IonWays has finally released a picture and details of its new Spartan and Naia water filters that help remove hardness from source water.

Bernard, my website guy who does all of my internet stuff for me, said the units look like “Nessie”, which is what the locals in Scotland call the fabled Loch Ness Monster. I had to laugh because they do look like Nessie. My wife made in unanimous when she said: “You’re right, they do look like Nessie”. That confirms it, because I can’t remember the last time she said I was right about anything!

My wife looked at the pictures for a few more seconds and then said “I can’t believe they expect anyone to put that on a counter”. Ouch! I swear, I couldn’t make this stuff up. If you don’t believe the Nessie resemblance, decide for yourself…can you tell the difference?

On a more serious note, the IonWays “Spartan” and Revolution’s “Revoluntionizer” both look virtually identical to the QMP 603 above- counter water filter, except for the Ion Ways units have an extra “hump”. When I was in the water ionizer business, I used to sell the QMP 603 to people that were forced to install their pre-filters above the counter because they didn’t have room under the kitchen sink, or they lived in a rental property and were not allowed to cut a hole in the counter top. I guess you can tell I’m not a fan of the visual aspect of these “Nessie” units.

What’s in the Filters:

IonWays claims that their filters use the most “cutting edge filtration techniques designed to bring you great tasting, super clean, and healthy water”. Geez those IonWays guys have good writers.

The first IonWays filter contains a sediment filter and Centaur carbon. According to IonWays:

“The sediment filter helps to reduce particulates up to 5 microns in size, and Centaur is one of the highest grades of carbon. Not your simple carbon or GAC, Centaur is the premier carbon media available for the reduction of chlorine, chloramines, VOC’s, and many other drinking water concerns. Designed for annual replacement, this filter helps to remove some of the unwanted contaminants to help to extend the life of the second stage filter”

Centaur carbon is actually a brand name for the company that produces “catalytic” carbon”. I have to agree with IonWays on the superiority of Centaur carbon over regular GAC (granulated activated carbon) because Centaur carbon is a more efficient media. When I was in the water business, we used catalytic “Centaur” carbon for removing chloramines from municipal source water because chloramines are tougher to remove from water than chlorine.

In describing the second filter, IonWays tells us:

“Our Purification Cartridge uses a special blended media to virtually remove everything from the water. Here’s how it works: Every particle in nature has either a positive or negative charge. Our media works by trading bad ions for good ions using a very basic principle – polarity and attraction. What takes place is a simple exchange. The media first attracts and then traps the charged ions and then releases either a hydrogen ion (H+) or a hydroxide (OH-) depending on the polarity of the trapped particle. So once we effectively trade the ions, the remaining H+ and OH- combine, leaving us ultrapure H2O with virtually every other ion removed.”

See what I mean… IonWays has great writers. They have provided a simple but effective description of an ion resin exchange filter. The only down side that I can see to the second filter is that the effective life of the filter can be from one month to one year depending upon your source water. Now that is a wide variation. The good news is that IonWays provides a “handy meter” to test your water to see if and when you want to change the second filter. If people check their filter every month, the meter is a good idea. Unfortunately, most people don’t check their filters often enough because life gets busy. Therefore, you could end up using a filter that has passed its useful service time.

Once the water has been purified by the second filter, there are not enough minerals in the water to create ionization capable of providing the health benefits associated with alkaline ionized water. IonWays tells us:

“To provide you with these beneficial minerals in the third stage of these revolutionary systems, IonWays offers you the IonWays Remin Max filter. The Remin Max filter uses what is called sacrificial media – which, instead of taking away from the water, gives back! Healthy minerals such as calcium, magnesium, bi-carbonates, and over 70 organic trace elements are given back to the water through the Remin Max filter-we’ve even added KDF to help remove any unwanted heavy metals that could appear with the trace elements.”

Sounds good to me, as the presence of minerals provides natural ionization that is very stable. I don’t know what Dr. Hayashi would say about all of the “extras” as his work indicates that the best and only media required to produce free hydrogen is magnesium. I don’t feel confident enough with my limited biochemistry background to offer an educated opinion on the the body’s ability to uptake and process trace minerals from the water. I have listened to arguments on both sides and I can’t decide who is right.

IonWays goes on to tell us that they offer the upgraded Naia ($599) which appears to be identical to the Spartan ($499), but it “adds a layer of passive ionization media. This media creates the negative charge (-ORP) providing you an antioxidant potential without electricity”.

I’m a little confused about what IonWays is doing these days when it comes to its introduction of its Antioxidant Filters. IonWays suddenly comes out of nowhere months ahead of schedule with two new filter systems and then tells its dealers that they will be coming out with another upgrade in February. My guess is that IonWays never intended to introduce their units this month but they panicked when they discovered that the IonWays “break away” group was introducing their Revolutionizer Antioxidant Filter. I suspect IonWays had to defend its turf, or face losing their MLM dealers to the Revolution MLM group.

IonWays are serious players in the industry and they have been good corporate citizens. It will be good for everyone when they get everything straightened out. Until then, the Nessie will have to do. If I were an Ion Ways dealer, I would wait to see what they have coming in the New Year to see what Ion Ways has in store for you, as nobody wants to end up with obsolete stock.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author (except the Nessie comments made by Bernard and my wife).