I have a soda stream somewhere. Used it all the time years ago. Then at some point it got put away somewhere and never got it out again. I’ll have to find it again
Wasn’t this brand it was the name brand… But I liked them. A little syrup and fizzy water, slightly more healthy than a soda.
@haydesigner I have seen plenty of diet options, but not flavored. Even in non diet, I think the most I’ve ever seen was a cherry coke. If you want a diet cherry pepsi you’d have to get diet pepsi syrup and some sugar free cherry syrup to mix into it. Name brand soda syrups usually cost about $24 for a 4 pack, but if you keep an eye on sales you can get them for $16-18 and a little cheaper if you don’t mind off brand flavors. As far as price comparison, it’s not great. Even if you’re getting the syrups on sale and you can find good deals on CO2, you’ll be saving in the range of dollars and cents. I only use mine because I find it more convenient than buying a bunch of cans or bottles I have to lug up into my apartment.
@haydesigner I looked into it a while back. You probably aren’t going to save any money with these.
Definitely not by buying the small CO2 cartridges. But the internet is a wonderful resource for instructions on how to connect a standard refillable CO2 canister to these.
If you do that, and you’d otherwise have a hefty budget spent on Topo Chico, this is probably a good deal for you. Perhaps a twist of citrus would give you a cheaper alternative to La Croix. Infusing vodka with berries and adding some to your soda water might be less expensive than buying White Claw.
If, however, you’re hoping to save money making Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, etc. at home… Forget about it! Again, the tiny syrup cartridges will wind up costing you more than just buying the ready made stuff from your local supermarket.
I haven’t seen any postings, but I’m sure there’d be a way to use a commercial syrup canister intended for fountain drinks with this, and that would be less expensive in theory. Except that stuff has a relatively short shelf life, and so you’d need to consume an incredible amount of one kind of soda to make that feasible. At that point, I’m not convinced that a SodaStream, or this knock-off version would hold up to that much use – Just like you won’t find other small household appliances in use in commercial settings either.
@haydesigner I find that the syrups are off flavor. If all you are looking for is a bit of flavor, I find the Bubly flavor is closest to the actual brands you can buy off the shelf and tastes best. Admittedly, I have only tried 3 branded syrups, but gave up after being disappointed in them, but I also really enjoy just the plain fizzy water.
@haydesigner you can also expand your palate and options significantly beyond normal options. You could add Javvy or other coffee extracts and have carbonated coffee! You can buy THC syrups and make your own weed drinks. You can add a splash of whatever juices you like and have a light, refreshing sparkling water.
@haydesigner@skelex@ciabelle Sodastream has Wild Cherry Pepsi 0. They sent me a free little sample of that when I got my last cartridge. I use mine all the time and it is a big money saver. A $6.99 bottle of the Pepsi Syrup is equal to 24 cans!! The cartridge is about $16 and lasts a long time.
Also even the regular syrup has less calories and sugar than Pepsi
I’ve had my Sodastream for many years and I use one bottle for sparkling water “Seltzer” for those in the know…and one bottle for Pepsi.
@haydesigner Hey! I know this late after the sale, but I want to mention that we use soda syrups but not a fizzmaker at our house. I started by getting individual bottles on clearance at Target, so we could try them out. The Sodastream brand sells both brand name (Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc) and generic (cola, root beer, “Dr. Pete”, cherry cola, lemon-lime) in all kinds of regular and sugar free options. I got these for about $4 a bottle, and we tried a bunch.
Based on that round, I buy our favorite versions when they’re on sale on Amazon as 4-packs. Usually we spent $14-16 for a four pack. We add these to canned seltzer and similar.
I like that I can get sucralose-based things, because I don’t do aspartame. Our big repeats are the Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Dr. Pete, and some version of root beer. This month I found the “Mug Zero Root Beer” four pack on sale for under $15, so we got that.
So, add that to your “flavors you can buy” rotation, if that helps.
We still use a SodaStream, but we mix it with the trulime drink mixes. Unfortunately, our local Walmart stopped doing the exchanges so now we have to get them online.
@thebigtverberg I too lost the Walmart exchange but I was actually surprised how easy the online one is to do. And they sent two free small samples of their latest flavor syrup!! The return was a simple trip to the post office or they will pick up USPS at your door!
If you want to be yourself with it, 1 packet of kool-aid (the real stuff, none of that crap in the jar with sugar already added), about 1/4 cup of sugar with hot water filled to about 200 ML in one of those salad dressing shakers makes a fantastic fruit soda concentrate for two quarts as I’ve been doing for nearly 20 years.
Damn, I’m old.
Alternately you can add 2 drops of kool-aid to the container and call it LaCroix.
During the pandemic. When soda stream CO2 cartridges just couldn’t be had, I unscrewed the brass piece from the bottles (not easy), bought the (minimum) amount of pellet dry ice from a nearby dry ice supplier, filled the bottles with an equal amount of dry ice to original CO2, screwed the brass piece back on, and waited a day for the bottles to warm back up to room temp (the dry ice sublimated back to gas). Cost for 3 bottles? About $2.50. And my time. Once I could get the exchanges again I got lazy.
I use my SodaStream a lot. I have a couple syrups, but almost always use it with a dash of actual fruit juice. Fizz up, then top off the bottle with juice. Limeade is a good base, then add something extra, like cranberry.
I had a Sodastream. Meh. Now I have a Drinkmate Omnifizz. If you can get it in the fizzing vessel, you can fizz it. Water? Ofc. Re-fizz flat soda? Yup. Slushies? Yah. Milk? Gross, but yes. Whiskey? Surprisingly nice. Water, vodka, and Bubly concentrate? You just made a alco-seltzer.
Had it for about a week now. Not bad, but I’ve been trying to find a potential source for more bottles and, especially, a cap. This thing came with two bottles, but only one has a storage cap, the only other cap is the aeration cap for plugging the bottle into the unit.
Does anyone know if the bottle tops are compatible with any other brand?
Specs
Product: Ciarra Fizzify Soda Maker with 2 Bottles
Model: CAFSMO1-B
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Jul 24 - Monday, Jul 28
Can it make a margarita?
@yakkoTDI No, but it can probably turn a margarita into a sparkling margarita.
I have a soda stream somewhere. Used it all the time years ago. Then at some point it got put away somewhere and never got it out again. I’ll have to find it again
Wasn’t this brand it was the name brand… But I liked them. A little syrup and fizzy water, slightly more healthy than a soda.
please-o-please-o-please do not sell the ninja Slushie machine.
I don’t have room for another one.
@alacrity Oooo, magarita slushies?
@Kyeh YAHTZEE!!
For everyone BUT @alacrity
https://home.woot.com/offers/ninja-rapidchill-slushi-machine-3
@andymand That new Woot logo is definitely lacking in the creativity department. Yuck.
@andymand @SnDMommy And you can’t turn it over to say ‘Moofi’.
@alacrity my favorite appliance that I use pretty much every day.
@andymand @SnDMommy That new Woot! logo looks like some Chinese junk they got on Amazon.
@yakkoTDI Chinese junk would have been more creative.
So those of you who have something like this:
TIA
@haydesigner I have seen plenty of diet options, but not flavored. Even in non diet, I think the most I’ve ever seen was a cherry coke. If you want a diet cherry pepsi you’d have to get diet pepsi syrup and some sugar free cherry syrup to mix into it. Name brand soda syrups usually cost about $24 for a 4 pack, but if you keep an eye on sales you can get them for $16-18 and a little cheaper if you don’t mind off brand flavors. As far as price comparison, it’s not great. Even if you’re getting the syrups on sale and you can find good deals on CO2, you’ll be saving in the range of dollars and cents. I only use mine because I find it more convenient than buying a bunch of cans or bottles I have to lug up into my apartment.
Sincerely appreciate the lengthy reply, @skelex
@haydesigner I looked into it a while back. You probably aren’t going to save any money with these.
Definitely not by buying the small CO2 cartridges. But the internet is a wonderful resource for instructions on how to connect a standard refillable CO2 canister to these.
If you do that, and you’d otherwise have a hefty budget spent on Topo Chico, this is probably a good deal for you. Perhaps a twist of citrus would give you a cheaper alternative to La Croix. Infusing vodka with berries and adding some to your soda water might be less expensive than buying White Claw.
If, however, you’re hoping to save money making Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, etc. at home… Forget about it! Again, the tiny syrup cartridges will wind up costing you more than just buying the ready made stuff from your local supermarket.
I haven’t seen any postings, but I’m sure there’d be a way to use a commercial syrup canister intended for fountain drinks with this, and that would be less expensive in theory. Except that stuff has a relatively short shelf life, and so you’d need to consume an incredible amount of one kind of soda to make that feasible. At that point, I’m not convinced that a SodaStream, or this knock-off version would hold up to that much use – Just like you won’t find other small household appliances in use in commercial settings either.
@haydesigner I find that the syrups are off flavor. If all you are looking for is a bit of flavor, I find the Bubly flavor is closest to the actual brands you can buy off the shelf and tastes best. Admittedly, I have only tried 3 branded syrups, but gave up after being disappointed in them, but I also really enjoy just the plain fizzy water.
@haydesigner you can also expand your palate and options significantly beyond normal options. You could add Javvy or other coffee extracts and have carbonated coffee! You can buy THC syrups and make your own weed drinks. You can add a splash of whatever juices you like and have a light, refreshing sparkling water.
@haydesigner @skelex @ciabelle Sodastream has Wild Cherry Pepsi 0. They sent me a free little sample of that when I got my last cartridge. I use mine all the time and it is a big money saver. A $6.99 bottle of the Pepsi Syrup is equal to 24 cans!! The cartridge is about $16 and lasts a long time.
Also even the regular syrup has less calories and sugar than Pepsi
I’ve had my Sodastream for many years and I use one bottle for sparkling water “Seltzer” for those in the know…and one bottle for Pepsi.
@haydesigner Hey! I know this late after the sale, but I want to mention that we use soda syrups but not a fizzmaker at our house. I started by getting individual bottles on clearance at Target, so we could try them out. The Sodastream brand sells both brand name (Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc) and generic (cola, root beer, “Dr. Pete”, cherry cola, lemon-lime) in all kinds of regular and sugar free options. I got these for about $4 a bottle, and we tried a bunch.
Based on that round, I buy our favorite versions when they’re on sale on Amazon as 4-packs. Usually we spent $14-16 for a four pack. We add these to canned seltzer and similar.
I like that I can get sucralose-based things, because I don’t do aspartame. Our big repeats are the Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Dr. Pete, and some version of root beer. This month I found the “Mug Zero Root Beer” four pack on sale for under $15, so we got that.
So, add that to your “flavors you can buy” rotation, if that helps.
Got this in a whiskeyfy version?
@phendrick
https://foodreplicator.tumblr.com/post/116779946467/miles-obriens-scotch-infused-chewing-gum
The first half of the writeup kept making me retch! LOL
We still use a SodaStream, but we mix it with the trulime drink mixes. Unfortunately, our local Walmart stopped doing the exchanges so now we have to get them online.
@thebigtverberg Does Target still do them? I know they used to.
Also some of the Kroger-based stores.
@thebigtverberg Staples still does the exchanges.
@pmarin @thebigtverberg Target still does exchanges, that’s where I go.
@thebigtverberg I too lost the Walmart exchange but I was actually surprised how easy the online one is to do. And they sent two free small samples of their latest flavor syrup!! The return was a simple trip to the post office or they will pick up USPS at your door!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WHHW2Y2?pd_rd_i=B07WHHW2Y2&pf_rd_p=c8b39f81-ded8-4d75-80c2-6dfa03cbb699&pf_rd_r=ZBQGZKW86MD0VTZMVCYA&pd_rd_wg=htdzz&pd_rd_w=9IakS&pd_rd_r=254ac867-ea8d-4046-b817-b0a216261a30&th=1
If you want to get fancy with it, Prarie Moon makes some excellent syrups to match the brand names. https://www.prairiemoon.biz/flavors.html
If you want to be yourself with it, 1 packet of kool-aid (the real stuff, none of that crap in the jar with sugar already added), about 1/4 cup of sugar with hot water filled to about 200 ML in one of those salad dressing shakers makes a fantastic fruit soda concentrate for two quarts as I’ve been doing for nearly 20 years.
Damn, I’m old.
Alternately you can add 2 drops of kool-aid to the container and call it LaCroix.
@zekedms Prairie Moon - nice except it’s on the Canadian side and the new tariffs and handling fees (UPS etc) make it hard to press the buy button.
Does this need threaded connector Co2?
@GeoAman It looks like it takes the new pink version SS cartridge
rather than the screw in blue ones
@GeoAman @readnj Appears to be a screw-in canister per the manual I hunted down: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0631/5124/3499/files/Fizzify_Soda_Maker_instruction_Manual.pdf?v=1738739920
During the pandemic. When soda stream CO2 cartridges just couldn’t be had, I unscrewed the brass piece from the bottles (not easy), bought the (minimum) amount of pellet dry ice from a nearby dry ice supplier, filled the bottles with an equal amount of dry ice to original CO2, screwed the brass piece back on, and waited a day for the bottles to warm back up to room temp (the dry ice sublimated back to gas). Cost for 3 bottles? About $2.50. And my time. Once I could get the exchanges again I got lazy.
Do they make replaceable bottles. I’m not talking about the CO2, but the actual bottles
If this can fizz lemonade or tea, that makes it superior to the Sodastream. Can anyone confirm?
@katjabee I’d like to figure that out too.
I use my SodaStream a lot. I have a couple syrups, but almost always use it with a dash of actual fruit juice. Fizz up, then top off the bottle with juice. Limeade is a good base, then add something extra, like cranberry.
I just use yeast.
I had a Sodastream. Meh. Now I have a Drinkmate Omnifizz. If you can get it in the fizzing vessel, you can fizz it. Water? Ofc. Re-fizz flat soda? Yup. Slushies? Yah. Milk? Gross, but yes. Whiskey? Surprisingly nice. Water, vodka, and Bubly concentrate? You just made a alco-seltzer.
https://giphy.com/gifs/buzzfeed-drink-drunk-drinking-ao2kylGG2UzaUbBvYv
@psbales Seconding the Drinkmate recommendation. The fizz-anything plus the ability to control how you de-gas the vessel is just a great combo.
The handle snapped off on the first pull. It still works with pliers.
@meh?
@jmill099 Send a message to https://meh.com/support
@jmill099 neat
Had it for about a week now. Not bad, but I’ve been trying to find a potential source for more bottles and, especially, a cap. This thing came with two bottles, but only one has a storage cap, the only other cap is the aeration cap for plugging the bottle into the unit.
Does anyone know if the bottle tops are compatible with any other brand?