There are several things that overall, make this a 5 star filter in my household. 1. The tiny footprint: We have a terribly small, galley style kitchen. Once you factor in some of the daily appliances and prep space, I was convinced I'd never have an RO filter without having to install a huge system under my sink. This filter is about as economy sized as I could have ever imagined! It fits perfectly with what I've been looking for for years. 2. Taste: We have very hard water in our area, and I didn't honestly realize how little our fridge's water filter was doing for us until I tasted the water processed by this machine. It's better than even the fanciest bottled water you'd buy at a gas station, and it's straight from my own countertop. Just tastes like the purest liquid, (which may throw some people off, if so, add minerals back), which I'm a big fan of. 3. The little things: You can just sort of tell when a product from a reputable brand hits the market, and it seems like they've actually invested in some usability engineering. The back cistern has a cap that fits snugly, but doesn't lock into place, making it easy to flip back for refills. And when refilling, the removable cistern has a rotating handle at the very top, which makes it easy to carry to the sink for refills, and easy to placed directly downward back into the unit. The splash tray at the bottom (which admittedly, can only hold about 5 drops of water), is detachable via magnet, so you're not locked into a set size of container you can fill with. 4. It's not complicated: There's one button, and it lights up in just a few different ways to tell you what's going on with the machine. It's not one bit more complicated than it needs to be. there's no app, it doesn't need WiFi. It has one job, which it does very well. And now for really the only not-so-great part, that doesn't bug me as much as I thought it would at first: 1. It's S-L-O-W. Yes. That's something you'll see consistently across all these reviews. For me, it came down to matching expectations. I initially purchased this thinking I'd use it for EVERYTHING, and completely overhaul the quality of water being drank in my house. Once I realigned my expectations, it's more like... a SodaStream. I use it very deliberately, and with more personal consumption expectations. One area where it's been a huge boost is by using it in my espresso machine, and in the water I use for americanos. One step closer to cafe quality. At one point, I had hoped I could also use this for all our cooking, and to top off all 3 of our pets water bowls every single day. Sorry Fido, but it's just not quite built for that. If you're upset about the slow flow, my advice is to use the glass bottle it comes with religiously, because the machine dispenses a measured amount that is exactly matched to the bottle. Keep one in the fridge at all times, or get more and stock up in advance. It's nice that you can put the bottle under, hit the button, and walk back in a minute or so and have it topped off, without having to hold a button or worry about overflowing while you're away. Overall, this is a SOLID, compact countertop RO filter. By the time the expensive filter needs replacing, I'll wince through the cost, but will still keep replacing, know that it's honestly still worth it.