Product review (5 stars): Spring for the extra few bucks and get this! It's worth it. Big taste difference
My dad bought some less expensive filter replacements here on Amazon for about half (approx) the price of this unit, and they left a metallic/"tap water"ish flavor in the water (filter was only a few weeks old by the way - not like it was leaving a flavor from being months old and needing replacement). I bought this one as kind of an experiment to see if the extra money was worth it, and I promise you it is! The weird taste was gone as soon as i popped this filter in and the cheapo one went right in the garbage. I even did a little taste test where i had a glass of water from the cheap filter and a glass from this one, and let them get around room temperature so any flavors present wouldn't be muted by the water being cold. I tasted a huge difference and so did the other members of my family who didn't know which glass was which. We all greatly preferred the water filtered by this unit.

NUTSHELL VERSION: You'll probably be tempted by the filters that are half the price of this one, but having months of water that doesn't taste gross is well worth spending the extra money.

*I PAID FULL PRICE FOR THIS PRODUCT AND MY REVIEW WAS NOT INFLUENCED/REQUESTED IN ANY WAY. I AM IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE MAKER OF THIS PRODUCT!*  :)