Question:
A friend of mine used to be in the counter-top water filter sales biz and ended up with a lot of unsold, but brand new units in his garage.

does the fact that Sparkletts water makes _clear_ ice cubes have any relevance to its quality? The tap water makes totally cloudy cubes and the water that comes out of the NSA filter is about 1/2 way between straight tap and Sparkletts when it's used for cubes, as far as clear/cloudy goes.

Answer: The water they use may be soft(ened), hardness usually causes some ice cube clarity problems; or they process the water with RO etc.. Gases such as chlorine and oxygen also can create some of the problems

Just make sure the comparison is GAC to GAC, not GAC to carbon block/briquette, that is a different animal. IMO, the silver (bacteriostatic) is not "in" because none of these types of cartridges are to be installed on microbiologically contaminated water or water of unknown quality; thereby to say 'bacteriostatic' might mislead. Plus it makes them cost more. I sell a very high quality carbon block counter top for $75 and an under counter style for an installed (separate faucet) price of $155, so GAC should be much less. And if you're going to use GAC it would be better to install it on the main line (whole house filtration) rather than the kitchen sink only (its the same type GAC cartridge! with a larger in/outlet housing!).