Product review (5 stars): A good deal,  for reals. I did science on it.
So, I got this and a fancy pants brand name overpriced unit at the same time. Basically,i blew $10 to do my own fresh-filter vs fresh-filter comparison, because I knew that was the only way I'd feel comfortable purchasing this repeatedly. I figured if it's a good filter, this experiment will pay for itself at the next change.  I also got an identical  glass out of the old brand name filter as a  control, and  glass of city water just for funzies. Flushed both new filters for the same amount of time. Checked the temp of all three filtered glasses, and they were within 5 of each other (so apparently I have a huge reservoir..) then I marked and mixed all four up so it was a blind test.
  I could tell the old filter water right away. Yuk. But I let it go way too long (it was 6 months old I think) so what do you expect. I found one tasted fresher, with no discernable odors or taste,  and the remaining one tasted just as fresh, but with just a wee bit of plasticy flavor. Still, all three were a zillion times better than my city tap water.

  End result? It was the teir1 that tasted a little like a bit like plastic. At 1/4 of the price of the name-brand filter, I'm still very pleased, and I'd recommend it, and will buy it again. If I had a zillion dollars I'd stick with the name-brand.

 I ended the experiment on the name-brand filter (so I didn't throw away the expensive one, I don't think they'd keep well after they've been used)  but will buy another of these as soon as the current one goes bad. I'll update if the new teir1 isn't as good as this test indicates, or doesn't last as long as the name-brand unit i had been buying. Now I'm wishing I had a particulate tester too.. Oh well lol.