Platinum mixed with Iridium. They don't use platinum titanium because platinum titanium is 7 times more expensive than iridium. The Japanese and Korean governments do not allow any company to sell iridium for drinking water applications because it is bad for your health. The EP units made for the US market do not use iridium while the same models in Taiwan/China do use iridium.
Also there are new models on the market using 'white gold' for their plating. This is very misleading as there is no such thing as "white gold" since gold is always yellow. "White gold", in fact, is actually an amalgam and contains at least 62% silver and other minerals. Platinum is about $1250 an ounce while Silver is about $12 an ounce. Obviously all the Japanese manufacturers and Jupiter Science etc would use "white gold" if it was any good. Some companies use cheap plates that are dipped in iridium instead of been baked which is a more expensive and effective method. Jupiter Science is the only company in Korea that manufactures their own plates (in Japan). All other companies are just assemblers importing their plates from Taiwan or China.

Enagic® models are so expensive not because they are better than some other brands at a lower price, but because Enagic® needs to markup prices in order to be able to pay out 8 levels of sales representatives. Ask why their filter replacement is well over $100 and ask to see their compensation plan.
For further comments please see our Report on Kangen Water®.

A few manufactures make a lot of profit from replacement filters.
While most brands have reasonable filter prices there are some that don't. Only the Biostone Plus filter is manufactured in the USA using NSF approved components.

Some manufacturers are employing larger plating and claiming they are superior. They hope to fool the consumer into thinking "bigger, is better".
With electronics quite the opposite is true (consider how the radio, camera, computer and TV have evolved). Effective conductivity is the primary determinant - not electrode size - of effective delivery of voltage into the water needed to create electrolysis. The larger electrodes draw 3-4 times more power decreasing the electrode life with no additional benefit to the water quality.
Generally the larger electrodes have poorer conductivity due to inferior plating processes or the grade of materials, so they have to be larger.

When looking at what brand to buy look also at the level and quality of ongoing support you will be getting.
By US tested we mean that the company have been selling in the USA for a number of year. It takes a number of years to show that a water ionizer is reliable (less to show it is not). Tyent and Life ionizers, for example, after only one year, were no longer selling the original brand they imported into the USA. Life Ionizers are now using a third manufacturer and KYK has recently also swithched across to another new brand. We have only imported from the same manufacturer and have imported ionizers longer than anyone. Thus all our customers can be sure to have filters and replacement parts when needed.

We do not recommend models that use UV lighting as a means for moving bacteria or viruses. UV light has to shine through a clear surface but in time these surfaces tend to become opaque or dirty (especially where there is hard water). Also the UV bulb may stop working and UV light may not work well with fast water flow. In comparison anti-bacterial filters will always work at optimum strength as long as they are replaced in time. All ionizers that use filters have a filter counter inbuilt.

Some new companies from China, Taiwan and Korea claim to have an inbuilt ORP meter. Although a good idea this is still only at this stage gimmickry. It is very hard to get an accurate ORP reading and an ORP meter needs to regularly recalibrated and cleaned (since its points quickly gets oxidized). In our tests using ionizers with inbuilt ORP we found that the readings were very inaccurate and misleading when compared to the results from a proper ORP meter.

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