Topic: Homemade soda

[micah]

Anyone ever use a home appliance product, like those offered by soda stream, to create soda at home?

I drink quite a bit of diet soda each day and would love to own something like this IF its as neat as it looks.

The newspaper had a coupon for a $20 rebate and I'm seriously considering it getting one (give or take a few paychecks from now) -- the price isn't all that bad -- start up around $150 or so plus the recurring need for supplies (CO2, syrups and plastic bottles)

Thoughts?

[KnuckleBuckett]

Looks like one of those niche appliances that one might use for a few months and then relegate to a corner, cupboard, basement, etc.

I vote against.  Like that?  I voted!

[micah]

you mean like that "yogurt maker" my mom bought in the late 70's right before I was born? It lived under the counter but I never saw it operated once during my entire life.

Thats a good point.  I could see that happening.  Another thought I had was the cost - while you do save money over buying soda bottles at full retail price, its not really that much.  Doing the math out, between the CO2 and the Syrups, it would cost $0.75 to $0.80 a liter.  That is not really much in savings.  When I do by bottled soda, I get the 2-liters for about $1.00 to $1.25 on sale which is actually cheaper.
Most of the time I drink fountain sodas from convenience stores.  The 32-ouncer (about 1-liter) that I get just about every day costs $0.84 (after tax).  So in that case, making the soda myself (and having to bring it with me, and not having ice from a fountain soda machine) would only save me like 10 cents a day. hmmmm.

[Govtcheez]

> I never saw it operated once during my entire life.

Did you ever look inside?  Might have been growing its own yogurt.

[charlie]

Sounds like something cool to get when you're rich, but there's too much potential for the investment to be wasted before you make your money back, so I'd say thumbs down.

If you can't get in the habit of filling your cup with soda from a 2 liter before you leave home, then I'm not sure you'd be able to do this (I know I wouldn't be able to do it). If you can, then do it and you'll save money without the investment.

[stealth]

Not trying to take the piss, but if you're looking on how to save money on soda, diet or otherwise, you're drinking too much of it.

[Steve]

Not trying to take the piss, but if you're looking on how to save money on soda, diet or otherwise, you're drinking too much of it.

+1.

And this is probably like Beer where you basically end up spending more making it to save money then buying it.