Dirt cheap RODI systems on ebay?

[BioCube14]

I saw a 6 stage for $60! As well as several others with them being no more than $140 what is the deal with these? Anyone using them? They seem to have good feedback

[glennr1978]

I use the "water general" unit from filtersdirect. I think I paid about $150 for it shipped to my door. I have 0 complaints.

[alton]

We have the greatest suppliers of RO systems here on MAAST, why go any where else?

[ACE]

Might want to be careful about the "feedback" shown on a item description page on E-bay; might not be genuine. I agree with Alton, you will not get the treatment from E-bay sellers that Russ@ Buckeye will give you, he's a class act. he'll guide you through all connections needed etc. His prices are very reasonable as well.

[Robb_in_Austin]

+1 on the Buckeye setup. It's the best deal out there as far as I am concerned.

[BioCube14]

true im sure buckeye is a great place to buy a rodi but due to money im wondering if i can get somewhat of the same quality for cheaper to get a 6 stage between 60-150 on ebay with everything included is hard to beat. Anyone have any bad experience with the ebay units?

[tony]

there have been many threads on this subject in the past

the consensus seems to be that they are cheaper quality all around and not worth the money

caveat emptor

[Bill S]

Like I've said, I have 1.5 units of the "cheap ones". The other half is what's left of a TOTAL piece of junk from Coralife. The ebay ones are far superior to the Coralife ones.

That being said, I'm constantly fighting TDS issues. I'm about to buy one from Russ. Then I'll post my old one for sale here...

Oh yeah - the other thing about Russ from Buckeye - he helps EVERYONE, no matter where they bought their unit. Great guy.

[BigKGlen]

I have a Typhoon 5 from Air Water & Ice. Great unit. My TDS out of the tap runs between 620 and 680, the TDS on the output gets no higher than 6.
With quality, you get quality.

[Robb_in_Austin]

I wonder if one bought an Ebay unit and then swapped the membrane from a quality supplier if the end result would be the same. (The cost would probably be equal to just buying a quality unit to begin with though.)

All of the housings look to be the same, there are exceptions, so it seems that customer service and membrane quality are the missing pieces from the Ebay units.

All that said, I have seen a few posts on RC about people having good luck with the Ebay units. Zero TDS is zero TDS no matter which unit you go with.

But, buy from Russ. We have to support our sponsors. :)

[Bill S]

The Zero TDS only lasts for a little while, it seems! I've emailed Russ about a "group order".

[BioCube14]

Air Water & Ice I hear is really good

[BioCube14]

Lets do a group order guys! Maybe russ can give us a deal

[tony]

All of the housings look to be the same,


one of the bigger problems ive heard with ebay units is cheaper housings and leaking/cracking over time

[LoneStar]

Oh yeah - the other thing about Russ from Buckeye - he helps EVERYONE, no matter where they bought their unit. Great guy.

Ditto that! :thumbs_up:

[abe77901]

I agree with tony...caveat emptor...buyer beware!!
or good things aren't cheap, cheap things aren't good!!!!
Just my .02 cents

[SoLiD]

It's all pretty much in the RO membrane you get. Most of the cheap membranes have a 90% rejection rate which is just good for drinking water, but not our reef tanks. An RO membrane that has a 97.9% rejection rate or better is optimal. That will really bring your TDS down. http://smileyjungle.com/smilies/disdain29.gif

[LoneStar]

I had a Ebay RO/DI unit (Devenob or something like that). It worked OK but not GREAT. The housing were built very good. The only thing that was cheap was the drain valve, the DI chamber (too small and ran horizontally, not vertically) and the membrane was really cheap.

You can get one and replace the bad items...but once you do your almost at the cost of a unit from Buckeye or AWI. I'd just go with a proven system for a few bucks more.