Berkey Water Filter Review (Go Berkey vs. Travel Berkey)

I’ve lived and traveled with Berkey water filters for years, so I want to share my official review of my current Go Berkey water filter, plus how it compares to my old Travel Berkey water filter.

My water filter journey began while living on an island, building an eco-cabin, right after I installed the cutest vintage farmhouse sink.

When I turned the faucet on, the water that began pouring into my new eco-cabin was unbearable. I couldn’t believe my situation.

The only words I can think of to describe the odor and taste of my water? Heavy chlorine, rotten eggs, and sewage-like.

Hooked up to the local island water system, I called them. Their response was that heavy chlorine and foul odors were perfectly normal.

To be sure, they ran over and tested my tap water. The results confirmed: my terrible water was considered normal for my community water source.

Water is the most important and most consumed fluid we put into our body all day, so we want our water to smell good, to taste good, and to be good for us.

I grew up on sweet spring water. It trickled slowly into an old small holding tank, froze in the winter, and sometimes ran out, but it was so sweet to drink.

We know municipal tap water isn’t always ideal, yet we too often feel stuck living with it.

We know bottled water isn’t a sustainable solution, as contaminants have been found in bottled water, and plastic bottles harm our environment.

We know the importance of avoiding water filters made from unnecessary plastic and the importance of avoiding water filters that store water in plastic.

So, way back then, it was eye-opening to be in a situation where I was forced to research water filters. I knew of no other sustainable way to transform my water.

However, while researching water filters, none seemed a good fit for long-term use until I came across why Berkey filters might be wise to consider…

• the contaminants Berkey claims to remove

• how Berkey compares to other water filters

• Berkey’s explanation of their purification process

• Berkey’s explanation of a water filter vs. purifier

• Berkey’s comparison to reverse osmosis

• Berkey’s comparison to distilled water

• Berkey on hard water and pH level

Needless to say, I was intrigued.

What does a Berkey filter remove from water?

When I first saw the list of substances that Berkey claims to remove from water, I saw substances I knew little about. But it concerned me to think about unknowingly drinking any of these substances on a daily basis…

• aluminum

• antimony

• arsenic

• bacteria

• barium

• beryllium

• bismuth

• bromodichloromethane

• bromoform

• cadmium

• chloramines

• chloride

• chlorine

• chlorine residual

• chloroform

• chromium

• chromium 6

• cobalt

• coli, e.

• coliform, fecal

• coliform, total

• copper

• dibromochloromethane

• e. coli

• fecal coliform

• fluorene

• foul tastes and odors

• iron

• lead

• manganese

• MBAS

• mercury

• molybdenum

• nickel

• nitrites

• PCB s

• pesticides

• petroleum products

  • crude oil

  • diesel

  • gasoline

  • kerosene

  • mineral spirits

  • refined oil

• pharmaceutical drug contaminants

  • 4-para-nonylphenol

  • 4-tert-octylphenol

  • acetaminophen

  • bisphenol A

  • caffeine

  • carbamazepine

  • ciprofloxacin HCl

  • diclofenac sodium

  • erythromycin USP

  • gemfibrozil

  • ibuprofen

  • naproxen sodium

  • primidone

  • progesterone

  • sulfamethoxazole

  • triclosan

  • trimethoprim

• rust

• sediment

• selenium

• silt

• thallium

• trihalomethanes

• turbidity

• vanadium

• viruses

• VOCs

• zinc

• etc.

Which sources of water can a Berkey safely filter?

After reading the Berkey data it appeared that, in an emergency, a Berkey water filter might be capable of filtering water from nearly any water source I might encounter…

• municipal tap water (with its chemicals, plastics, and extra surprises)

• well water (supposedly even compromised)

• rainwater

• spring water

• stream water

• lake water

• river water

• pond water

• snow (apparently after melting, boiling, cooling)

• pool water

• hot tub water

• etc.

Meaning, it appeared that a Berkey water filter might provide me with safe drinking water while I was living or traveling under nearly any scenario…

• apartment

• barn

• bnb

• boat

• cabin

• camping

• disaster

• dorm

• ferry

• hostel

• hotel

• house

• office

• pandemic

• power outage

• road trip

• RV

• vanlife

• wartime

• water contamination/shortage

• etc.

How much does it cost to use a Berkey water filter?

If a Berkey water filter could truly remove so many substances, and from so many water sources, could I even afford to own a Berkey? Here’s what I read from one of the Berkey resellers…

“Get up to 3,000 gallons of purified water before needing to purchase a replacement.

“The water filtration elements inside every Berkey system can be cleaned, which means the lifespan of a Berkey water filter system is exceptionally more than any other water filtering products.

“The average family of four drinks about 2 to 4 gallons of water per day.

“Our most popular systems … come with two filters. Together the life of these two filters is 6000 gallons. A family of four wouldn't need to replace the filters for a minimum of 4 years. That's 1500 continuous days of using the Berkey for every drop of drinking and cooking water.

“The cost to enjoy purified drinking water is less than 3 cents per gallon."

Does a Berkey water filter really work?

I’m not a scientist and I knew this data came from Berkey, so I wasn’t sure if a Berkey water filter could actually filter or purify as claimed. Until I began using my first Berkey water filter.

That’s when the chlorine, rotten egg, plus sewage-like odors and tastes disappeared from my drinking water. That, alone, made me a believer.

Though I realize it’s wisest to test one’s water, for verification, and then test it again at a second lab, especially given the NSF certification reality.

Why I stopped using a Travel Berkey and started using a Go Berkey

I gratefully used my Travel Berkey for years. But when I decided to travel full-time, I knew I’d need to part with it, along with almost everything else I owned.

The Travel Berkey was too large for me to travel with because I was not traveling as a family in an RV. I was traveling by foot, bike, Uber, bus, train, or plane.

At that point, I didn’t yet know the Go Berkey existed. So when I first stayed on a boat, I just bought a basic garden hose water filter to attach to the hose that filled the boat’s water tank.

Thus, I no longer tasted my sweet Berkey water. I was instead tasting hose water stored in a large plastic water tank. Was it moldy down there?

Thank goodness, within a year or so, I discovered that the Go Berkey existed.

Yet I had to talk myself into buying it because I was worried people would think I was nuts for packing it. But I knew how amazing Berkey water tasted to me—and I wanted that.

I’m so glad that my desire for Berkey water—its taste and how all those mysterious things are filtered out—won out. I think I almost cried when I started using my Go Berkey.

I now use the Go Berkey as my full-time water filter everywhere I travel and live. Berkey’s smallest stainless filter, I think it’s beautiful on counters, plus it can pack up and go anywhere with me.

The Go Berkey fits in my packing cube

Nearly everything I own must fit into a few bags, so I own items that I consider portable enough to pack, plus beautiful to look at when they’re out of my bag.

This is emotionally sustaining. It is so healing to ensure functional and beautiful surroundings, no matter where I go.

This helps me live more climate-friendly, without multiples of one item. I don't need a house water filter and a travel water filter when I own a Go Berkey. My Go Berkey handles it all.

This is especially nice, since nearly everywhere I’ve traveled or lived as an adult, the tap water has tasted of chlorine or it hasn’t seemed fit to drink. Until I filter it through my Go Berkey.

A tad wider than a water bottle, the Go Berkey fits, nested, in my packing cube. There’s enough room left over to add a weekend’s worth of my clothing, too.

I make sure my clothing carefully protects my stainless steel Go Berkey (I don’t want anything to dent it), which also gives my clothing more than one job.

This allows me to pack my Go Berkey water filter into a backpack, a carry-on, or my checked luggage, along with anything else I need with me.

What about the extra parts?

The Go Berkey is made of three stainless steel parts, which nest together for packing. The filter sits inside (hidden) when the Go Berkey is assembled, on a counter.

My Go Berkey also arrived with three additional items (which, to my minimalist brain, completely overwhelmed me as being way too much excess stuff)…

• a blue plastic water bottle (with a mini-filter inside)

• a plastic primer/pump

• a thick protective bag

I donated the blue plastic water bottle to someone who really wanted it, as I prefer to use a stainless steel water bottle.

I also donated the small plastic primer pump, as I prefer to manually prime my Berkey filter, plus let it gravity-drain before packing it.

And I donated the Go Berkey padded bag, as I prefer to carefully protect my Go Berkey with clothing, inside my packing cube.

By donating these three items, I eliminated unnecessary plastic from my life, plus kept my packing and setup really simple and slimmed down.

I think it would be lovely if Berkey offered those three extra components as optional add-ons, to help prevent waste.

The difference between the Go Berkey and the Travel Berkey

In summary, to help provide perspective, I want to share some essential differences between my current (smaller) Go Berkey and my old (larger) Travel Berkey:

• because my Go Berkey is smaller/packable, after I filter water, I pour that filtered water into another container so I can then filter more water

  • my Go Berkey can easily filter enough water for two adults, every day

  • I store the extra water in the fridge, in glass carafes (or large canning jars), or just pour it directly into a stainless water bottle, or several mugs, or a cooking pot

• because my old Travel Berkey was much larger, there was enough room in its bottom chamber to attach fluoride filters (which I found fantastic), plus enough room to hold my filtered water for the day—I didn’t need to pour that filtered water into another container to make room to filter more water

  • I assume my old (larger) Travel Berkey was meant for families who RV or camp (though it would be far too large for me to ever travel with, even if I was RVing)

  • if (for some reason) I ever need a larger Berkey again, the Travel Berkey is the largest size I’d buy, and I’d buy a stainless spigot because it’s beautiful and not plastic

  • also, when getting rid of nearly all I owned, including my eco-cabin, I sold my old Travel Berkey for a good chunk of change (as many value Berkey water filters)

I cannot imagine living without a Berkey.