Sodastream and other Carbonation devices

Sodastream is the big dog in alternative carbonation.  Make your own soda out of plain water.  Save money and save packaging.  All true, and I would not call Sodastream a ripoff or say their customer service is no good.  It is however a product from Israel.  Not surprisingly, the cost of owning and operating Sodastream is as high as the company thinks they can get away with and keep moving product.

Several facets of Sodastream make it expensive and/or difficult to work around.  Official gas bottles (called "carbonator" in Sodastream Speak) have proprietary fittings and anti-fill valves.  The bottles are also licensed, not sold, even though the cost to get one in your hands exceeds the cost of outright buying a non-proprietary bottle.  The cost of exchanging a Sodastream empty for a full bottle is many times the cost of getting a generic gas bottle filled.

Another expensive proprietary item are carbonating bottles needed to use the Sodastream.  These plastic bottles typically cost about $10.  They are quite nice of course, but contribute to the comparatively high cost.

If one already owns a Sodastream machine, there are multiple ways to convert it to use generic gas. http://co2doctor.com/ sells an adaptor to convert a Paintball bottle for loading in a Sodastream.  Note that if you were buying a Sodastream with intent to use this sort of adaptor, you should buy a machine that will take the 130L official bottle as well as the 60L. There are other sources of adaptors on ebay as well, and many places to buy paintball tanks, like the Empire 20oz CO2 Tank, about $19 at Amazon.com

The cost of filling a 20 oz paintball tank locally was about $3.50, at a local sporting goods store.  Any paintball facility would be a good alternative for refills.  This refill gets you enough gas to carbonate 80-85 liters, and is a quarter of the price ($15) to get a 60 liter Sodastream refill!  Sodastream also offers a ridiculous $1 deposit refund if you hand them your empty gas bottle.  "Buy" it for $15, give it back for $1.  What a deal for them!

Another alternative for even cheaper gas would be a 5 lb, 10 lb, or 20 lb cylinder, typically used in food service.  You can buy these new, but finding a nice used one would be much cheaper.  These get filled for a few bucks at local welding supply or local home brew store.  Amazon sells all the parts you would need for one of these cylinders including an item called "The Carbonator" and a gas line assembly and a dual gauge regulator, about $70 for the three items.  The Carbonator fits many standard 2 liter bottles. 

Finally, there is an interesting all-in-one product called Fizz Giz, found on Amazon as Fizz Giz Soda Maker II for about $60.  This is made by Mike in NC, and utilizes his own injector caps that fit many 2L (and 1L and smaller) bottles.  He has a number of homey youtube presentations and provides superb customer support. He also can supply a similar rig to work with the large tanks, and he has an ultra portable unit that uses expensive CO2 bulbs. 

See the customer comments for the Soda Maker II, all at Amazon. Also see more info at http://www.fizzgiz.com/ -- see http://www.fizzgiz.com/fizzGiz_order_form.htm for the portable unit and the caps.  Also check "Get a free cap" which is will cost you an SASE or a couple of bucks.  Send the 2 bucks and get a nice little bottle full of gas via first class mail!

If I was starting over with carbonation I would buy a couple of paintball tanks and the Soda Maker II.  If/when my bottle or cap wears out, both are very cheap.  One can also carbonate anything compared to Sodastream which strangles users by insisting that one can carbonate only water in their machine.  One can also easily use the Fizz Giz cap to re-carbonate soda if desired, so one might buy a 2 liter bottle and gas it up over several days of drinking it.