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1331 Review
43 Karma

Review on Go Berkey Kit: Compact Water Filter (1 qt.) with Black Berkey Primer & Sport Bottle (22 oz.) by Jimmy Hargrove

Revainrating 1 out of 5

Untested, Not Reliable

Update: If you want to buy Berkey, make sure you buy from an authorized dealer (contact the manufacturer or buy directly from them). I bought from a seller who turned out to be an unauthorized manufacturer. Now that the filters are out of service, the manufacturer refuses to replace them under warranty. Very funny. Why doesn't the manufacturer sell directly through Revain? (I also bought the filters from an authorized dealer and they failed the test soon after - to their credit the manufacturer honored the warranty on them.) Update 6 months later: I've run through 4 Black Berkey filters so far and they all failed the red dye test in just 2-4 weeks of use! (with the exception of one filter which I did not initially test which failed the first test about 2 months later). The manufacturer recommends running a red dye test to ensure the filter is working well. Refill and retest and all 4 filters failed the second test again. I was very careful with the tests, I wanted to avoid bad results. The 4 defective filters came from 3 different sellers so I can't even fault them for the fact that they are all from the same production batch. So how can I trust these damn things to safely filter unsafe water in a prolonged emergency when they fail after maybe 20 gallons of tap water instead of the 3,000 gallons they should be good for? As you can read from my original review below, I really wanted this thing to work. emergency and drink the water that comes out. The list of pollutants that have been independently verified to be highly effective is almost endless. It requires no electricity or tap water, just water from a source other than the sea (assuming you have the Black Berkey primer that came with my Go Berkey). Refilling Black Berkey Primer is relatively easy. In the reviews, I encountered many complaints about the priming process, but I didn't have any particular problems. Due to its small capacity, this isn't the most convenient model for everyday household use, but I still use it for this purpose. Cons: The capacity is stated as 1 litre, but of course that has to be done before you put the filter in, which is a useless number. The actual amount of purified water you get from each batch is about 24.5 ounces, which is much less than the advertised 32 ounces. Be sure to run the red dye test (described in manual, red dye sold separately) immediately after setup. and then every few months. I had two black filters that failed the test shortly after they were installed. That should not have happened.

Pros
  • Go has a 1 liter storage tank, 3lb empty, measures 14" high and 4" in diameter and produces up to 1 gallon of purified drinking water per hour.
Cons
  • Obsolete model