Product review (3 stars): Good filter in the end
I purchased two of these filters for my Curtis commercial coffee maker. Well actually, I purchased the first one and the internals of it broke open the very first morning of using our BRAND NEW coffee maker, and released a ton of activated carbon and what must have been some sort of scale-reducing beads into the supply line and inside of the filter. Causing them to clog 7/8 the way shut, and caused the coffee maker to not work at all because it wasn't being supplied with enough water. This was a HUGE disappointment - considering that this is supposed to be a commercial, food-service grade filter, and is meant to be very durable. I feel that Pentair's (who made this filter) quality control should have caught such a bad defect. But I also understand that on the occasional fluke, product defects may happen, which I only hope was my case. I called the 1-800 number and they reassured me it was a defect and told me to get a refund through amazon, which I did with no issues.

The good news is that the filter seems to do its job well enough, it isn't going to make your water as pure as a reverse osmosis or multi-stage filter setup will get your water (which is what I have since replaced this filter with). The John Guest fittings are a joy to use and slide onto copper or poly tubing easily with no leaks, and can be removed with your finger nail. This filter seems to do a good job of filtering chlorine and other tastes out. If your water has a high hardness level to begin with, it probably isn't going to make a huge dent in the hardness of your water - only a salt based water softener or reverse osmosis unit can do that, but it is likely better than hooking your device or fixture up to just straight city water. And I DO highly recommend this filter to anyone seeking to improve the condition of their city or well's supply water for their coffee maker, ice maker, drinking fountain chiller, etc. This filter was not designed to operate with microbiologically compromised water, and so it will not make such water safe to drink. It should only be used with designated safe, treated, potable water.