Consumer Reports just tested several, including less-expensive carafes and faucet-mounted ones, to more expensive countertop and under-the-sink filters.
"Well, today's filters promise to do more than remove just bad tastes and odors. These days many claim to remove contaminants like lead and chloroform, which is a surrogate for pesticides and other harmful organics," said Dan DiClerico with Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports' testers set up this elaborate rig and ran water spiked with lead and chloroform through it to evaluate the filters.
"Ideally, you want a filter that will catch the most contaminants and maintain a good flow rate, without clogging."
Not all delivered. A Crystal Quest Faucet Water Filter did a poor job at removing lead and chloroform.
"We had several filters clog, including an under-the-sink model that cost over $400 dollars."
It's the Everpure H-1200. If you don't need to filter large amounts of water at a time, your best bet is an inexpensive carafe or faucet-mounted filter.
The Clear Two-"O" Carafe Filter for $30 dollars is a Consumer Reports Best Buy. So is this $15-dollar Culligan faucet-mounted filter. Both did an excellent job at removing lead and chloroform.
