Aarke Carbonator lll, Sparkling & Carbonation Water Machine, Stainless Steel with PET BPA-Free Reusable Bottle Volume 1L/34 fl oz (Gold)

Looks and works great. After decades in Europe, I only drink sparkling water but can't find it in US stores without flavorings, or costing an arm and leg. This will pay itself off in under a month! Solid metal materials that will last years.

I'd wanted to get a carbonator for a while and watched a number of YouTube videos which ultimately led me to purchase the aarke. I'm so glad I took the time to investigate it since Soda Stream is far better known. This is an outstanding product. Love the fact that it requires no electricity. Also, quality, durable stainless steel rather than cheapo plastic that's used in most carbonators. It actually looks nice, almost sculptural, on my countertop, without taking up a huge footprint. I also love the fact that I get to control how much carbonation I put into the water. Very happy with it.

I absolutely love it. It's sleek and sexy. It feels well built. The CO2 canister fits snug--don't forget to remove the drip grate before changing it. I stalled buying one for a while because it was so expensive. I do not regret it. It's easy to operate for it being my first soda maker. Side note, I only make sparkling water--we call it spicy water because we like very high carbonation. I had a small learning curve installing the bottle, but after a couple of times it's now moderately easy.

Enjoying my new soda maker. It's aesthetically pleasing and sturdy. Upgrading the CO2 bottle size is very easy using the correct hose. Lever handle is my favorite, makes it feel like you are one with the machine.

update 5/22/2025: my replacement aarke is working just fine after almost 2 years and i'm very happy with it. update 7/17/2023: no one responded to my second attempt to contact aarke customer service. however, 6 days after that second attempt at contact, i finally got a response (after 28 days of silence) from the person who was originally communicating with me. they told me that my replacement would be shipping soon. five days later, i received my replacement. while i'm happy to get a replacement, the process was far from simple or efficient. it was 34 days from the day i first sent a message to aarke customer service to the day i got my replacement. i dropped my rating from 5 stars to 4 stars as a result of this bad experience with their customer service department. i hope that my replacement lasts longer than the original unit. should it fail, i'll try to remember to further amend this review. update 7/6/2023: my aarke broke about 2-1/2 months after i bought it. i contacted aarke through their website. on june 13th 2023 the rep told me that i was eligible for a replacement. since that time (22 days ago), i have sent 3 messages which have received no response. today i contacted aarke through their website again, telling them about this issue. i'll update this review again when i have new information. original review: i bought a Sodastream in 2018. it died in less than 4 years. when shopping for a replacement, i found that they had discontinued my previous model and i wasn't happy with the design of the newer models. nevertheless, i bought the one i disliked the least. i used it for almost a year, but was never very happy with it. it felt cheap, and i feared it would break, so i started looking around for an alternative. i'm very happy that i found the aarke. unlike my 2 Sodastreams, the Aarke is made of metal, and it feels so much sturdier during use. it also has a large open area where you screw the bottle it, which is very nice. and unlike my Sodastream, i don't have to push a lever with one hand and screw the bottle in with the other hand. i can use both hands to screw in the bottle, with no annoying lever to deal with. also, my Sodastreams were inconsistent and it was pretty much impossible to get the same level of carbonation every time. the way the Arkee works is that you pull a lever and it fills the bottle with gas until it reaches a certain pressure, then it makes a "fun sound" to let you know to release the lever. the "fun sound" is the Aarke releasing built up pressure. i like my water heavily carbonated, so for me it's 3 pulls of the lever and i get the exact same amount of carbonation every time. it's perfect! finally, due to the Aarke releasing the pressure after each pull of the lever, you don't get a mess when you unscrew the bottle. my Sodastreams would spray water all over when i removed the bottles. with the Aarke, i get maybe a drop or two or water wasted after each use. this is a simple, sturdy, well-designed carbonator that works with my Sodastream bottles, as well as my Sodastream and Soda Sense CO2 cannisters. i'm very happy with my purchase.

I bought this Aarke carbonator over 2 years ago from Amazon. It replaced a Soda Stream Genesis that I had (still have) several years ago. II carbonate 2-3 bottles of water daily. I find the Aarke to be very substantial and easy to use. The only maintenance is to screw in the cylinder which is very simple. It is all metal as opposed to the Soda Stream Gensis, and it looks great on my counter. I personally do not use any of the flavors in my water; I like plain bubbly water. It has really increased my daily water intake. I buy my replacement cylinders directly from Soda Stream, and they deliver right to my door. Put your empties in the box, put the included return label on the box, and send them right back. Soda Stream bottles work perfectly with the Aarke. This Aarke is one of the most used items in my kitchen. If something ever happened to my house, this would be the first item I would replace. I cannot say enough about how much I really like it. This Aarke uses the blue screw-in cylinders. Hint: if you use bagged salad, put the salad in a zipper bag and fill it with air from the Aarke. The salad greens will last and stay crunchy in the refrigerator much longer.

The AARKE has a two year warranty. I'm starting to wonder if their customer service team will respond to us before it runs out. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. The unit looks nice, sure, but you are better off with another brand. Worst customer service experience in my life dealing with AARKE. DO NOT BUY. The machine worked well as any other device for about three months until it abruptly broke. Did some troubleshooting using AARKE's recommended fixes to no avail. AARKE advertises their warranty as a selling point and their website states that "we are committed to ensure our products are at their best." Let me tell you this is not the case. Processed a customer support ticket on their website and they just...ghosted us. Seriously, for two whole months they did not respond at all. We sent in multiple tickets. FINALLY, my wife gets an email from them stating that they switched the company that they use to process and respond to their customer support claims. OK, I guess that explains the radio silence, but some communication in the interim would have been nice. I'd love to tell you that once we got in contact with this new company, they were able to process an exchange for a working unit. Unfortunately, that did not happen. They asked us to send in a bunch of information about our unit so they can process the claim and make sure it was legit. We had to send in all of the typical information (model number, etc.) and also a bunch of pictures that they made us take of the unit from all angles. That was about a month and a half ago - no follow-up from the company since that time. We've attempted to contact them several times since then, they have simply stopped responding. I really would recommend not buying anything from AARKE; if you run into an issue with your unit, you are just out of luck.

Excellent quality and finish. Works perfectly. Requires zero power to operate, only the CO2. This machine allows continued use even when the tank is getting low. I refill our canisters myself. This machine allows using the tanks much further down than that other popular brand that requires power. You know the one.