Soda Stream fizzy drinks maker - Half price at Argos

annie-c

Doc_N wrote: »

Just in case anyone's undecided.......the reason these periodically disappear from the market, then reappear again is simple.

Once the novelty's worn off, and particularly when people realise how expensive it is to make Sodastream drinks, as against buying them ready-made from the supermarket, they get put away in the cupboard and left to gather dust. Even charity shops struggle to get rid of them.

Then, every so often, when a new generation of gullible people who haven't actually used them before comes along, they get reinvented and remarketed. Fizzy fruit juice is every bit as bad for you as other fizzy drinks, and don't let Sodastream convince you otherwise. It's a high sugar, highly carbonated mix which will rot your teeth, add to your waistline and add to your chances of being diagnosed with osteoporosis.

Sorry to be a misery, but I've seen Sodastream come and go too many times!

Haha - I actually bought mine at 9am when Lakeland opened, at the original re-launch a few years ago, and consider it to have been worth every penny of the original £59 cost

I was worried about the availability of gas refills if Lakeland stopped selling them, but they seem to have become more popular and can be found anywhere.

Lakeland sell refills (for exchange with your own empty cyllinder) at £8.99 which has gone up quite a lot from the £6.50 they started out at.

I use mine quite a lot for adding fizz to ordinary cordials, but recently they have started to relaunch old favourites like Cream Soda, Dandelion and Burdock, and my favourite, Slimline Tonic!

When you calculate the cost of a bottle of cheap fizzy water, there is no real cost saving to be made, but it helps the environment, is enormous fun, and so convenient.

I noticed at Lakeland that they are now selling 500ml bottles and plan to get some, as my only complaint with my beloved machine is that the soda does lose fizz quicker than shop-bought water and I rarely use a whole litre before it has gone flat (perhaps the reason my waistline and teeth have not suffered as Doc N proclaims that they should! ).

I believe that one of the reasons Sodastream sales have fluctuated so much is that they made some bad contractual decisions with the main supermarkets around 10 years ago, and when the supermarkets pulled out and sale plummeted, the 'big name' sponsors stopped allowing Sodastream to sell the likes of Tizer, Irn Bru etc. They relaunched in the US and Europe first and jumped on the 'healthy natural juice' product bandwagon with some success, but I am glad us Brits have had our way and brought a few fun 70s options back on the market.

As to the reason charity shops struggle to sell them: Soda Stream changed the shape of its gas cylinder nozzle a few years ago, to match its European models, and the old machines do not take the new cylinders - so it really is a case of buyer beware on second hand models.

chrisw

Thanks for the reality check. I've reserved one but now realised I don't really need one. I've got dozens of unused gadgets sitting in kitchen cupboards. Probably the first post on here that really has saved me money.:beer:

fayefaye5

FYI guys.... for those of you who blog you can get one of these for free with about 6 flavours !!

Im a blogger and often write to companies who send me free stuff in exchnage for reviews. Just write to the PR contact for sodastream, link them your blog and stats and they will send you a unit for free.

Ours came with 6 or 7 flavours, 2 bottles, and the co2 canister. Then we just linked them the review when we were done, and of course got to keep it all!!

These really are great. We use ours multiple times a week, plus sodastream say they are bringing some of the American flavours over this summer I think, such as dr pete (like dr pepper) and root beer.

sarahg1969

Anyone got any idea how much, roughly, per litre it works out at? I just buy 17p 2l fizzy water and ordinary cordial or fruit juice if we want fizzy drinks. Is a Sodastream realistically going to be better value?

annie-c

sarahg1969 wrote: »

Anyone got any idea how much, roughly, per litre it works out at? I just buy 17p 2l fizzy water and ordinary cordial or fruit juice if we want fizzy drinks. Is a Sodastream realistically going to be better value?

Probably not, if you always use regular cordials and use up the whole bottle at once, and buy your water at a time when you will be spending time/fuel to get to the supermarket anyway.

Aside from the initial outlay, a £8.99 gas bottle gives approx 60l water = 15p a litre.

I use it because I don't regularly drink fizzy drinks, but when I have guests or fancy one myself, I can have as much as I need, made up directly from the tap. So on an average week I may use 1l a week. On a busy weekend with guests I can make 15l or more if I want without hitting the shops.

And as the cordials/tonic/dandelion burdock mixers have a long shelf life, I can make a single glass of whatever anyone wants with no wastage and no restriction on choice. That is the real advantage.

cubegame

Does anyone know if you can get the American flavours from anywhere in the UK?

fayefaye5

cubegame wrote: »

Does anyone know if you can get the American flavours from anywhere in the UK?

dont think so, or at least ive had no luck I have to get american family to ship it over to me.

But they say if enough people request them i.e via facebook they will stock them. They already announced root beer and they said there are some new flavours at end of summer too!

blue_monkey_2

Possession wrote: »

While these drinks made with juice etc will be more healthy than those with lots of sugar, all carbonated drinks, even plain fizzy water, are bad for our teeth as they are acidic. Not meaning to be a party pooper, just saying! : )

If you live like that I am assuming that you never eat cake, sweets, biscuits, pizza, macdonalds, anything with a fat content, smoke, drink, etc, etc as it is bad for yor body too..... more 'get a life' rather than 'party pooper'.

I've not had any dental work for years and usually have fizzy drink at least 5 times a week from the Sodastream. In fact, since getting the sodastream have had LESS work done on my teeth so that does not really fit, does it?

ETA: With posts about Moments, chocolate slabs and goose fat potatoes I guess you give priority to your teeth over the rest of your body. Still, I guess you need your teeth to eat all of that bad stuff you are polluting your body with....

blue_monkey_2

Doc_N wrote: »

Just in case anyone's undecided.......the reason these periodically disappear from the market, then reappear again is simple.

Once the novelty's worn off, and particularly when people realise how expensive it is to make Sodastream drinks, as against buying them ready-made from the supermarket, they get put away in the cupboard and left to gather dust. Even charity shops struggle to get rid of them.

Then, every so often, when a new generation of gullible people who haven't actually used them before comes along, they get reinvented and remarketed. Fizzy fruit juice is every bit as bad for you as other fizzy drinks, and don't let Sodastream convince you otherwise. It's a high sugar, highly carbonated mix which will rot your teeth, add to your waistline and add to your chances of being diagnosed with osteoporosis.

Sorry to be a misery, but I've seen Sodastream come and go too many times!

As above, you say you re a misery, do not do ANYTHING at all that is bad for your body then? Salt, fat, sugar, etc....? And it's not juice we are adding, it is squash.

And mine gets used every day and has since I bought it which was between 5 and 7 years ago. They changed the style once because the screw cap is now different as someone else said, but Sodastream gave me a free one in exchange as I had not long bought it.

Rich44_2

Doc_N wrote: »

Just in case anyone's undecided.......the reason these periodically disappear from the market, then reappear again is simple.

Once the novelty's worn off, and particularly when people realise how expensive it is to make Sodastream drinks, as against buying them ready-made from the supermarket, they get put away in the cupboard and left to gather dust. Even charity shops struggle to get rid of them.

Then, every so often, when a new generation of gullible people who haven't actually used them before comes along, they get reinvented and remarketed. Fizzy fruit juice is every bit as bad for you as other fizzy drinks, and don't let Sodastream convince you otherwise. It's a high sugar, highly carbonated mix which will rot your teeth, add to your waistline and add to your chances of being diagnosed with osteoporosis.

Sorry to be a misery, but I've seen Sodastream come and go too many times!

Just ignore all those vitamins and minerals in the fruit juice eh makes a great headline n all that :mad:

IF getting fruit down a child means using juice and possibly carbonating it then that is far outweighed by the "sugar" issue which BTW is acutally Fructose in fruit and as a natural unrefined sugar is quite easy for the body to deal with in drink sized quantities - diabetics aside

As for rotting your teeth well almost everything we consume does that, you do know even milk contains natural sugars right???