What are the Best Water Ionizers of the Year 2014?

It may surprise you what I’m going to say, but I feel that all of the water ionizers I sell at Alkaline Water Plus are the best water ionizers! I’m going to tell you a little bit about what constitutes a “best water ionizer” to help you understand.

There are two different categories of water ionizers: electric and portable. I’ll refer to my favorite category, electric, first. All of the electric water ionizers I sell at Alkaline Water Plus have been tested and proven to do the following.

A “Best Water Ionizer” [in the “Electric” Category] Will…

• produce a wide range of pH, from at least below 4 [acidic] to above 10 [alkaline]. [Too much higher or lower than this pH range does not impress me, because you wouldn’t use below 4 pH for skin or plants and you wouldn’t drink above 10 pH. Most of the water ionizers I sell will exceed this range, but in my opinion that doesn’t particularly make them better.] Note: For cleaning purposes it is handy to be able to get from 3.5 pH to 11.
• produce an abundance of antioxidants [ORP] at each level of alkaline, progressing to higher levels of antioxidants as the alkalinity raises. I like to see level one produce at least -100 to -200 ORP, depending on flow-rate; level two -200 to -400, level three -400 to -700.
• come from a manufacturer that is well-known for its ability to produce exceptional electrical equipment and water ionizers. [Let’s face it, if the electronics go out on the water ionizer, then it’s toast. This really eliminates all Chinese water ionizers.]
• have a warranty that’s at least going to cover you for 5 years. [If the warranty is better than that, I would tend to rate it better.] Water ionizers that are made well will tend to last 20 years regardless of warranty [unless you do something to them], but it’s good protection for your investment for the warranty to be at least 5 years. Chinese water ionizers, fall short in this category, even if their warranty is great. They are not well-made enough to last very long.
• have a filter that will remove chlorine, disinfectant by-products, and heavy metals. [If they have filter-choices that do more than that, then I would tend to rate them higher. Maybe I’d call that “better than best”.]
• be made of high-quality materials.
• be certified as medical equipment in their own country-of-manufacture. [Being made in Japan or Korea boosts my confidence in the integrity of manufacture, because those are the only countries who certify water ionizers as medical equipment. The quality-checks are better, in other words.]

What I just said, above, constitutes the most important reasons for considering a water ionizer “best”. Some companies will say things like “number or size of plates” and “amount of power” are proof of superiority, but I don’t, for a few reasons. I have often seen water ionizers with more plates and power perform the same or worse [in pH or ORP at the different levels] than water ionizers with less. It has to do with more sophisticated electronics. Size is sometimes a negative factor in electronics. Bigger electrodes will demand more power in order to produce the same output [effect].  All of these things are explained in more detail on my water ionizer comparisons page.

With all of this said, then why would someone pay more for a water ionizer? My water ionizers range in price from  the Nexus X-Blue, on sale at $895. to around $3,000.

These are the features that I consider important to look at in a water ionizer and would justify paying more if you want that feature.

• Continuous-cleaning [this feature doesn’t necessarily make that a better water ionizer in every way, but it does ensure that the water ionizer will perform “like-new” pretty much for the life of the water ionizer.] With this feature the water ionizer doesn’t do periodic acid washes to clean the scale off of the plates. This cleaning occurs in the background on a continual basis. The water ionizers I sell which have this feature are: Vesta, Smart, Jupiter Melody, Jupiter Athena, and Jupiter Delphi.
• Filtration: This was mentioned above, but if a water ionizer’s filter can remove Chromium-6, Fluoride or pharmaceuticals [in addition to all the basics listed above], then that puts it into a category that I would be willing to pay more for it. The water ionizers I sell which have this feature are: Jupiter Water Ionizers.
• Power-Boosting Capabilities: Because water is so different from place to place, I think this feature is worth the extra money. Power-boosting will allow you to customize your output if your water is extra hard or soft. I’ve known many customers who really need this [although I don’t in St. Louis]. I still think it’s worth it, because when I travel I like the ability to adjust my water ionizer to suit my water. The water ionizers I sell which have this feature are: Nexus Smart, Nexus U-Blue, KYK Generation II, Chanson water ionizers, Jupiter Athena, Jupiter Delphi, and Vesta.
• Mineral Port: I don’t use it often because my water has enough minerals in it, but from time to time when I want to boost my ionization for some particular purpose, I like to have it. The water ionizers I sell which have this feature are: Nexus Smart, Chanson Miracle-Max, Jupiter Athena, and Jupiter Delphi.
• Ability to Install it Under the Sink: I really don’t care to put my water ionizer under the sink, but if a person wanted to, then this capability would be worth the extra expense. The water ionizers I sell which have this feature are: Nexus Smart, Nexus U-Blue, Chanson VS-70, Jupiter Melody, Jupiter Athena, Jupiter Delphi, and Vesta.
• Flow-Rate: I personally like a slower flow-rate [1.5 liters/min.], because the water will filter better at a slower flow-rate, however if you have need or desire for a faster flow rate, then it would be worth paying more for that. The water ionizers I sell which have this feature are: Vesta.
• PH-Range: I occasionally need the very low pH acid water to be below 2.5. I don’t care so much about germs, so for me, personally the fact that 2.5 pH will kill germs on contact is not my reason. I like it for soaking my meter probes. It helps to keep them free of calcium. So once a month I like to fill about 5 spray bottles with this water. It might be worth the extra money for you to have this feature if you want the germicidal acid water to be below 3 pH. The water ionizers I sell with the capabilities to produce this level in St. Louis water are: Jupiter Athena [with rock salt in the mineral port], Jupiter Delphi, Chanson Miracle-Max, Chanson VS-70, Vesta

Portable Water Ionizers

Now there is one type of water ionizer I didn’t mention yet, and that’s the Portable Water Ionizer. Portable water ionizers are not able to ionize all of the minerals in your water like electric water ionizers do. Ionizing the calcium and other healthy alkaline minerals is by far the healthier choice, and only electric water ionizers can do that.

Portable water ionizers are great for traveling though, and for situations where an electric water ionizer is not possible. They work on the principle developed by Dr. Hayashi of adding Magnesium in the presence of magnetized ceramics. This method ionizes the magnesium and changes the pH of the water along with reducing the oxidation potential. Many, many devices and filter systems have sprung up using this principle. Most of them lightly ionize so little that I’ve found them to be almost worthless. I have a portable water ionizer pitcher which I have found to work well. This is called the Alkaline Plus PH Pitcher, and because it works so much better than all of the other portable water ionizing devices, it is now the only portable water ionizer I sell or advocate. I am looking for more, but haven’t found any that are as good or better yet.