Review on Stainless Steel Megahome Countertop Water Distiller With Glass Collection Tank by Carl Mayes

I've been using this distiller for about 2 and 1/2 months now. I use it to make distilled water for drinking and cooking. It seems to do that very well. My TDS meter says my water straight out of the tap is around 170 and after it is distilled it is at 0000 so the distiller definitely works, as far as I can tell. Using the charcoal filter in the spout, the water has no taste which is what I want. Pure water should have no taste.But it does worry me that there is a need for the charcoal filter at all. I haven't tried doing a batch of distilled water without the filter so I don't know if there will be a taste imparted to the water as some people have mentioned. But I would think something in the distillation apparatus in the top portion of the distiller is causing contamination to occur. This worries me a little because I don't know what that contamination might be, if there is any, and I have no way to test for it. Pure water has no taste, so there should be no need for a charcoal filter. This concerns me.This is the only water I have been drinking for the past 2 months and I haven't noticed any health improvements in me or my pets. Previously I used a Brita filter pitcher.As for the design flaws, there are many. The entire distiller was not designed with ergonomics in mind. In Megahome's defense, there seems to be only one basic design for counter top water distillers and all of them have nearly all the same basic flaws. That being said, here is the list:-- No timer. I had to buy a shut-off timer so that I could run the distiller for 5 hours and then have it shut off so that it won't boil dry and be harder to clean.-- No handle on top. The black plastic section on top containing the fan and distillation apparatus is heavy and hard to remove from the metal base. There should be a handle on top to grab onto in order to lift the top off of the base. It's quite awkward to remove the top and I have to hug the distiller to my body with one arm and then pull the top off with the other arm.-- Only 3 rubber feet (pads) instead of 4. It makes the distiller a little tipsy when you are moving it into position on the counter. If there were four rubber pads it would be more stable.-- No on/off switch. The only way to turn it off is to unplug it. There is a "reset" button but I have no idea what its purpose is. I remember using it during the cleaning run but it didn't seem to do anything.-- Hard to clean. I would consider it easy to clean if you could just use a sponge after each run, but you have to do a separate run with citric acid and it doesn't even get it completely clean.-- Heavy and unwieldy. With the base full of water and the top on it is fairly heavy. It is a bit difficult for me to handle and I'm afraid of spilling it or dropping it every time I use it. If you are not a big strong person and/or have strength issues, arthritis, mobility issues, weight lifting restrictions.this distiller will be too heavy for you.-- Carafe. The collection carafe is made of thin glass and I literally have a pang of anxiety every time I have to handle it when it's full. It's heavy! You have to use two hands. They should use a sturdy glass jug of some sort instead of a thin fragile carafe. If you break it they are like $50 to replace. It also slips around easily on the countertop. I had to put a non-skid mat underneath so it won't get nudged out of position accidentally. If it did get pushed out of position, you'd end up with a 1 gallon flood on your countertop and floor. Oh, also, the black plastic lid on the carafe nearly always falls into the water each time I try to remove it. And it doesn't seal the top of the carafe so bugs and dust can get into the water. I did once find a gnat in the water.-- No way to tell how much water is in the base. Quite often I will fill the base with water that I am running in order to get the hot water to come up. Then I set it aside for the day, and turn the distiller on when I go to bed so I won't be bothered by the noise. But when it comes time to turn it on, I can't remember if I filled it or not so I have to either open up the top and look inside, or lift the distiller to see how heavy it is, or jiggle it to listen for water sloshing. To avoid having to do any of those things which are kind of difficult to do, I made a removable sticker/label to tell me when it is full. This works as long as I remember to use the sticker. There should be some kind of built-in indicator to let you know how much water is in the base.So, until countertop distillers have their basic design improved I would recommend this Megahome distiller. It is well made and I've had no problems with anything failing or malfunctioning. It seems to get the job done as far as distilling water well, but it is a fair amount of work. But I don't see any other options out there that are any better.