Hi Howard, I read in your journal a couple of days ago about your Soda maker (Penquin?) This looks like a really "neat" little device...how do you like yours? It is easy enough to swap out the unit for a new/full one when you are traveling around?
Thanks,
Rick and Debi Gardner, Massachusetts
Future Full Timers
Howard said
07:21 PM Mar 27, 2007
We love our Soda Machine.
I was skeptical at first, but I am a convert. The best way to describe it is to lay out the pros and cons.
Pros: Inexpensive in the long run Don't have to buy and haul heavy soda cans Don't have to find room for 2-liter bottles that go flat Variety of flavors - can meet any taste in seconds Fast & Easy - can have a liter of soda in about 30 seconds Much more environmentally friendly
Cons: Machine is sort of tall, so cabinet storage is an issue Taste slightly off from brand names (not a big deal) Have to have product shipped or find Boater's World
Here's how we use it. We keep three one-liter bottles of water in the fridge so we are always ready to go. If we decide we want soda, we get out the machine. It is basically a carbonation machine with a CO2 tank. We attach the liter bottle and carbonate the water. Then we add the syrup for the flavor we want. Turn the liter upside down a couple times and it's ready - 30 seconds!
Each flavor bottle contains enough syrup to make 12 liters and they cost $3 each (half the cost of the "on sale" 2-liter bottles - 6 bottles or 12 liters will cost at least $6). The CO2 tank is good for about 110 liters. When the tank runs out, we exchange our tank for the new one which costs $19.00 plus shipping. We do have to be somewhere long enough to make the shipping work if we need more flavors or a new CO2 tank.
Hi, I noticed Howard's reference to the Soda Club soda maker in an earlier journal entry and looked into it. We got the "Edition 1" model about 6 weeks ago. We really like it! My husband drinks diet-Coke, Crystal Geyser flavored (no calories) bubbly waters and sometimes diet-Ginger Ale or diet-7-up. I don't drink bubbly drinks often, myself. But for him, it's a must to have them around. For our RV trips, we usually had to bring lots of cans of Coke and the CG bubbly waters for him. Neither one of us likes standard 2-liter bottles of soda because the get flat so quickly - yuck! :(
Anyway, the Soda Club maker is a great find. The pros & cons Howard listed are right on. From the flavor point of view, if you drink diet sodas, the Soda Club flavors taste different because they use Splenda. We are used to aspartame (nutrasweet) in our diet sodas, so the splenda takes getting used to. Also, note that Soda Club also uses Splenda in their NON-diet sodas. So, they have fewer calories, but you are going to get some of that Splenda taste even if it's not diet.
If you are a fan of those lightly flavored bubbly waters (like Crystal Geyser), then this gadget is perfect. You can add whatever you want to your glass of "seltzer". We found a great product called "True Lemon". It is basically dehydrated lemon juice and oil. Check out their website at www.truelemon.com. We found this at our local Safeway grocery store. Just throw a packet (or two or whatever you like) into your glass for some lemon-bubble water. :) You can even use truelemon as a replacement for lemon juice in recipes. Pretty handy for RV travel or even last minute cooking at home. :)
Here is how we use our gadget (slightly different than Howard)... We keep the water cold in the fridge. When we want a soda, we bubble up the bottle of cold water (it MUST be cold to work well). We do *not* add the flavor to the bottle. Instead, we add 1 Tablespoon of the flavor to our 16 oz glass, then verrrryyyy slowly pour in the bubble water (it fizzes up a lot if you are not careful). Ta da! We now have a glass of whatever flavor we want. The cool thing is you can decide how much flavor you like and adjust for your own taste for every glass. We tightly cap the plain bubbled water and put it back in the fridge. This way, the bubbly water stays bubbly enough to make more glasses no problem (unlike the standard 2 liter bottle from the store that goes flat so quickly). If you are going to drink the entire 1 liter bottle of soda at one time, and you all want to drink the same flavor, then it's easier to add the flavor to the bottle. But, we found that when adding the flavor to the carbonated water, the bubbly water fizzles a lot and you lose enough of the carbonation that if you are going to save part of the flavored 1 liter bottle it isn't as bubbly later. We didn't like that as much, so we came up with our "make one glass as needed" process.
We are planning to order some of the 1/2 liter (~16 oz) bottles. They are still out of stock on the Soda Club website. With those bottle sizes we can just make one serving of soda directly in the bottle and drink it. Won't have to make it in a glass. :)
There is one "gotcha" with the Soda Club system and they are NOT clear about this on their website.
When you order, you type in your zip code. If you live "in area", they use a courier service to deliver your purchase. If you live "out of area" they use UPS -- which costs more and has some restrictions. This is also true when you need to order the CO2 canister refills. The issue is that if you are "in area", you can get your CO2 refill by swapping your *one* CO2 canister for another. It costs $19.99 + 7.99 ship = $27.98 for that one refill (unless you order soda flavors at the same time so that your order is $50+, in which case shipping is free).
BUT, if you live "out of area" they use UPS and Soda Club requires that you exchange/refill *two* canisters at one time. The cost for the 2 refills (via UPS shipping) is $55. Note that if you were "in area" the cost to refill 2 canisters would typically be $40 (because you would order a few bottles of flavor so your order would be $50+, and your shipping is free if you are in-area. If you are "out of area" you cannot get free shipping). In addition, if you want an uninterrupted supply of your soda, you normally need to own more than 1 canister. Typically, you would own 2 canisters and simply exchange one at a time when needed. But, if you live out-of-area, you are required to exchange 2 at a time, so you either have to own 3 canisters, or you need to do without soda when you run out of CO2 and are waiting for your refills to arrive. :(
I hope the above made sense. It's a pain to explain. But, I wanted to point it out since there is no way to learn this on the website. I was very surprised and annoyed when I figured this out (via multiple email exchanges with their customer support). This is an issue since there are plenty of places we RV that are not going to be "in area" when we need to order supplies. Plus, if we want uninterrupted soda supply we will need to own 3 CO2 canisters instead of 2 - which is more up front cost plus more storage space in the RV. I don't know if we'll go up to 3 canisters or just stick at 2. We can always buy cans of soda while waiting for the canister refills to arrive! :)
Well, that's my perspective. Overall, regardless of the shipping issue - I think that if you drink bubbly sodas or waters the soda maker is a great idea and will save you money over the long haul. Plus, you will be better for the environment. :) c-
I read in your journal a couple of days ago about your Soda maker (Penquin?)
This looks like a really "neat" little device...how do you like yours?
It is easy enough to swap out the unit for a new/full one when you are traveling around?
Thanks,
Rick and Debi
Gardner, Massachusetts
Future Full Timers
I was skeptical at first, but I am a convert. The best way to describe it is to lay out the pros and cons.
Pros:
Inexpensive in the long run
Don't have to buy and haul heavy soda cans
Don't have to find room for 2-liter bottles that go flat
Variety of flavors - can meet any taste in seconds
Fast & Easy - can have a liter of soda in about 30 seconds
Much more environmentally friendly
Cons:
Machine is sort of tall, so cabinet storage is an issue
Taste slightly off from brand names (not a big deal)
Have to have product shipped or find Boater's World
Here's how we use it. We keep three one-liter bottles of water in the fridge so we are always ready to go. If we decide we want soda, we get out the machine. It is basically a carbonation machine with a CO2 tank. We attach the liter bottle and carbonate the water. Then we add the syrup for the flavor we want. Turn the liter upside down a couple times and it's ready - 30 seconds!
Each flavor bottle contains enough syrup to make 12 liters and they cost $3 each (half the cost of the "on sale" 2-liter bottles - 6 bottles or 12 liters will cost at least $6). The CO2 tank is good for about 110 liters. When the tank runs out, we exchange our tank for the new one which costs $19.00 plus shipping. We do have to be somewhere long enough to make the shipping work if we need more flavors or a new CO2 tank.
Our model is the Edition 1 shown below.
The ultimate RV accessory! No more lugging, storing and recycling store-bought cans and bottles. Make fresh seltzer and soda with Soda-Club’s compact soda maker and concentrated sodamix. 27 flavors – regular, diet, caffeine-free and ****tail mixers.
Click on the link above to find out more!
Hope that answers your question!
I noticed Howard's reference to the Soda Club soda maker in an earlier journal entry and looked into it. We got the "Edition 1" model about 6 weeks ago. We really like it! My husband drinks diet-Coke, Crystal Geyser flavored (no calories) bubbly waters and sometimes diet-Ginger Ale or diet-7-up. I don't drink bubbly drinks often, myself. But for him, it's a must to have them around. For our RV trips, we usually had to bring lots of cans of Coke and the CG bubbly waters for him. Neither one of us likes standard 2-liter bottles of soda because the get flat so quickly - yuck! :(
Anyway, the Soda Club maker is a great find. The pros & cons Howard listed are right on. From the flavor point of view, if you drink diet sodas, the Soda Club flavors taste different because they use Splenda. We are used to aspartame (nutrasweet) in our diet sodas, so the splenda takes getting used to. Also, note that Soda Club also uses Splenda in their NON-diet sodas. So, they have fewer calories, but you are going to get some of that Splenda taste even if it's not diet.
If you are a fan of those lightly flavored bubbly waters (like Crystal Geyser), then this gadget is perfect. You can add whatever you want to your glass of "seltzer". We found a great product called "True Lemon". It is basically dehydrated lemon juice and oil. Check out their website at www.truelemon.com. We found this at our local Safeway grocery store. Just throw a packet (or two or whatever you like) into your glass for some lemon-bubble water. :) You can even use truelemon as a replacement for lemon juice in recipes. Pretty handy for RV travel or even last minute cooking at home. :)
Here is how we use our gadget (slightly different than Howard)...
We keep the water cold in the fridge. When we want a soda, we bubble up the bottle of cold water (it MUST be cold to work well). We do *not* add the flavor to the bottle. Instead, we add 1 Tablespoon of the flavor to our 16 oz glass, then verrrryyyy slowly pour in the bubble water (it fizzes up a lot if you are not careful). Ta da! We now have a glass of whatever flavor we want. The cool thing is you can decide how much flavor you like and adjust for your own taste for every glass. We tightly cap the plain bubbled water and put it back in the fridge. This way, the bubbly water stays bubbly enough to make more glasses no problem (unlike the standard 2 liter bottle from the store that goes flat so quickly). If you are going to drink the entire 1 liter bottle of soda at one time, and you all want to drink the same flavor, then it's easier to add the flavor to the bottle. But, we found that when adding the flavor to the carbonated water, the bubbly water fizzles a lot and you lose enough of the carbonation that if you are going to save part of the flavored 1 liter bottle it isn't as bubbly later. We didn't like that as much, so we came up with our "make one glass as needed" process.
We are planning to order some of the 1/2 liter (~16 oz) bottles. They are still out of stock on the Soda Club website. With those bottle sizes we can just make one serving of soda directly in the bottle and drink it. Won't have to make it in a glass. :)
There is one "gotcha" with the Soda Club system and they are NOT clear about this on their website.
When you order, you type in your zip code. If you live "in area", they use a courier service to deliver your purchase. If you live "out of area" they use UPS -- which costs more and has some restrictions. This is also true when you need to order the CO2 canister refills. The issue is that if you are "in area", you can get your CO2 refill by swapping your *one* CO2 canister for another. It costs $19.99 + 7.99 ship = $27.98 for that one refill (unless you order soda flavors at the same time so that your order is $50+, in which case shipping is free).
BUT, if you live "out of area" they use UPS and Soda Club requires that you exchange/refill *two* canisters at one time. The cost for the 2 refills (via UPS shipping) is $55. Note that if you were "in area" the cost to refill 2 canisters would typically be $40 (because you would order a few bottles of flavor so your order would be $50+, and your shipping is free if you are in-area. If you are "out of area" you cannot get free shipping). In addition, if you want an uninterrupted supply of your soda, you normally need to own more than 1 canister. Typically, you would own 2 canisters and simply exchange one at a time when needed. But, if you live out-of-area, you are required to exchange 2 at a time, so you either have to own 3 canisters, or you need to do without soda when you run out of CO2 and are waiting for your refills to arrive. :(
I hope the above made sense. It's a pain to explain. But, I wanted to point it out since there is no way to learn this on the website. I was very surprised and annoyed when I figured this out (via multiple email exchanges with their customer support). This is an issue since there are plenty of places we RV that are not going to be "in area" when we need to order supplies. Plus, if we want uninterrupted soda supply we will need to own 3 CO2 canisters instead of 2 - which is more up front cost plus more storage space in the RV. I don't know if we'll go up to 3 canisters or just stick at 2. We can always buy cans of soda while waiting for the canister refills to arrive! :)
Well, that's my perspective. Overall, regardless of the shipping issue - I think that if you drink bubbly sodas or waters the soda maker is a great idea and will save you money over the long haul. Plus, you will be better for the environment. :)
c-