Well, it didn’t take long for the first “Major” to jump into the Antioxidant Filter market. Ion Ways has announced to its dealers that they will offering two different models of Antioxidant Filter machines in the near future.

Ion Ways will be offering two models, the Spartan ($499) and the Naia ($599). The announcement didn’t provide any details other than the system will consist of 3 filters. The President of Ion Ways did mention that his company was responding to the need for a reliable and affordable machine that would produce the same health benefits as the more expensive water ionizers.

Ion Ways’ recognition of the fact that the public needs an affordable and reliable alkaline machine is music to my ears. I have been preaching about the need for lower prices for quality machines since I started my blog, and right back to the days when I first got involved with the water ionizer industry.

I had been informed that Ion Ways was planning to introduce their own Antioxidant Filter in the new year. I assume that Ion Ways advanced their announcement to their dealers by two or three months because they are trying to protect themselves from losing their MLM dealers to the new Revolution MLM team. When I checked into who is financing and running the Revolution team, I found that there are strong historical ties to Ion Ways. It should be interesting to see the “stay behind” Ion Ways guys fighting it out with the the “break away” Ion Ways guys.

You can’t blame the Revolutionizer people for wanting to start their own company as they have been frustrated with Ion Ways for a long time. You also can’t blame Ion Ways for trying to defend its turf. I like the competition, because the consumer always wins when there is more competition.

I just hope that both of the MLM companies take the time to make sure their testing and quality control are good. I get the feeling that both MLM companies are rushing into the market in an attempt to make sure that the Alkastream doesn’t gain an insurmountable lead in the Antioxidant Filter market. I also suspect that the early announcements by both of the MLM companies has more to do about the struggle to hold on or steal dealers than it has to do with actually coming to market right away.

For those that don’t know Ion Ways, they have been one of the leaders in the water ionizer industry since the early days. They are a solid company and have operated with a reasonable degree of integrity over the years. That makes them the shining star of the industry in that regard. Unfortunately, the old expression “Nice Guys Finish Last” is somewhat appropriate in this case as Ion Ways has seen its once prominent position in the industry steadily eroded by the more aggressive marketing strategies adopted by a number of its competitors. I believe that Ion Ways will regain some of its former glory with the introduction of its Antioxidant Filters. Ion Ways has certainly got a head start on its traditional competitors this time around.

I wish I could provide test results and my impression of the machines produced by the two MLM companies and the Alkastream, but the fact is that I can’t get my hands on the prototypes or the actual retail models for either MLM company. I can tell you that based upon my testing, and the test results from a number of experienced water ionizer industry people that I have spoken with, the Alkastream is a great product that the public is going to love.

It will be interesting to see how the marketing people play off the differences in the Antioxidant Filters. The Alkastream unit consists of one canister that uses an ion exchange filter to filter out contaminants from the source water. An ion exchange filter is a very efficient filter and the test results indicate that it does the job. The Revolutionizer system uses two traditional filters and the Ion Ways announcement claims the use of three traditional filter canisters. You can bet the spin doctors for each company will be hard at work trying to convince the public that their system is the best. It is too early to tell who will win this new battle, but if I had to make a prediction, my guess would be that all three units will provide good filtration and excellent health benefits.

The one thing that is obvious to me in all of this is that Antioxidant Filters are here to stay… and we all win!