Is a sodastream worth it? I decided to record my usage and share the results.

For a long time, I resisted getting a SodaStream and I'll explain why shortly. However, if someone gives you one for a present, that changes things. Who doesn't love a present?

My reasoning was fairly simple. First the SodaStream unit costs money. Then there's flavouring at $7 a bottle that makes 9 litres. That's 78 cents a litre just for flavouring. I'd estimated from online research people were getting around 20-30 litres from a SodaStream cylinder. Exchange cylinders at $19 which means 63-95 cents per litre. So, with just the cost of the cylinder and flavouring the cost per litre I'd estimated to be $1.41 to $1.73 and that's not taking into account the cost of the SodaStream itself.

I decided now having become the owner of a SodaStream this would enable me to do some testing. The first cylinder that came with the SodaStream I used to determine how much gas to add to my drinks. I tend to be a light fizzer. The second bottle I recorded each time I refilled the bottles. So how did it go?

I have 500ml and 1L bottles. For 500ml bottles I'd pump for one second three times. For 1L bottles I'd pump for one second five times. At the end I had to use triple the number of pumps for about three 1L bottles and then the cylinder was done. Yes, I didn't use twice the number of pumps for 1L compared to 500ml. That's just how it worked out for me, for my tastes.

500ml bottles - 33 refills of 3 one second pumps
1L bottles - 16 refills of 5 one second pumps
Plus, at end of cylinder life about 3 1L bottles so equivalent of 5 one second pumps.

That's a total of 194 one second pumps. In terms of litres if I'd just used 1L bottles that would be approximately 39 litres and for 500ml bottles, that would be 32 litres.

The cost per litre for my usage works out at 49-59 cents per litre, or an average of 55 cents per litre. People who prefer more fizz will find the cost per litre greater.

Sadly, if you add the 55 cents to the 78 cents for the cost of flavouring ($1.33/L) that's more expensive than home brand drinks from Woolworths, Coles, or Aldi.

But wait, there's savings to be had.

First, I wait until the flavouring have been on half price specials and then stock up. That means the cost has been 39 cents/L, reducing the cost to 94 cents/L.

I've tried other brands of flavouring but haven't been a fan.

Cordial can make a good drink with the carbonated water. Aldi cordial is $2.69 a bottle and makes up 10 litres. That's 27 cents per litre for flavouring.

Getting creative with lemon and lime trees.

Yes, we all have someone we know that has a lemon tree, and sometimes a lime tree. Often people are happy to give away excess fruit.

I found dissolving a cup of sugar with a cup of lemon/line juice plus half a cup of water, produced a very nice syrup for flavouring. There are about 5 cups of sugar in a kg of sugar. A Coles 2kg bag of sugar costs $2.85 so the cost is 29 cents per litre. OK. Aldi cordial is cheaper than making your own. Didn't know that until now but isn't that the point of testing.

At say 30 cents per litre for cordial/syrup plus 55 cents per litre for gas, that's 85 cents per litre.  Keep in mind, that's not taking into account the cost of the SodaStream

Comparing that to Coles home brand fizzy drinks at $1.20/1.25L less 10 cents refund on the bottle, that gives us 1.10/1.25 = 88 cents per litre. Slightly cheaper in Aldi.

So, in summary, if you use full price SodaStream flavouring it simply costs more to use a SodaStream for drinks than buying home brand drinks. Yes, the flavouring from SodaStream are name brands like Pepsi/Pepsi Max, but to me they're not the same as the bottled versions, so in effect I'd put them on par with the home brands. That's just how I see it, you may not.

Add the cost of the SodaStream appliance spread over say three years at my usage (about 30 cents/L) and it's costing more than home brand drinks. Also, I purchased additional bottles which don't come cheap. SodaKing bottles are cheaper and also work.

There is one advantage that is worth noting. Your groceries are lighter each week if you don't buy the pre-bottled drinks.

The bottom line. Drinks made using the SodaStream, from my testing, are more expensive than home brand bottles of fizzy drink. That's just the way it is.

Kelvin

NOTE: The full SodaStream cylinder weighed 1,168g. Empty cylinder weighed 744g. Weight of gas/contents 424g.

Update: 09/12/2004 Empty SodaStream cylinder 742g