COMPARING DIFFERENT RO WATER PURIFIERS
Why are there SO MANY different types of water purifiers !?! I went over 18+ RO water purifiers that have the best features and reviews and still I did not cover all of them. While choice is good, too much choice is confusing for the buyer. Each brand has so many models with minute differences - it becomes very very difficult.
Anyway, that’s why I’m here - to help you decide :)
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WHEN TO BUY AN RO WATER PURIFIER?
You need an RO water purifier if you have a TDS of over 200PPM in your area. How do you measure? I’ve linked to a TDS meter in the description if you like. I also link to my recommended RO water purifiers.
RO has a big pro that it reduces impurities in water upto 0.0001 microns. But as a part of that - it strips off essential minerals and makes water acidic if the TDS goes too low. If you are already using an RO water purifier that does not have a mineralizer or enrich minerals - you can use these drops in your water to add back the minerals that RO strips out of water. Alternatively - supplement it in your diet.
So since RO strips off all essential minerals and unbalances the PH - these are the two key things you need to look for in an RO water purifier. In combination with a TDS controller when available will help you decide which RO water purifier you need. Some RO water purifiers do not come with a TDS controller - which may not be wise to purchase in my opinion as you have no control over the output TDS - which could go really low in some cases - making water useless to drink. While TDS below 200 is palatable for drinking, you can set the TDS output between 50 and 150. For reference, bisleri sets its TDS to 120.
Last thing to keep in mind is that RO water purifiers have a high maintenance cost. The filters need changing every 6-7 months whenever there is an alert and the RO membrane needs changing every year. That will cost anywhere upwards of 4-4.5k per year.
COMPARING HUL, KENT, V GUARD, EUREKA FORBES RO WATER PURIFIERS UNDER 12K
So with that in mind - let’s take a look at the RO water purifiers. I compared over 18 RO water purifiers - and many do not meet the requirements that I highlighted. Let’s go over each of the parameters compared & then I will give you the recommendation. You can jump right to the recommendation - I’ve highlighted them in the description.
In the first category - I’m going to compare RO water purifiers less than Rs. 12,000. There are 5 models in this category that I’m comparing. HUL Purit RO+MF HUL Pureit Advanced Pro V Guard Zenora HUL Pureit Marvella Sleek Eureka Forbes Aquasure Aquaguard Delight. These are quite basic and don’t have features like hot water, app connectivity, water wastage control. If you want any of these, go to the section on RO water purifiers above Rs. 12,000:
You can see the prices on the screen as of June 2021. These prices fluctuate quite a bit - so make sure you check the final prices on the links below. These models have a capacity of 6-8 liters, so is ideal for upto 4 people.
Coming to the technologies, ofcourse all of them have RO. Just a recap, UV is used to kill virus and bacteria, UF is used to remove virus and bacteria from the water, and MF only removes bacteria, not viruses. As you can see on the screen, HUL purit does not have UV, which is OK in my opinion as RO anyway does also kill bacteria and virus. Coming to UF, MF - you can see that V guard zenora and HUL purit advanced pro have no UF, HUL puri and marvella have only MF, so no viruses removed. Only Eureka Forbes has UF.
Coming to the part where the RO water purifier needs to compensate for the minerals and PH that it removes - as you can see on the screen, only 2 of the models help with that. V Guard Zenora does not have a TDS controller BUT does have a mineral and PH balancer - which is good. Eureka forbes aquasure aquaguard delight has a TDS controller - which when set to the right TDS will make sure that essential minerals are not removed and PH is balanced.
Now coming to some “perks”, since these are the basic models - none of these models have water wastage control, app connectivity or hot water.
All of these models have a warranty of 1 year and have reviews of over 4/5
One con I want to highlight of the HUL Purit RO+MF (basic model) is that it is known to reduce TDS to very low which is definitely not good for health.
TOP RECOMMENDATION
So based on all these parameters - my top 1 recommendation less than 12k is Eureka Forbes Aquaguard Aquasure Delight and second recommendation is V Guard Zenora inspite of the fact that it does not have UF / MF or a TDS controller - but it does a good job of filtration and has a PH and mineral balancer.
COMPARING KENT, MI SMART WATER PURIFIER, HUL, LIVPURE, AO SMITH Z8 RO WATER PURIFIERS
Comparing RO water purifiers above Rs. 12,000. There are a zillion models in this category. But we will stick to the basics and make sure that the water purifier we select does the job that it needs to do best - that is to purify water. There are 12 models I’m comparing here MI Smart Water Purifier Kent Supreme LIte HUL Pureit Eco Kent Grand (11076) Livpure Zinger Kent Supreme Extra Eureka forbes Aquaguard Aura Kent Grand+ HUL Pureit Copper AO Smith Z8 AO SMith Z9 LG WW182EP.
You can see the prices on the screen as of June 2021. These prices fluctuate quite a bit - so make sure you check the final prices on the links below. These models have a capacity of 7-10 liters, so the ones upto 9L are ideal for upto 4 people and all the others are ideal for 4+ people
Coming to the technologies - at this pricepoint - I would expect the models to have at a minimum RO and UF. UV if available it’s good, but not a must have as RO anyway kills the bacteria and viruses. This is a little understood fact which was important to clarify. Anyway, with this criteria - as you can see, the Eureka forbes Aura model, HUL Pureit copper do not have UF. AO Smith Z8 and Z9 don’t call it UF but have an extra membrane to filter out the bacteria and viruses. So i will include those in this category too.
Coming to the part where the RO water purifier needs to compensate for the minerals and PH that it removes - it should either have a TDS controller or should have a way for compensating the PH and minerals. As you can see on the screen, only 5 models actually do that - Kent Supreme Lite, LivPure Zinger, Kent Supreme Extra, Eureka Forbes Aura and Kent Grand+
Coming to the perks - there are 3 key ones we are tracking:
Only MI has app connectivity to monitor filter life and TDS but you cannot set the TDS.
A number of models do have water wastage control - but in my opinion it is a gimmick and should be ignored. Why do I think it’s a gimmick? Let’s take how Kent does it for example - the technology is such that the water goes back to the overhead tank. Now which apartment complex if it is older has this capability? Some others have a separate tank to collect the water - now this water has a higher concentration of salts than your normal water. In my opinion, not suitable for washing vessels or definitely not for your plants
Third perk is hot water. Only the AO Smith Z8 and Z9 models have it.
All of these models have a warranty of 1 year and have reviews of over 4/5
Some common pros and cons I have gone over through teh reviews:
Some models seem to have a leakage issue. So based on what you decide, please go over the latest reviews to check for leakages.
MI has a longer filter life and filters can be replaced ourselves. But issue is that it generates very low TDS and no controller means it cannot be adjusted. Installation service is an issue.
HUL Pureit Eco - installation seems to be an issue, leakages have been called out in some cases and it is bulky compared to other RO filters
HUL Pureit Copper - the copper flavor is bad
TOP RECOMMENDATION
Finally coming to my recommendations based on all of this:
My top recommendation is the Kent Supreme Extra - it ticks all of the boxes I have to make sure that purification is perfect and your water is not devoid of minerals and has a balanced PH level
My second recommendation is LivPure Zinger. Again checks all the right boxes similar to Kent Supreme Extra - but has a smaller tank.
My third recommendation is Kent Supreme Lite at a lower price point - does not have UV but I don’t think that is essential - as i mentioned before, RO does the job of killing bacteria and viruses - UV is not an essential essential filter for RO.
If you do need a large capacity one or need hot water - I would recommend the AO Smith Z8. It has PH and mineral balance - but at this pricepoint - I would have expected it to have a TDS controller as well to give more control. The one perk which none of the other models have is ability to disburse hot water - but hot water is only disbursed when tank is full - which is a big problem in my opinion as you have to wait for tank to be full every time before you can get hot water. Even if you take out 1-2 liters, you cannot get hot water. I chose this above the Z9 as the Z9 has a digital disbursal of water - which does not work when there is no electricity.
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