review_status: "tested" field to the brand data and a badge on the brand page.
What we'll measure
- pH · at every available alkaline preset on the unit
- ORP (oxidation-reduction potential) · the indicator of reductive/antioxidant state
- Dissolved H₂ (hydrogen) · the metric that determines whether claims of "hydrogen water" are real
- Flow rate · L/min at each preset
- Power draw · stand-by and per-litre, for the 5-year cost calculation
- Filter delta · pH / ORP / H₂ after 1L, 100L, 500L, 1000L, 2000L (to measure filter degradation)
Equipment list (~S$650 total)
- Hanna HI-98103 pH meter
- ~S$120 · ±0.01 pH resolution · 2-point calibration
- Hanna HI-98201 ORP meter
- ~S$180 · ±1 mV resolution · ZoBell-solution calibrated
- Trustlex ENH-1000 H₂ meter
- ~S$250 · 0-1500 ppb dissolved hydrogen
- Buffer + calibration solutions
- ~S$60 · pH 4 / 7 / 10 buffers + ZoBell ORP solution
- Flow-rate measuring cylinder + stopwatch
- ~S$30 · 2L cylinder · digital stopwatch
- Energy meter (Belkin Conserve)
- ~S$50 · plugs between unit and wall outlet
- Total gear cost
- ~S$ 690
Protocol (per brand)
- Setup — calibrate all 3 meters using fresh calibration solutions; install unit on standard PUB tap water
- Idle baseline — measure pH / ORP / H₂ of tap water at the input (record date, temperature, PUB area)
- Per-setting test — for each preset (low / medium / high / boost), fill a 250mL beaker, immediately measure pH / ORP / H₂. Repeat 3 times. Record mean + standard deviation.
- Flow rate — measure time to fill 2L at each setting
- Power — measure idle draw, in-use draw, kWh per 10L
- Filter milestones — repeat per-setting test at 100L / 500L / 1000L / 2000L cumulative throughput
- Publish raw CSV — every measurement with timestamp, meter reading, calibration session ID
Brands and order
We can't test all 36 brands at once. The Q3 2026 wave tests the 3 most-bought brands. Each subsequent wave adds 2-3 more. Approximate order:
- Wave 1 (Q3 2026) — Prime Water, Kemp ION-X i9, Kangen K8 · the most-bought 3 in SG
- Wave 2 (Q4 2026) — Novita HydroPlus, Wells The One, Panasonic TK-AS45 · the volume tier
- Wave 3 (Q1 2027) — AOX, StarWellness, Coral Premium 9, WaterSource GEM 9000 · the SG-local tier
- Wave 4 (Q2 2027) — selected imports (AlkaViva, KYK) if SG access can be arranged
We borrow units from manufacturer demo programs or buy retail. We do not accept free units from manufacturers in exchange for favourable reviews — we either rent, buy, or borrow under publicly-stated terms.
What we'll publish
- Raw measurement CSV (every reading, with timestamp + meter serial + calibration session ID)
- Per-brand verified vs claimed table (shows the delta between manufacturer claim and our reading)
- Methodology disclosure for that brand (how we got the unit, how long it ran, what we calibrated against)
- If a manufacturer disputes a reading, their response is published verbatim alongside our data
What will change on brand pages once tested
When a brand becomes lab-tested:
- Its
review_statusfield flips from"claimed"to"tested" - A "Lab-verified" badge appears on the brand card and review page
- The yellow "manufacturer-claimed" note on the brand's spec table is replaced with a green "verified [date]" note
- Comparison pages (171 of them) automatically pick up the verified flag and tag the rows accordingly
Why we're publishing this commitment publicly
An independent-feeling review site that never actually tests anything is just a marketing site dressed up as an editorial site. We don't want that. By publishing the gear list, the protocol, the brand order, the timeline, and the CSV-publishing commitment in advance, our readers (and our competitors) can hold us to it.
If Q3 2026 arrives and we haven't started, you should call us out for it. Email is on the about page.
Limitations we'll always disclose
- We're not a NIST-certified lab. Our meters are consumer-grade, calibrated against reference solutions, but with consumer-grade precision (~±0.01 pH, ±1 mV ORP, ±10 ppb H₂)
- We can only test units we can borrow or buy. Brands without SG presence (AlkaViva, KYK, Life Ionizer) are harder to source
- Single-unit testing — we test one of each model, not a sample of three. A small batch-to-batch QC variation is invisible to us
- Singapore tap water quality varies slightly by PUB district. Our baseline is whichever PUB area we're testing from on the day; that gets disclosed in the CSV header
How you can verify our work
We'll publish raw CSVs. You can take any unit we've tested, get a Trustlex meter (~S$250), and reproduce a single measurement. If your reading is meaningfully different from ours, we want to hear about it.
Related
- Editorial methodology · how we score brands
- About + disclosure · who we are
- All 36 brands · current claimed specs