I purchased this for my plants and hooked it up to a deep sink in a utility room (laundry room). It’s not servicing my home, but just the single faucet.I use this to get about 25 gallons of water a week for my plants. My city tap has a ph around 9 and a ppm of 450-520ppm. This unit brings my ph down low to the 4’s and a ppm of ZERO. That’s right, clean water. Stripped of all the fluoride, chlorine and chloramine. Keeping in mind I purchased the added filter to remove some of the aforementioned.As for the the filters, I cant speak to longevity, but assuming they’ll last longer than the average user since I’m consuming roughly 25 gallons a week.My only complaint is the sink adapters provided are not great. I ended up going to Home Depot and picking up what I needed as 5 of the 6 sinks in my home did not allow for this default connection.So far, really impressed with the quality of water and the relatively small size of the unit.As of today (roughly a month of ownership) I would recommend this unit. My plants have never been this happy!Used this to make 0 TDS water for my 25 gal planted tank. My city water had a high TDS of 300+ so I used RODI water purchased from my local purified water store. Lugging the 5gal jugs up and down stairs didn't appeal to me so I bought this little system. I live in an apartment so I needed something small and portable. I mounted it to a board I painted to seal it from the water. Mounted a hood from a coat hangar on the back so I could keep it stable yet removable. This went into my shower/bathtub so I had to make it somewhat portable. I had no issues following the manual it comes with. Easy setup and no leaks. Bought an adapter to feed water from the shower head, switchable as needed. Been installed for 2 months now and I make 8 gallons every week for top offs and water changes. Today I purchased some bulk DI resin as it is already exhausted. Somehow I reversed the flow , I dont know when it happened but now the filter is being used up (color changing) from both ends. Maybe I would have gotten more life out of the resin if I had not done this, but it happened. Except this last run, I was getting 0TDS , now I get 3 TDS due to me exhausting the resin. As I undrstand it, the RO filter removes 98% or close to that and the DI resin gets it to 0. Other than my little mistake, I have had no issues so far. Sure makes life easier not having to drive/transport the jugs of water upstairs and for me was totally worth the price. It fills my 5 gallon and 3 gallon jugs in a couple hours. When I remember to time it and not overfill the jugs I'll report it, but most people looking for a unit like this dont require high output. I have all week to make the water, time is not an issue as I only store 8 gallons at a time for water changes and top offs.I purchased this one for the 4 different filtration stages. I have an electronic TDS detector and indicator. Now I can run and filter all the water for my flual spec 13.gal in no time. Using all the testing kits and reef crystals sea salt my tank has surpassed my expectations. All of my coral and invertebrates are loving it. Everything looks open and growing no problems.I was attracted by the price, the small size, and ease of use of this system, and I'm more than happy with its performance. However, not much information is provided beyond how to hook it up and turn on the water which a third grader could do, so I'll attempt to answer some questions that people may have who are just considering one. If you're already familiar with RO systems here's my bottom line and you can skip the rest.Finally, an affordable, tankless, three-stage system that produces 95%-99% pure water like the big boys. There's also an optional DI filter for those with reef tanks who want it 100% pure I use it primarily to mix with tap to soften and lower the ph in my freshwater tanks, so 20 gallons of RO per week is about average, which I usually produce in one sitting, so to speak. Easily 12 hours, but hidden in patio furniture and virtually silent, you will want to get a timer of some kind. Trust me.It's sleek, light in weight, with a built-in mounting bracket. I have yet to replace any, but it takes a standard sized membrane filter, with the two disposable auxiliary filters around $10. ea. .If you live in a perennially parched area like me where the term "waste water" is frowned on, you can use the excess water on trees, shrubs, or plants, any day of the week. There appears to be nothing wrong with it but a higher TDS, and with so much extra water my plants are thriving. win/win."Don't I need a pressurized tank?"Not necessarily. I suggest holding off on a tank for now, at least until you decide where to put all the cleaning supplies and toxic chemicals under your sink and have thoroughly cleaned out the cabinet. Hopefully you're comfortable with working on your back in cramped areas. The tank adds a level of complexity and a bloated space-hog presence, being twice the size of its actual water volume.For the moonshine method you'll also need:1. 10 feet or more of 1/4" plastic tubing for potable water use.2. A couple of large clean buckets or containers. Keep in mind the waste water bucket will fill about four times faster than the pure. For large batches I recommend a 5 gallon bucket (with lid, if water will be stored) and a 20 gallon waste container.3.. A TDS meter isn't mandatory unless you plan to use in aquariums, but they're cheap and handy for determining when your filters need changing."Where else can I put it?"I keep mine outside on the patio, except in very cold weather. It works best with tepid water. It comes with a standard 3/4" garden hose adapter and fits perfectly inside of a storage/seat enclosure. The waste water goes into a large Rubbermaid tote or through a longer hose I rigged up for to direct watering of plants.During cold weather it can be brought in to a garage, utility room, laundry sink, bathtub, or anywhere with water hookups. Well, maybe not the toilet. When it's cold and my plants don't need the excess, admittedly 60-80 gallons of waste will go down the drain."What's the difference between RO and my regular filtered water for drinking?"RO water is what's left of tap after virtually everything has been stripped out of it, leaving the water pure and basically sterilized. The technology is also used to desalinate sea water for drinking.Your filters can help with contaminants, chlorine, sediment, etc. but they have no effect on TDS, or Total Dissolved Solids, the minerals which make water hard and leave calcium deposits, but also make water taste good.Personally I don't care for the taste of RO and it doesn't quench my thirst like mineral water. If considering RO primarily for drinking, I suggest buying a gallon of RO or distilled first to try it out. Some like it, but It may be overkill.Two scientifically proven methods for lowering TDS are - 1) through a special membrane filter, and 2) salt, commonly used in whole-house water softeners."What's the difference between water softeners and RO systems?"Size, for starters. And method. Home water softeners are large electrical appliances that use salt to remove calcium and magnesium. This does soften the water but the process adds sodium. I've been told by experts that this water is too "wonky" for fish to live in for long.Reverse Osmosis systems are smaller and work on water pressure alone, producing at a slow-trickle pace. The process would be too slow and costly for whole-house applications. Many people will use both, with the softener doing the heavy lifting and RO the ultra-fine filtering."What else can I use it for?"Besides the fish stuff, I keep some in the fridge for guests, cooking, or using in ice-molds. The ice comes out clearer An iron, evap cooler, coffee maker, mister, hair curlers, vaporizer, or anything that uses water can benefit from a longer life.I also use it in my outdoor fountain, for rinsing glassware, hand washables, and sometimes machine washables by adding a bucket or two. Occasionally I'll wash my car or hair with it. A rain barrel with a spigot would be an ideal holding tank, but right now the rubbermaid totes are working.My RO Buddie is fantastic, have up and running in 30 minutes. Easy to put together and no leaks, follow the official 4 minute video posted on their web site.Our tap water has a ppm of 460 which is very hard and a pH of 7.8After flush of the two filters and then a 45 min flush of the membrane I was able to obtain 5 gallons of RO water which had a ppm of 16 and a pH of 5.8. I did not install the DI filter as I'm happy with the above results. I'm sure if I did hook up the DI my ppm would drop to 0 ppmFilters can be sourced local from most reef stores which run about $10.00 each. Resin can be bought in a bag for $20.00 if you need to refill your DI cartrageDo not hesitate to purchase this 4 stage unit or the 3 stage, made in USA backed with a one year warrantyI keep tropical fish, some of which prefer soft, slightly acidic water. Our local tapwater is quite hard (360 ppm TDS) and alkaline (pH 7.8 to 8.5) so I bought the RO unit to remedy this. The kit was very easy to install, especially after watching the video, and you can see the setup in the photo. The total installation only took about 30 minutes. The product water measures 2 ppm with a pH of 7.5 but I can easily lower the pH by adding some peat moss to the storage conatiner.I wish I had watched the video on YouTube regarding initial startup.Remove the tube between the carbon filter and the R.O. filter and rinse out the carbon then attach and rinse the RO filter before adding the de-ionizing filter.I think I may have severely shortened the lifespan of the R.O. membrane and went through the mixed bed in about 20 gallons of use.Live and learn.Otherwise well put together and a solid product.4 years ago I bought a 50 GPD Ro Buddies kit and after all that time, felt like I wanted to get more output out of it, so I bought the 100 GPD kit (125$ vs 83$) on amazon. When I received the kit I was kinda surprised to see that all component are exactly the same as the 50 GPD kit (same filter, same everything) BUT to the exception of the waste valve that is now labeled as "800" instead of "450" like my old valve. Did I really pay 42$ difference for a different valve on the waste output? Is the "800" valve really that much more expensive to produce? Really Aquatic Life, tell me how you justify that price difference as being reasonable.The unit work good, but will only give me about 50 Gallons per day (about 105 minutes to fill 5 gal bucket). I get 2 PPM on the ouput with 175 PPM as base tap water. My old unit that is 4 years old was still putting out 2 PPM water, just way slower.I use this to make clean water for my Aluminum Anodizing Line and also to water Hydroponics plants.Havé always used chemicals to get rid of chlorine and impuritys in water for my salt water fish tank. Bought this and am not looking back. Takes about an hour with my water pressure . to produce the 20 gallons of water i need every month for top ups and water changes i could not believe how good of a job it does. My TDS reading is 0.0 !. Add salt, mix well, add to tank and im done, no additional water conditioner or additives needed. After using for three months my tank is noticeably healthier and my stress level reduced especially with what happens to our city water during spring run off. All in all, great product. Good value for sure.