Mavea 1001126 Elemaris XL Water Filtration Pitcher - White

This is my second Mavea pitcher. My first one last for years and the handle did not fall off, thankfully contrary to what others unfortunately experienced. The top, however, can pop off and the spout can get stuck. I have been very clumsy with this and have dropped it many times. It's been very durable for me, sustaining no crack or scratch. The size is great, fits right into the fridge and is easy to carry. It is also dishwasher safe, as long as you remove the battery (squeeze under the lid and pull off).The filter is VERY slow, but you know it's doing its job. The water tastes good and it's good to know the plastic is BPA-free (otherwise what's the point). Sometimes, small charcoal pieces get left behind in the upper compartment, but never in the water. The whole container can hold 2-3 runs of the upper tank, but then the plastic holding the filter sits in the water--I'm not sure if that's intended and ok.My only annoyance with this product is that the filter is supposed to be a perfect fit in the upper compartment, but somehow waters gets through the sides and gets stuck under the filter. That water will just stay there unless you remove the whole filter and dump out that water. Because I haven't found anything better, this is the one I return to and just deal with this minor annoyance.Finally, I don't depend on the electronic device indicating when to change the filter because it's just based on timing, not uses.

I have had this pitcher for a few weeks now and have been more than pleased with it on a few levels...AestheticsI was immediately struck by the aesthetics and material quality. Will it survive a drop? Likely not, due to the very rigid structure, but I like the solid feel. As others alluded to, in the area of the spout and filler areas we see lightweight materials, but these are not areas which incur physical stresses or even much visual scrutiny when someone looks and says, "Hey, cool pitcher". Operationally. I have had no issues with the movable parts aspect. I should mention that I use the product with regularity - my personal consumption is in the area of 3 liters per day.Basic FunctionI tip, it pours. No unnecessary drips, no drama. Good.DesignThe design is mostly functional. The pitcher is oval and deep which makes it a great choice for those with crowded refrigerators. The rubberized feet and grip work extremely well. The filling area with its counter-weighted self close mechanism is well designed. However, in my case, it doesn't work well as a from-the-tap-to-the-pitcher device. Rather, I place a two cup measuring cup under my tap and then pour from the former into my pitcher. It's efficient - I know exactly how much water I'm adding, and cleaner - I control the pour rate so water doesn't splash unnecessarily. The top reservoir (unfiltered area) holds approximately 5 cups of water. Within two fills one can take the pitcher from empty to full. My process is completed within 15-20 minutes give or take.I would have liked to see a "Max fill" line on the top reservoir and corresponding capacity markers on the main tank to more easily monitor how much water has been consumed or needs to be replaced to achieve a full fill.Note: the tolerances of the pitcher are such that if one fills the pitcher a small amount over 9 cups then a law of physics (don't know which) will kick in that will cause the upward pressure of the water in the main tank to counteract the downward pressure of the filter mechanism. The result? Extra water will sit in the top reservoir and inside the filter until the level drops in the main tank. I do not like this at all. For this reason i put a piece of clear tape on the tank that measures out approximately 8.25 cups. When the water sits at this level I do not add any more water - I do not want water sitting in the dirtiest part of the pitcher.The single point of attachment of the handle is of some concern, especially if one is constantly manipulating full pitchers. I'm a believer in modestly over-engineering a product, especially when the associated costs are non-trivial.My Smart Meter seems to be working so far, but time will tell. I am a few weeks in and still at 100%Caution - Silver in my water?I am confident that the silvered filter works as advertised. What concerns me is the non-advertised aspect which only occurred to me after I began using the product - what about silver in my water?While others will debate, I am of the mind that silver serves zero, absolutely zero, value as part of a regular diet (note, I am excluding medical applications). In fact, accumulation of silver in the body might cause problems - the research on this point is mixed so I expect you will care or not based on how cautious you are relative to your body chemistry, not any particular article.I wrote to Mavea asking for documentation as to silver content in their filtered water. That note went unresponded for a week. I sent a second, more strongly worded note and I received a pdf document explaining that a silver salt does get into the water via the filter and is within WHO guidelines of 0.1mg/L. WHO estimates that the upper-bound for retained silver is 10 grams over the course of a lifetime. Other organizations are more conservative on this guideline.So, if we go with WHO guidelines and trust to the fact that we are healthy and don't have too much silver accumulated already, then the numbers point to being "safe" for the next several decades of water drinking.That said, I remain unappreciative that Mavea made their data difficult to obtain. It should have been documented with the pitcher. Perhaps I missed something but I did not see this and I consider selective omission to be a shade of dishonesty.Will I keep the pitcher? Yes. However, I consider all plastics to be inherently disposable after a year or two, and when it does come time to replace the pitcher it will be substituted for a different product.

I would have given this pitcher 6 stars if I could.After years with Brita, finally there is an alternative that solves Brita's annoying problem.Good thing that I ran out of Brita filters, looked it up on Amazon and found Mavea in the results.Here are problem with my Brita : Brita Pacifica Smart Pitcher Water Filtration System with 2 Bonus Filters and 1 Bonus 20oz Nalgene On The Go Tritan - If there is a water in the top reservoir and you try to pour the water without other hand pushing on the lid, it will pop out and make a big mess. While I'm pretty careful with my Brita, there are sometimes when you're not careful (woken up during the night, etc) and many times had to wipe the floor during the night.- Water from top reservoir *leaks* into the lower reservoir. It leaks due to poor filter-reservoir design.- There are black particles in the top reservoir after regular use. While it's not a big deal since they are just carbons, it kinds of annoying- Some Brita filters leaks tiny carbon particles to the filtered water. I had to run it through *several* pitchers of water before it stops leaking.Now, with my background laid out, here's my review for Mavea :I can't tell the difference between water from Brita or from Mavea. I suppose they work equally well as a basic filtration pitcher. However with about the same cost of replacement filter, I think Mavea is "the" next Brita.This Mavea pitcher is well-designed. Front of the lid has 2 small latches that latch to the pitcher, and the back extends to the handle which means that regardless how much water you have in the top reservoir, the top will *not* pop off and splash water all over the cabinet like Brita. The pour-trough lid is very convenient. However, it refuses to pop back up from time to time, but that's ok.The "Smart Meter" claims to work smarter than a "timer" meter from Brita. It detects when the water is being filtered and count it against the life of filter. Traditional Brita meter is only a timer that was pre-programmed from the factory. If it estimates that a household will run through X gallons of water within a month, it *will* tell you to replace the filter every month. --- But with "Smart Meter" it estimates filter usage more closely to the actual use.Filter-reservoir design is perfect and solves the problem that I had with Brita. As far as I can tell, there are no leaks from the top reservoir. It means that you can have higher confidence that your water is even more clean than what comes from Brita.Handle and its feet have rubbery feel. It doesn't make any difference in terms of water quality, but I like the way handle feels in my hand. I change my behavior a bit, however. I usually slide Brita pitcher around, it's not possible with Mavea and will tip the pitcher over if you insist on sliding it.This is my first filter, so I can't confirm if it's typical or not. But it doesn't release carbon particles to the top reservoir like Brita. (Not that it affects water quality) -- It also doesn't release tiny black (I assume carbon) particles into filtered water like some Brita filters that I had to deal with. Manual tells you to run the filter through 2 pitchers of water before the first use. This is pretty much the same thing I do with Brita anyway.My only complain about this Mavea pitcher is that the "Smart Meter" is *NOT* waterproof. It's removable from the lid, so in case you need to wash it, there's no problem. However, there have been circumstances when I accidentally splash water over the meter. It's still working, but from the design, I think it's going to be the first thing to break in this pitcher. --- This is the only advantage that Brita had over Mavea. Its button design is waterproof, while Mavea isn't. I don't understand why Mavea went with this design. I hope that Mavea will address this issue on the next design.Overall, I'm super happy with Mavea. There is no turning back to Brita now.