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Comment by sarah2079 | Hacker News Reader

sarah2079

They are going through a resurgence, but from what I can tell it is mostly driven by people who want to make healthier carbonated drinks at home (like carbonated water + a bit of juice), not by people wanting to make a cheaper alternative to coke or pepsi at home, who were the main market in the 80s.

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> (like carbonated water + a bit of juice)

Wouldn't you save a lot of bother by simply buying cheap mineral water and mixing with that? That's what I do.

You can get a 1.5L bottle of perfectly nice fizzy water in Germany for about 20 cents if you recycle the bottle and get the deposit back.

I don't think that cost is the main reason for getting this product. It's just convenient to always have soda water here without having to carry it through the city.

I recently bought one for convenience reasons (after i learned about th glass caraves) and am totally happy with it - I guess as more (young) people in the bigger cities don't own a car (and only buy small quantities of food in the supermarket around the corner), more will use products like SodaStream.

Yes, this is it exactly. I have never even bothered to price it out per liter, even if it cost a bit more it would be worth not having to lug bottles of carbonated water home.

At least where I'm from in the US, un-flavored/sweetened carbonated water is a bit uncommon and more expensive. It was a shock to me the first time I visited Europe and was served "fizzy water" when I asked for water. Unless you explicitly ask for "soda water" or a name brand of bottled carbonated water, you'll get uncarbonated water. Also, mineral water does not imply carbonated here.

Everywhere I have lived seltzer water (straight carbonated water, no minerals, salts, sugars, anything) is pretty common, supermarkets almost always have a section of it. Usually you are looking at $0.50-$0.80 per liter if you buy liter bottles, and a bit cheaper if you buy 2-liter bottles.

Pricier than it should be perhaps, but I honestly think I have an addiction to it; I've been drinking carbonated water at home almost exclusively for years. I'm considering getting a professional carbonation setup like a bar might use.

>You can get a 1.5L bottle of perfectly nice fizzy water in Germany for about 20 cents if you recycle the bottle and get the deposit back.

That must be nice, but in the US (at least where I live), a 2L bottle of seltzer is 80 cents, minimum.

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