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Comment by dazzla | Hacker News Reader

Really this is a big deal? I remember soda stream from the 80's in the UK. I'm sure they even eventually had official coke and Pepsi syrups that could be used with them. Didn't kill the market there and I'm sure it won't here.

Seams like they've been in business since 1903.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodastream

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The whole "being green" thing has contributed a lot to their recent success. Also their flavors (afaik) use actual sugar instead of HFCS and diet flavors have no aspartame. I use mine just to make soda water and love it.

Are their green claims just 'greenwash'? Im thinking disposable CO2 canisters can't be that good for the environment either?

>Im thinking disposable CO2 canisters can't be that good for the environment either?

Who's disposing of those things, they are much cheaper to swap out.

They're not disposable. They reuse them. You get a rather sizable discount (50%) for giving an empty one back when you get a new one.

I wonder why they don't market that more widely, I was looking for refills around a display and couldn't find them. There was nothing about where or how to get a canister that I could find on the outer packaging.

The CO2 canisters are refilled/exchanged and not disposable. It certainly passes the smell test to me and they have a ton of info on their carbon footprint on the website. For me, I love the convenience of not having to go buy bottles of soda water and then recycling them after. You just fill the sodastream bottle, carbonate, drink, rinse, repeat.

Even if the canisters were disposed instead of reused, recycling metals is ridiculously efficient.

Not only are the canisters "not disposable", they also are not the property of the purchaser of a SodaStream device. Instead, canisters remain property of SodaStream and are licensed to the purchaser.

http://www.sodastreamusa.com/Assets/ULC.jpg

I've looked at it before, but never taken the plunge. Well worth it? I go through about 2 liters of soda water a day, if not more...

SodaStream tries everything they can to stop people competing with them to refill their gas cylinders or supply competing gas cylinders for use with the equipment they sell, and have largely succeeded, allowing them to sell carbon dioxide at a significant mark up.

For comparison, considering only the cost of obtaining carbonated water, and assuming water is free (since it isn't a significant cost), in New Zealand dollars:

  1 L of store bought carbonated water: ~$0.99
  1 L of water at the lowest Sodastream carbonation: $0.20
     (assuming $12 / 450g of CO2, 450g makes 60L).
  1 L of water using market rate food grade CO2: $0.0032
     (assuming a 3.5 kg cylinder makes 467 L and costs $15
      to fill).

Note that if you do buy a cylinder, there are additional costs (in NZ, a cylinder must have a safety warrant of fitness issued in the last three years to be filled, which costs ~$15 - so that is an additional $5/year to add to the cost of ownership).

This article provides information on the DIY approach: http://m.popsci.com/diy/article/2012-06/how-make-your-own-ho...

If I am currently paying $1 per bottle of store bought (2L) club soda, and I get make 2 L of water using Sodastream for $0.80, I will make my money back in no time (considering I drink 3+ liter a day).

Sure it might be cheaper to go food grade and do it that way, but I am more than happy saving even a smaller amount of money, because it adds up quick.

Who drinks just pure soda water? I'm American and I never see this. My wife visited the Ukraine and it's apparently quite common there. I also found Argentina drinks a lot of "agua con gas". Still, I'm just fine with plain flat water and some ice.

I'm from Europe ... and yes I get funny looks when I ask for club soda at bars and restaurants. I stopped drinking Soda with sugar/HFCS/fake sugar about 2 years ago for health reasons. I like the carbonation.

There are quite a few people I know personally that drink it as well (non-Europeans), mainly because it is better for them than regular soda.

In every of the European countries I've been to, every time I go to a nice restaurant I've been asked whether I wanted my mineral water plain or fizzy. The less nice places might bring you tap water by default (which is generally perfectly fine and safe).

Some eco-friendly system places here in Copenhagen now have their own water filtration system and make higher-quality still and fizzy water on site.

An aside, if in a high altitude country that speaks Spanish, if you learn nothing else, learn the difference between aqua sin gas and aqua con gas (excuse my possibly incorrect spelling). The resulting explosion marks you as a tourist for the rest of the day.

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