Product review (5 stars): Still a PUR filter, removes more contaminants, and still tastes great.
There seem to be a lot of negative reviews that have strangely different complaints but one thing in common: They wanted a "PUR" filter. I wonder if this may be a purely psychological issue; those who expected a PUR filter were disappointed in what they received and looked for something wrong with it. The truth is that this is still a PUR filter. In fact, if you check out the picture of the item right here on the Amazon product page, you will see that on the right side of the box near the bottom is the PUR logo. If you "need" a PUR filter, this is it.

I've had no problems with this filter at all after using it for about 4 weeks now. I will mention that I am careful to follow the instructions and flush enough water through the filter initially. If you haven't flushed enough water then any taste issues may be due to that, so perhaps try flushing more water through. The water from my filter tastes exactly the same as it did with the previous version of this filter. I drink several glasses every day and it tastes exactly the same. No one else in my household even noticed that we used a different filter than before. We had several visitors for 4th of July weekend and since we live in the scorching hot desert, we went through at least a few gallons of water through their stay and we actually got comments about how nice and clean it tastes.

I will agree with those who complain that the price is getting outrageous. I am bothered that the price has gotten so high. Currently it is about $7 per month to use this filter, and I would definitely spend more than that buying bottled water. I'm not claiming that the price is great, just trying to be pragmatic about something that is as confusingly controversial as a water filter!

Overall I would recommend this as an "upgrade" of the previous version since it removes a significantly higher number of contaminants compared to the last version. Seeing as how there's not an option to buy the previous version, the water still tastes great, and the price is still practical compared to the alternative, purchasing this is a good choice in my opinion.