For those worried about loss of support or limited flavorings - you can always just dispense the carbonated water and add your own flavoring after the fact, then stir them in like he did for the first test. That's what I'd usually do with my soda stream after I got tired of their sugary syrups and other flavorings they offered. I'd add a single serving of crystal light or some other powdered drink mix to my carbonated water and that would give me endless drink flavors and possibilities. The Jolly Rancher drink packets are extremely flavorful, and the A&W root beer drink packets make it taste exactly like a glass of A&W root beer. I never tried the flavored liquid water drops, but I bet you could add those as well.
also it looks like the pods just hold the flavor, if so then it would be possible to refill them, and not need to get new pods. it would take some tinkering to find the best way to fill them and what concentration to make your new stuff at so it matches what the machine is expecting. but I think that would be possible. might be handy in cases where you got kids or other situations where manually measuring the stuff out isn't an option, but also getting new pods isn't.
Personally, I'd rather just go with the Drinkmate carbonator. You can carbonate any beverage you want. I've carbonated wine, milk, juices, etc., and It works perfectly.
I love the concept of these machines but at the same time I greatly fear the loss of support once the product is dropped and out of production alongside the flavors. The flavor selection is also huge as this thing would need to either pump out good quality sodas or energy drinks for me to be able to justify the cost and the rather long ROI.
It's a Shark/Ninja. I don't see it being discontinued outside of a new model, and even then, Shark/Ninja is very consumer friendly. They use a lot of the same parts between model generations, especially if it's a consumable part
I made a longer post breaking down the numbers, but it's not a good ROI when matched up against the price of sodas/flavored waters. Just the refills will cost your $0.71 per drink.
You can get a machine that doesn't connect to the power supply, then you just need the CO2 containers which are standardised as well. That's what I have and it's way more compact and convenient compared to an electronic machine. Also, these CO2 canisters are HEAVY, please take them to refill/exchange (there are loads of retailers offering this) and don't just throw them out!
To be consistent, you should have done all three sizes first without ice. And it would not hurt to add the ice afterwards, so there is no guesswork whether the contents of the glass might overflow.
Also it appears that it dispenses water first, then flavouring, then washes it through with more water. Which theoretically would stir it, the ice will not help that.
so relaxing to see someone spend the time and effort to look up interesting stuff, unbox them for us, read the manual and give their opinion. I wouldn't have known or tried most of this stuff. Keep it up, sir!
I actually just bought the Drinkmate Omnifizz, where you can carbonate any beverage. I've tried OJ, grapefuit juice, and even cranberry juice and it does a great job! And way cheaper too! :-)
For those asking about the canister, the CO2 canister is the exact same size as the Sodastream. Some reviewers have noted the sizes and indicated it's the same.
I'm wondering if it has the same thread, because you can buy an adapter that allows you to use a 5 lb CO2 tank that refills for the same price as the small SodaStream ones.
Yeah how long will “Ninja” brand will keep producing these proprietary refills? If you remember when James did the water bottle with the flavor refills and was discontinued after about a year, so the water bottle was completely useless.
I was thinking of buying, but now I won’t. $180 + $35 for the Co2 canister, plus the flavours is way too much for a soft drink. The canister is only good for 100 drinks. That is four cases of pop. Good review. Thanks for helping me with my decision.
On the CO2 lasting 100 drinks, that is also likely dependant on both the size of the drink made (6oz/12oz/18oz/32oz) PLUS the fizz level. I mean, I doubt the cannister will make 100 of the largest drinks, at the highest fizz level. Plus, with how it seems to 'Laurel the carbonated water, flavor, carbonated water,, you looze *some* CO2 when you stir, to mix it together so you don't get hit with straight carbonated/soda water. It seems to just be a variant of the sodastream, with different flavor options, that you out into a cup as opposed to directly into a bottle. IT mixes the flavors for you, while the SS *you* flavor it manually. N-? Drops of *this*, x-* drops of /that/, add water, choose carbonation level (hope it doesn't spurt out afterwards)
I saw 12 packs of soda the other day at Kroger for $10 for 12ok of 12oz cans. That was shocking to me, and I have notice a steady rise is cost of sodas at the store for several years now. That really got me thinking about SodaStream and the Ninja Thirsti as a cheaper alternative to buying soda the old way. Here is my two cents . . . what I REALLY like about the Ninja Thirsti over the other carbonator machines is that it dispenses directly into the glass. I have tried sodastream before, but you always have to use a bottle attached to the machine. Then you have to keep those bottles clean. I nave not seen anyone else comment on this aspect. Anyone else feel the same way? Thanks for the great review! Keep up the good work. Oh, one more thing. I just saw that Walmart is now selling these for $140 USD. That might make the math work better now that it is much cheaper. 🤷♂
Yeah the soda stream is a pain in the a*s I got rid of mine after a year and moved to a different brand that cost more at start but was cheaper overall
Here in Finland you can replace the CO2 cans in many big stores, and the price can be as low as 2.99 euros (~$3) a pop. So making your own carbonated water costs virtually nothing. But I believe it is also possible to obtain a bigger CO2 canister (meant for other purposes), and refill the the Sodastream canisters yourself with an adapter.
@@fabianweber6937In Finland it's anything between 3-10 euros. Brand new canisters can cost 20 euros or so. A discount store called "Rusta" often has the 2.99 euro deal, so why pay more...
I love Ninja products. I added this to my collection and love it! I bought a couple of soda stream syrups for when I want a cola, I love how easy it is, and you can make a 6oz serving if you want. Nothing to store in the fridge. No more carrying cases of soda from the store. I’m still trying the different flavors, then I will subscribe to my favorites for the discount . Since they are only good for a month after opening, I’m limiting my self to five flavors open at a time.
I will definitely be buying one of these! My favorite drinks are the Clear American from Walmart (also available on Amazon) and how awesome would this be when you don’t want to go to the store or have like a small party or family bbq?!?! Just put out all of the flavors and let everyone just make their own drinks. I love this item (but not a fan of the unit price). I am, however, grateful for how cheap the rest of the refillable items. With the price hike on soda’s, this will be a welcome addition to my household. Thank you so much for reviewing this! I had NO idea this thing even existed until your review!
70 cents per 6 oz drink. $1.40 for a reasonable size drink of 12 ounces. And that’s at lowest levels of both. Boldest and highest fizz would be what? Double even that. So $2.80 for that combination. And it’s still only 12 ounces. Plus you have to buy the machine. And wait for shipping and spend time making each drink. That’s a hard no for me. This thing is ridiculous.
@@JP-iz7sx Cold water will absorb more carbonation. Warm water would give you fewer bubbles out of the dispenser, which cooling it in the glass won't fix.
@@ae1582 Also, keep in mind that water temperature impacts the amount of sweetener that's needed. It's part of why warm soda tends to taste so disgusting to most people.
If I use room temp water with my soda steam I get a bad tasting drink with barely any carbonation. Adding ice helps a little with the flavor. But it’s not really fizzy.
A hacked sodastream is pretty amazing and super cheap to maintain too. While I love ninja products, I think this is just one more proprietary item to enter the drink market when it doesn't need to be like that. They make their money on the co2 and flavor pods, just as sodastream does. I have 2 hacked soda streams, both with 5lb co2 bottles and conversion hoses, I use all thrift store sodastream bottles (low cost, abundant supply) and then cheap store brand sugar free flavor and/or energy drops, or even the single serve sugar free drink mix packets. Your initial cost is that co2 tank, but after that, its super cheap to maintain it and buy flavors for it.
@@RS-fg5mf The tank I got from my local AirGas store, you can pick them up empty online, and have a local place fill them too. The conversion hose I got from Amzon.
@@Speakingnonverbalthe difference is its been altered to accept a refillable CO² canister and refillable syrup packs. Same as a hacked refillable ink cartridge.
My question is how easy is it to clean? With the carbonated water and sweetener shooting into that small compartment before it comes out does that come out to clean? Thanks for the review 👍🏽
I think if this goes on sale it could be a pretty good little thing. Nice that they offer some with or without sugar too. Gonna keep an eye out, thank you for another great review!
I got a sparkel last year so we could save money on fizzy water. It's amazing, since it uses dry ingredients to make the carbonation you can put whatever you want in it. Love it.
@@christopherwilliams8734 I keep it at a 3 which is about as fizzy as Lacroix. the 5th setting gets it to seltzer or higher. I don't really care for that much fizz so it's hard to compare but it's pretty fizzy.
Just unpacked ours and tried for the first time. Wow, this machine is pretty awesome! All the flavors are so tasty and refreshing. Setup was a breeze and Ninja did a great job of making the machine easy to operate. We bought this to help kick our soda habit and I think it's a great alternative. We purchased it direct from Ninja, the holiday discounts made the purchase more enticing. So glad we saw your @Freakin' Reviews video. The unit comes with a 60-day money back guarantee, but I think we are keeping this unit. As for the cost, yes, the cost is higher than drinking soda, but given the variety of flavors, ease of use and a much healthier option, we think it's worth it.
Basic, bar napkin math tells me that I'd have to make ~225 drinks before I could get the average cost per drink below $1.50 (Cost of machine + operating cost). I know I'd lose interest long before I reached that number. So, thank you for the break down and saving me finding out the hard way!
seems like it's a glorified sodastream, except those are much cheaper. i think i paid maybe 60 for my sodastream on sale. this video kinda inspired me to take it back out lol. i'm a highly soda addicted person, so i quickly discovered the sodestream sodas are nothing as good as like a real pepsi, and put it away. however i need to cut out soda so just carbonated water with some flavorings is what i'd like to explore now. one difference i'm guessing the higher price buys you is more carbonation. sodastreams dont provide a super high carbonation level imo.
One drawback I didn't hear is that you have to buy their drops. Compared to for example a soda stream that works with any flavouring you want. I doubt this will be popular enough to get other brands of compatible flavouring. Worse might be if ninja discontinues the product and stops selling drops for these.
I’m guessing this is very new. If it does well, there could be other manufacturers putting in their own. Soda stream has been around for a very long time. I remember when I bought the 1st gen version, it was only flavors that soda stream was offering. So who knows what the future holds
I use the Drinkmate, which can carbonate pretty much anything. It is able to use certain Sodastream CO2 cannisters, I presume the Ninja is the same. Just matters what the thread type is.
If it will actually use a Soda Stream tank you can cut your costs but buying the equipment and a 5 pound or larger C02 tank and refilling the tank yourself. The initial cost for the connection and filled 5 pound C02 tank was around $160. It costs me $37 to exchange the empty 5 pound tank for a full one.
This would be great if they could bring the cost of the machine and the refills down quite a bit. 70c per drink isn't really much of a savings for all the extra hassle, when you can get a 44oz drink at Sam's Club or Mcdonalds for 80c-$1. So maybe it would be a good value if there is ever a 3rd party company that makes refills for way cheaper.
Love the video. “Mr. Freakin’ Reviews” is very easy to listen to. I have a bunch of Ninja products as well. After this review, I am going to purchase the Thirsti. Thank you!
Impressive how quickly you’ve been putting out videos, btw. Love it. I find the canisters being pretty pricey if youre someone who just cannot get enough of fizzy drinks. Maybe its not too crazy but it just feeels like a lot.
It's a neat idea, certainly a novelty than a must have, but still neat with all its features and the automation. At first I was concerned about support long term but the CO2 canisters are fairly common and standard (I use a similar one for a club soda maker) and you should probably hang onto the spent flavor canisters and reuse them with your own drops/flavor additives
You convinced me on buying the other types of soda machine that dispense the C02 gas into a glass already filled. For this youd need to be filling, throwing out the water and refilling the water resevoir. I like the idea of storing bottles of water in the fridge and then just using the machine to make it sparkling.
As someone that owns one of these systems here's what I can tell you, Amazon sells an adapter and hose that connects the ninja to an external CO2 tank. If you go to your local retailer and get a tank (I use a 5lb tank), you can refill it for about $10 with good grade CO2. One tank lasts us about 6 months, and we make at least 2ltr of carbonated drinks daily. That makes the CO2 definitely worth it, these syrups though.. that's what'll make you grit your teeth at the register when you're swiping them for $7 or $8 EACH. The packaging says about 20 beverages, but I can assure you, you won't get that many drinks from any of them. Realistically you'll get 9 - 12 depending on how light you set the flavor. I don't currently know of a drink packet hack (refillable cartridges, generic versions, etc..), so what we do is buy the flavored packs that come 8 in a box and are less than $1 at our local Neighborhood Market. It's not as good as a soda when you want one, but it's an efficient and cheap method for carbonated water over ice. If you would just rather have soda, buy the 12 packs on sale (or generic). It'll take a very long time to break even on cost just using this the way it comes right outta the box.
@@handythor Yes, Walmart Neighborhood Market. I forget the Walmart part when I'm talking about it sometimes, everyone here just refers to it as Neighborhood Market because we don't have real "neighborhood" markets around our area. Those flavor packs come in dozens of different flavors, and the Walmart brand are super cheap and still taste delicious (or some of them do, there's a lemonade flavor that is so bad lol).
I have the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill and Smoker and love it. I would be interested to see your opinion on it as well as maybe spreading awareness to how amazing it is.
The problem with these things, is if your local water tastes bad, it tastes REALLY bad after being carbonated. I got okay results by filling a pot with water and letting it outgas overnight, then running it through a Brita type filter. But that's a lot of work for carbonated water, especially considering the cost of the CO2 tanks. I hear you can get an adaptor for refillable tank like for paintball or welding gas, but haven't personally used such a setup.
I like my Sodastream unit. 60L CO2 cartridge. I keep the .89L bottles filled with Brita-filtered-water and then carbonate them when I want a seltzer water. I then use Crystal Light lemonade powder to flavor the seltzer. The machine has 3 buttons for 5, 6, or 7 squirts of CO2. I get about 50 bottles from a single CO2 cartridge, using the 5 squirt option. I've had it since 2019. And after you've used a cartridge you exchange them. You order a new supply (using the exchange function) from Sodastream and then you ship back the empties (you go to the USPS) . Actually, it pays to buy at least 2 cartridges and then do the exchange for the 2. They include a postage-paid return label.
I'd really like something like this but not for $180 bucks plus having to replace the co2 canister and the drops. I just couldn't do it. Since I love high carbonation (my favorite sparkling water is Topo Chico) I'd need replacements often. And I don't have the funds for that sort of thing. Thanks for the honest review as usual James.😊
What I'd be interested in knowing is the price per oz. If it turns out to be way cheaper than buying soda, it would eventually pay for itself. If it's the same or more expensive, then what's the point?
I'm surprised you didn't cover what it's like to clean the unit afterwards. Looks like it could be a pain to clean the whole thing. Does this thing support any kind of syrup drinks such as coke?
Great review. I came in a little lower on my average cost per use with taking advantage of all the subscribe and save benefits, etc...I also bought some Sodastream flavors to use and had excellent results.
Are you saying you used Sodastream flavors in this Ninja Thirsti? I have no experience with the Sodastream so I have no reference as far as size, shape, etc. I suspect that Sodastream would have more flavors since it's been around much longer.
@@zendasmom Not to promote my channel on James’s channel but I reviewed this product as well. Yes, I used Pepsi and Starry and I just dropped them into the plain carbonated water.
I have the Thirsti Max and I only bought it because I paid $130 for it. Taste is subjective, but in my opinion the Ninja Thirsti water drop flavors are just average at best. The whole point of this machine is to explore many flavors at the touch of a button. But if you have to seek other options to flavor your water then all you have is a high tech sodastream. If you drink a lot of soda and you think this machine will help you ditch the cans, you’d be wrong. Cans can often be purchased on sale and when you buy Pepsi or Coke you know that it’s going to taste great each and every time with good carbonation. With the Ninja Thirsti, to get a really nice crispy carbonated soda you need really cold water each and every time. You’re currently limited to Cola, Orange, Rootbeer, Dr. Thirsti, Lemon Lime & Mt. Thirsti all zero sugar. Moreover, some of these flavors are always out of stock or not sold in stores yet, and if you purchase directly from Ninja shipping can be extra. So really you don’t save a whole lot of money and you’re sacrificing taste as well. I have Dr. Thirsti and it’s pretty good, but the Cola is not. It tastes like off brand Diet Pepsi but worse. Overall, I do enjoy my Ninja Thirsti to make flavored water but it’s more work than you think. Each time I want to make soda I have to get my water tank out the fridge, add ice, shake the ice around to make the water as cold as possible. Choose my settings and start. It’s really a lot of work as opposed to just grabbing a can like I’d normally do.
Looks to me sometimes when you do more than 6oz, for example 12oz. It adds flavors for both cycles and sometimes it only did it on the first cycle. That's why some of them were all CO2 water at the top.
It seemed that the second side never shot out flavor, which it seems it should have done on the second fill. Which is why you don’t get two flavors on the 6oz.
Uh. I see a major issue with this machine. looks like there is a small tank which holds the liquid before it drips down. I worry about residue left in there. I would also worry about the possibility of mold growing in there over time.
My grandparents had an old coke fountain drink machine hooked up in their garage when I was a kid.. It was weird, it didn't use bags of syrup.. The syrup came in big stainless steel canisters that kind of looked like oxygen tanks with flat tops.. The coke truck used to stop by once a month and swap the empty canisters with new ones.. My grandparents owned a company that supplied C02 to restaurants and bars for their beer taps and fountain drink machines.. I don't know if they just had a hook up with coke because of their business or if anyone can just buy a fountain drink machine for their house and open an account with Coke.. That's always something I've wondered about.. I need to research that and find out..
basically, an amped up Soda Stream, so if you liked that you might like this as well, would like to know how hard or easy it would be to re-fill the flavor containers if it is possible, since that was always a good thing with the soda stream where you could add your own juice or flavor and carbonate it,
The commentary on it needing to be "ice cold" is a preference. I used to stuff my drinks with ice until a mother-son road trip where we ended up drinking everything room temp for a couple of weeks. Neither of us ever went back to "ice cold". Either way I would suggest no ice in the glass when dispensing, add after. It would have been better if you could just press & hold the button for however long needed to fill your glass, rather than guessing the proper size, like the Bevi Station (commercial supplier), but there may be flavor-mixing issues with that. Strong contender overall. Nice review.
I like how you really get into the Item/gadget you are reviewing and your initial opinion of it. It does look good, but I have a Soda Stream, which I must say the flavours are not great. I might considering getting this, when released in the UK, but will depend on price and flavours available.
I love my SodaStream but I gave up on their flavors long ago. I use real Coke syrup, and those drink enhancers you find in stores to flavor mine. You've not lived until you've carbonated koolaid and gatorade :D
I just ordered my Ninja Thirsti Black Friday sale got it $120 with coupon. I am super excited! I got it so the kids can drink more water with flavor so we don’t have to purchase high price drinks.
I really like Ninja products, they always seem to hit the perfect price/compromise ratio. I use my foodi for pretty much everything that isn't boiling water. This is one product though that I would not buy, that price is pretty is not what I've come to expect from Ninja. That said, Ninja stuff always goes on super sales for like half price, so for $100, this would be great as I drink a ton of sparkling water. I wonder if you could reuse the flavor pods and fill them with your own stuff?
@@kiwisoupthe Creami is great, but it definitely has a place and I can see why many don't think it would fit their lifestyle/line of kitchen gadgets. Especially if you already have an ice cream maker
I just got a ninja thirsti just yesterday and it works perfectly and it makes pretty tasty drinks plus it is pretty easy to use and it is also safer for the environment then the bottle drinks that you buy from the store
This reminds me of Big Clive's videos where he carbonates various drinks using his high pressure hand-held carbonator, sometimes with pleasing, and sometimes with devastating results, depending on the solubility of the beverage. It makes sense that the machine you are reviewing has different levels of carbonation 👍
its not a handheld carbonator, it is a countertop drink carbonator called Soda-Stream. Big Clive just has pretty big hands so in his hands the soda stream dispenser looks small and handheld lol i've had a soda stream dispenser for over 20 years (got it sometime in 2003 or 2004) and that thing is still carbonating drinks to this day, the best 50$ i've ever spent i'd say.
I bought this unit about 6 months ago. Big fan. I drank carbonated bottled water for years. Moved out to the country and cannot get carbonated water easily. And the bottles have doubled in price. I subscribe to a bottle refill service. I love this unit. Highly recommend. I drink about 2/3 gallon of water a day. A 2 pack of refill co2 last for about 5-6 weeks.
If you were saving time or saving money it might be a viable option but since you aren’t saving either I have no idea why someone would pay $180 for the Easy Bake Oven equivalent of a soda machine.
Too much hassle. When I was a kid (back in prehistoric times), I had a friend who had a seltzer water bottle at her house and we'd put the seltzer water in a glass and then we could pick from many pump bottles of different flavored syrups. I always liked pineapple orange. It made great drinks for kids. Sometimes simple is better.
I looked around at your videos and couldn't find your review on the Ninja Express Chopper. After watching your review, I went and bought one! I have bearded dragons and they need their veggies chopped up and this little chopper gets things done FAST and perfect! I also use it on my own things, like ham salad and onions, etc., but it's a beast! So easy to use and clean! If you could find & reply with your review, I'd love to watch it again. Thanks for testing this stuff and saving us the money & trouble! And if you haven't (that I've seen) Test the Ninja Auto IQ blender! It's a beast! I love Ninja products!
I really love your reviews and your excellent on how the products go. I'm sorta interested in the soda machine but my wife can't have any drinks with "bubbles" because she had a stomach operation years ago and also too cold drink gives her extreme pain. Thank you for the review ❤😊
I mean...I get what it's trying to do...but it has the same problem with all appliances that carbonate water and add in some syrup: why can't I just buy seltzer and mix in some syrup (and even decant the "fancier" syrups from Foodi or wherever) and make an Italian soda? And save like $170 comparatively (which I'm not sure I need to pay for the ability to mildly adjust how fizzy the end result is).
The idea is not having to buy bottled seltzer and just making it at home from tap water. I use a carbonation device like sodastream, but it doesn't add any syrup. I can just add that on my own if I want to. $170 is too expensive though. Mine was like $60.
This is basically a Soda Stream except they are trying to get you locked into their flavors too. You could probably refill the syrups with other brands, like Miio or generics to save money.
I feel like it’s good for someone that hosts allot of parties and such! Because then you have the fun gimmick of mixing drinks! But honestly for me I rather get the 12 pack of cans and they go on sale allot!
The only thing i would say about all these machines is that you buy the gas canister's and flavours and all the machine does is take the measured syrup dose and make soda water and dispense it. Not sure about the usa but in the uk soda water is extremely cheap and the amount you pay for the gas canister is more that it costs to just buy bottled soda water then add the syrup of your choice...much cheaper and will taste just as good
Yeah, it's cool, but still costs more than an average 12oz can of soda until you've paid off the unit and I just don't drink enough soda to justify the $190 price tag and possible savings years down the road.
Reminds me of the soda stream I had years ago . The flavours were nothing like the taste they tried to mimic eg coke . Like the look, interesting flavour combinations 💯🤙
I supper appreciate and like the review, almost to the point where I would consider getting one. The down side for me would be similar to a Keurig "The waste" if the pods were refillable and they sold just the syrup that would make it more desirable along with the Co2 canisters. Also not sure what the connection looks like for the C02. If the connector for the Co2 was standard I would be able to use my own canister the one I purchased to carbonize my home brew. Which I refill at Praxair for a lot less than what they are charging. My opinion, to much of a money grab for a great idea.
We have the Spärkel carbonator which I use only as backup because it's a bit too slow/involved for my taste. 😂 My fav drinks are cheap Winn-Dixie- or Target- brands cans of sparkling water (around 40c each) which I mix with a spoon together with: shaved ice syrups, fruity pancake syrups, apple juice (amazing), cheap cartons of guava/mango juice, smoothies, emergency fruit jam mixed with boiling water then flash cooled in freezer for 10 mins, emergency heated real fruit mixed with corn syrup, etc. I do the same for sweetening gentle/lite beer as I don't enjoy even slightly bitter beer...
There is an unofficial 3rd party CO2 adapter that allows more standard size canisters to be used. However some can cause stress damage if the pressure is to high and of course void's the units warranty.
I’m looking at this from a water quality standpoint as I have a water purifier. So, even if it’s not cheaper than the carbonated waters I normally buy, the water will be healthier. Thank you for this great review!
This is about your review of popcorn poppers, which happened two years ago, but I'm putting my comment here so that you will see it. The best popper I have ever used is a a large pot, either Calphalon or stainless steel with an aluminum bottom. (They are quite heavy.) You put the oil and the popcorn in, put on the lid, turn on the heat, and wait for the popping to stop. You don't need to shake the pot.
Would it still work, if you didn't put the flavour pods? So you could add other sirups or flavours... What is the biggest size (want to see it, not hear it in ouces). It seems like a very high price for what it does. How does the price compare to a SodaStream where you are? And the gas cannisters? How about a comparison of the 2?
Please test out the ninja coffee machine. I would like your reaction. I absolutely love mine. Mine can make a full pot or just a cup and can do grounds or pods. Lots of stuff.
Not trying to knock the people who use the product, but you can get like 5 two liter bottles of club soda for like 5 bucks and squirt your own flavors into a glass with it.
I looked at getting this but I'm not a fan of the proprietary flavor pods. Eventually they'll phase out. In the end I got the Sodastream based on simplicity and price & could use any numerous flavorings out there
You're essentially making pop at home. I gave up pop many years ago. So, this product wouldn't be for me. But I can vouch for Ninja products. We've been using our Ninja air fryer for several years now, and it's still like new. And it also uses that exact same chime sound.
I purchased my Ninja Thirsti from Costco for $69.97 (phase-out) with 12 flavor packs. I ended up purchasing three machines because it was less expensive than buying the CO2 cartridges and flavor packs separately. Thanks for the excellent review!
So is this better than a SodaStream or is it cheaper? The SodaStream Sprit that I have is definitely smaller. Definitely more option's than the Sprit, I think the sprit is just meant for sparking water.
My friend has one and he likes it - I have the old soda stream but I don't like the taste of their flavors. I'm wondering, the Thristi canister looks just like the soda stream canister, and maybe stream canister may work on the thirsti?
I just opened mine up today and made a fizzy drink,it was pretty good,I think it was worth the money,but you do have think you have buy the canisters and the fruit drops,so to maintain it ,it's going costs a little more, it beats buying sodas all the time.
For those worried about loss of support or limited flavorings - you can always just dispense the carbonated water and add your own flavoring after the fact, then stir them in like he did for the first test. That's what I'd usually do with my soda stream after I got tired of their sugary syrups and other flavorings they offered. I'd add a single serving of crystal light or some other powdered drink mix to my carbonated water and that would give me endless drink flavors and possibilities. The Jolly Rancher drink packets are extremely flavorful, and the A&W root beer drink packets make it taste exactly like a glass of A&W root beer. I never tried the flavored liquid water drops, but I bet you could add those as well.
thank you, thats exactly what i thought
Except the fact that their CO2 canister is proprietary, I agree
also it looks like the pods just hold the flavor, if so then it would be possible to refill them, and not need to get new pods.
it would take some tinkering to find the best way to fill them and what concentration to make your new stuff at so it matches what the machine is expecting. but I think that would be possible. might be handy in cases where you got kids or other situations where manually measuring the stuff out isn't an option, but also getting new pods isn't.
Personally, I'd rather just go with the Drinkmate carbonator. You can carbonate any beverage you want. I've carbonated wine, milk, juices, etc., and It works perfectly.
just buy carbonated water at the store ... no need for a machine...
I love the concept of these machines but at the same time I greatly fear the loss of support once the product is dropped and out of production alongside the flavors. The flavor selection is also huge as this thing would need to either pump out good quality sodas or energy drinks for me to be able to justify the cost and the rather long ROI.
It's a Shark/Ninja. I don't see it being discontinued outside of a new model, and even then, Shark/Ninja is very consumer friendly. They use a lot of the same parts between model generations, especially if it's a consumable part
Still want to see Fizzy beef gravy
But would definitely fill the tank with Vodka tonic
I made a longer post breaking down the numbers, but it's not a good ROI when matched up against the price of sodas/flavored waters. Just the refills will cost your $0.71 per drink.
Just get Míos and some sparkling water 🤷🏻♀️
You can get a machine that doesn't connect to the power supply, then you just need the CO2 containers which are standardised as well. That's what I have and it's way more compact and convenient compared to an electronic machine. Also, these CO2 canisters are HEAVY, please take them to refill/exchange (there are loads of retailers offering this) and don't just throw them out!
"I may need to use a bigger glass next time!" *continues to use same size glass XD
🤣🤣
With loads of ice.
With a f*ck ton of ice. 🙄
With even more ice....
70% of glass is ice lol.
To be consistent, you should have done all three sizes first without ice. And it would not hurt to add the ice afterwards, so there is no guesswork whether the contents of the glass might overflow.
Also it appears that it dispenses water first, then flavouring, then washes it through with more water. Which theoretically would stir it, the ice will not help that.
Good point about the ice 🧊
Yeah, and getting a bigger glass then using more ice also probably didn’t help.
James loves ice too much.
Mixing the flavors would be easier, too.
so relaxing to see someone spend the time and effort to look up interesting stuff, unbox them for us, read the manual and give their opinion. I wouldn't have known or tried most of this stuff. Keep it up, sir!
I actually just bought the Drinkmate Omnifizz, where you can carbonate any beverage. I've tried OJ, grapefuit juice, and even cranberry juice and it does a great job! And way cheaper too! :-)
Drinkmate is the way to go! A versatile machine. I have mine attached to a 5lb external CO2 tank.
Same. Started with SodaStream and DrinkMate is better in every way except maybe looks. Can carbonate anything and no messes like I had before.
Would be a great suggestions for James to review...
Even compared to SodaStream?
According to information on the Sodastream, you can only carbonate water, whereas with the Drinkmate, you can carbonate any liquid. @@Clay3613
I don't know why, but watching the drink get mixed in the chamber above the spout and then flow out of it makes my brain happy
Me, too! 😃
For those asking about the canister, the CO2 canister is the exact same size as the Sodastream. Some reviewers have noted the sizes and indicated it's the same.
I saw on the canister box it’s actually a soda stream registered one
I'm wondering if the thread is the same. I have a paintball CO2 adapter in my Sodastream which makes refills cost $2
@@MyParrotIsGrassType where we can refill CO2 ?
Which should also fit the Omnifizz too
I'm wondering if it has the same thread, because you can buy an adapter that allows you to use a 5 lb CO2 tank that refills for the same price as the small SodaStream ones.
Doesn't seem worth $180... Plus proprietary refills leaves you at the mercy of the manufacturer.
I had a soda stream and bought an adapter to accommodate a larger tank I could refill myself at a shop that refills tanks
Yeah how long will “Ninja” brand will keep producing these proprietary refills? If you remember when James did the water bottle with the flavor refills and was discontinued after about a year, so the water bottle was completely useless.
The refills aren’t proprietary
I was thinking of buying, but now I won’t. $180 + $35 for the Co2 canister, plus the flavours is way too much for a soft drink. The canister is only good for 100 drinks. That is four cases of pop. Good review. Thanks for helping me with my decision.
On the CO2 lasting 100 drinks, that is also likely dependant on both the size of the drink made (6oz/12oz/18oz/32oz) PLUS the fizz level.
I mean, I doubt the cannister will make 100 of the largest drinks, at the highest fizz level.
Plus, with how it seems to 'Laurel the carbonated water, flavor, carbonated water,, you looze *some* CO2 when you stir, to mix it together so you don't get hit with straight carbonated/soda water.
It seems to just be a variant of the sodastream, with different flavor options, that you out into a cup as opposed to directly into a bottle. IT mixes the flavors for you, while the SS *you* flavor it manually. N-? Drops of *this*, x-* drops of /that/, add water, choose carbonation level (hope it doesn't spurt out afterwards)
I saw 12 packs of soda the other day at Kroger for $10 for 12ok of 12oz cans. That was shocking to me, and I have notice a steady rise is cost of sodas at the store for several years now. That really got me thinking about SodaStream and the Ninja Thirsti as a cheaper alternative to buying soda the old way.
Here is my two cents . . . what I REALLY like about the Ninja Thirsti over the other carbonator machines is that it dispenses directly into the glass. I have tried sodastream before, but you always have to use a bottle attached to the machine. Then you have to keep those bottles clean. I nave not seen anyone else comment on this aspect. Anyone else feel the same way?
Thanks for the great review! Keep up the good work.
Oh, one more thing. I just saw that Walmart is now selling these for $140 USD. That might make the math work better now that it is much cheaper.
🤷♂
I agree. Pop has gone up tremendously. I have a 64 ounce water bottle and use flavor mix ins
Yeah the soda stream is a pain in the a*s
I got rid of mine after a year and moved to a different brand that cost more at start but was cheaper overall
Here in Finland you can replace the CO2 cans in many big stores, and the price can be as low as 2.99 euros (~$3) a pop. So making your own carbonated water costs virtually nothing. But I believe it is also possible to obtain a bigger CO2 canister (meant for other purposes), and refill the the Sodastream canisters yourself with an adapter.
Weirdly one of the purposes for those bigger CO2 canisters is aquariums (boosts plant growth), so can sometimes be gotten at aquarium stores tmk
Wow. I can replace my CO2 canisters for around $15 at target. Wonder if i could find somewhere cheaper.
In Germany it's around 5€ if you exchange your old one if not it's +14€ Pfand
@@fabianweber6937In Finland it's anything between 3-10 euros. Brand new canisters can cost 20 euros or so. A discount store called "Rusta" often has the 2.99 euro deal, so why pay more...
I love Ninja products. I added this to my collection and love it! I bought a couple of soda stream syrups for when I want a cola, I love how easy it is, and you can make a 6oz serving if you want. Nothing to store in the fridge. No more carrying cases of soda from the store.
I’m still trying the different flavors, then I will subscribe to my favorites for the discount . Since they are only good for a month after opening, I’m limiting my self to five flavors open at a time.
I will definitely be buying one of these! My favorite drinks are the Clear American from Walmart (also available on Amazon) and how awesome would this be when you don’t want to go to the store or have like a small party or family bbq?!?! Just put out all of the flavors and let everyone just make their own drinks. I love this item (but not a fan of the unit price). I am, however, grateful for how cheap the rest of the refillable items. With the price hike on soda’s, this will be a welcome addition to my household. Thank you so much for reviewing this! I had NO idea this thing even existed until your review!
At $.70 per drink, plus the initial cost of the device, buying soda at the grocery store is much cheaper, and you can keep it in the fridge.
70 cents per 6 oz drink. $1.40 for a reasonable size drink of 12 ounces. And that’s at lowest levels of both. Boldest and highest fizz would be what? Double even that. So $2.80 for that combination. And it’s still only 12 ounces. Plus you have to buy the machine. And wait for shipping and spend time making each drink. That’s a hard no for me. This thing is ridiculous.
Now when you put it that way...I see this machine discontinued in 3...2...1...
I'd imagine the water reservoir could be just always be stored in a fridge and pulled out whenever you use the machine
I want to know why it has to be cold water. If you use ice after you make the drink, that should make it cold. Just a thought.
@@JP-iz7sxkeeps it cold for longer and ice dilutes more if you use warm water
@@JP-iz7sx Cold water will absorb more carbonation. Warm water would give you fewer bubbles out of the dispenser, which cooling it in the glass won't fix.
@@ae1582 Also, keep in mind that water temperature impacts the amount of sweetener that's needed. It's part of why warm soda tends to taste so disgusting to most people.
If I use room temp water with my soda steam I get a bad tasting drink with barely any carbonation. Adding ice helps a little with the flavor. But it’s not really fizzy.
A hacked sodastream is pretty amazing and super cheap to maintain too. While I love ninja products, I think this is just one more proprietary item to enter the drink market when it doesn't need to be like that. They make their money on the co2 and flavor pods, just as sodastream does. I have 2 hacked soda streams, both with 5lb co2 bottles and conversion hoses, I use all thrift store sodastream bottles (low cost, abundant supply) and then cheap store brand sugar free flavor and/or energy drops, or even the single serve sugar free drink mix packets. Your initial cost is that co2 tank, but after that, its super cheap to maintain it and buy flavors for it.
Where did you get your 5lb co2 tank and the conversion hose??
@@RS-fg5mf The tank I got from my local AirGas store, you can pick them up empty online, and have a local place fill them too. The conversion hose I got from Amzon.
You can buy them at professional soda suppliers. It's the same tube it's just 5 lb
What is a hacked soda stream machine? what doe sit do differently?
@@Speakingnonverbalthe difference is its been altered to accept a refillable CO² canister and refillable syrup packs. Same as a hacked refillable ink cartridge.
Been hoping you would review this, I'm always a fan of Ninja products. Thanks!
Ninja kitchen products rarely disappoint!
My question is how easy is it to clean? With the carbonated water and sweetener shooting into that small compartment before it comes out does that come out to clean? Thanks for the review 👍🏽
I think if this goes on sale it could be a pretty good little thing. Nice that they offer some with or without sugar too. Gonna keep an eye out, thank you for another great review!
Is it just me or are you all thinking add VODKA.... I am so thinking about putting a shot of vodka in 1st then add the fizzy!
I got a sparkel last year so we could save money on fizzy water. It's amazing, since it uses dry ingredients to make the carbonation you can put whatever you want in it. Love it.
I like a strong sparkling water. How strong is the sparkel?
@@christopherwilliams8734 I keep it at a 3 which is about as fizzy as Lacroix. the 5th setting gets it to seltzer or higher. I don't really care for that much fizz so it's hard to compare but it's pretty fizzy.
Just unpacked ours and tried for the first time. Wow, this machine is pretty awesome! All the flavors are so tasty and refreshing. Setup was a breeze and Ninja did a great job of making the machine easy to operate. We bought this to help kick our soda habit and I think it's a great alternative. We purchased it direct from Ninja, the holiday discounts made the purchase more enticing. So glad we saw your @Freakin' Reviews video. The unit comes with a 60-day money back guarantee, but I think we are keeping this unit. As for the cost, yes, the cost is higher than drinking soda, but given the variety of flavors, ease of use and a much healthier option, we think it's worth it.
Basic, bar napkin math tells me that I'd have to make ~225 drinks before I could get the average cost per drink below $1.50 (Cost of machine + operating cost). I know I'd lose interest long before I reached that number. So, thank you for the break down and saving me finding out the hard way!
This alone makes it not even being close to worth it. God help you if it’s discontinued too.
seems like it's a glorified sodastream, except those are much cheaper. i think i paid maybe 60 for my sodastream on sale. this video kinda inspired me to take it back out lol.
i'm a highly soda addicted person, so i quickly discovered the sodestream sodas are nothing as good as like a real pepsi, and put it away. however i need to cut out soda so just carbonated water with some flavorings is what i'd like to explore now.
one difference i'm guessing the higher price buys you is more carbonation. sodastreams dont provide a super high carbonation level imo.
Club soda and flavoring would be cheaper.
@cryengine_x
You could do what I did and get into soda crafting~ it's now my hobby :p
One drawback I didn't hear is that you have to buy their drops. Compared to for example a soda stream that works with any flavouring you want. I doubt this will be popular enough to get other brands of compatible flavouring. Worse might be if ninja discontinues the product and stops selling drops for these.
I’m guessing this is very new. If it does well, there could be other manufacturers putting in their own. Soda stream has been around for a very long time. I remember when I bought the 1st gen version, it was only flavors that soda stream was offering. So who knows what the future holds
i mean you can always just do carbonated water and add your own flavouring after
@@jumpaxaat that point just buy a soda stream instead 🤷🏿♂️
@@h.Freeman But the soda stream doesn't work with their drops. This gives you the option to use the ninja drops or other flavors.
Agreed.
I use the Drinkmate, which can carbonate pretty much anything. It is able to use certain Sodastream CO2 cannisters, I presume the Ninja is the same. Just matters what the thread type is.
If it will actually use a Soda Stream tank you can cut your costs but buying the equipment and a 5 pound or larger C02 tank and refilling the tank yourself. The initial cost for the connection and filled 5 pound C02 tank was around $160. It costs me $37 to exchange the empty 5 pound tank for a full one.
Sodastream is changing to no thread connecting gas cans.Theyre fuzzy on when.
I think Drinkmate is superior to this. Mixing the flavors after the carbonation makes it lose some carbonation.
I'm looking forward to your year later review of this or 6 month to see how it holds up.
This would be great if they could bring the cost of the machine and the refills down quite a bit. 70c per drink isn't really much of a savings for all the extra hassle, when you can get a 44oz drink at Sam's Club or Mcdonalds for 80c-$1. So maybe it would be a good value if there is ever a 3rd party company that makes refills for way cheaper.
Love the video. “Mr. Freakin’ Reviews” is very easy to listen to. I have a bunch of Ninja products as well. After this review, I am going to purchase the Thirsti. Thank you!
Impressive how quickly you’ve been putting out videos, btw. Love it.
I find the canisters being pretty pricey if youre someone who just cannot get enough of fizzy drinks. Maybe its not too crazy but it just feeels like a lot.
Y T is battling tik tok and pressuring all YTubers for more short content.
@@EmeraldHill-vo1cs13 minutes doesn't seem short to me, at I'd call it medium
thats the scam these companies are pushing
@@dogbot55 Der, but he's been doing couple a minute ones also.
@@EmeraldHill-vo1cs lol
It's a neat idea, certainly a novelty than a must have, but still neat with all its features and the automation. At first I was concerned about support long term but the CO2 canisters are fairly common and standard (I use a similar one for a club soda maker) and you should probably hang onto the spent flavor canisters and reuse them with your own drops/flavor additives
5:17 was very sceptical instantly but this one broke the deal lol .... stirr it??? :D
You convinced me on buying the other types of soda machine that dispense the C02 gas into a glass already filled. For this youd need to be filling, throwing out the water and refilling the water resevoir.
I like the idea of storing bottles of water in the fridge and then just using the machine to make it sparkling.
As someone that owns one of these systems here's what I can tell you, Amazon sells an adapter and hose that connects the ninja to an external CO2 tank. If you go to your local retailer and get a tank (I use a 5lb tank), you can refill it for about $10 with good grade CO2. One tank lasts us about 6 months, and we make at least 2ltr of carbonated drinks daily. That makes the CO2 definitely worth it, these syrups though.. that's what'll make you grit your teeth at the register when you're swiping them for $7 or $8 EACH. The packaging says about 20 beverages, but I can assure you, you won't get that many drinks from any of them. Realistically you'll get 9 - 12 depending on how light you set the flavor. I don't currently know of a drink packet hack (refillable cartridges, generic versions, etc..), so what we do is buy the flavored packs that come 8 in a box and are less than $1 at our local Neighborhood Market. It's not as good as a soda when you want one, but it's an efficient and cheap method for carbonated water over ice. If you would just rather have soda, buy the 12 packs on sale (or generic). It'll take a very long time to break even on cost just using this the way it comes right outta the box.
Thanks
The adapter hack is genius. So the flavored packs you get are compatible with the machine? Do you mean Walmart Neighborhood Market?
@@handythor Yes, Walmart Neighborhood Market. I forget the Walmart part when I'm talking about it sometimes, everyone here just refers to it as Neighborhood Market because we don't have real "neighborhood" markets around our area. Those flavor packs come in dozens of different flavors, and the Walmart brand are super cheap and still taste delicious (or some of them do, there's a lemonade flavor that is so bad lol).
I have the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill and Smoker and love it. I would be interested to see your opinion on it as well as maybe spreading awareness to how amazing it is.
The problem with these things, is if your local water tastes bad, it tastes REALLY bad after being carbonated. I got okay results by filling a pot with water and letting it outgas overnight, then running it through a Brita type filter. But that's a lot of work for carbonated water, especially considering the cost of the CO2 tanks. I hear you can get an adaptor for refillable tank like for paintball or welding gas, but haven't personally used such a setup.
Yes. I got a cheap Reverse Osmosis system to get better taste on my drinking water at home
@@lfidarragawhat kind of cheap osmosis system? My water is terrible out of the tap
@@feliciareynolds5296 apec is the brand. They have different types of filters
I like my Sodastream unit. 60L CO2 cartridge. I keep the .89L bottles filled with Brita-filtered-water and then carbonate them when I want a seltzer water. I then use Crystal Light lemonade powder to flavor the seltzer. The machine has 3 buttons for 5, 6, or 7 squirts of CO2. I get about 50 bottles from a single CO2 cartridge, using the 5 squirt option. I've had it since 2019. And after you've used a cartridge you exchange them. You order a new supply (using the exchange function) from Sodastream and then you ship back the empties (you go to the USPS) . Actually, it pays to buy at least 2 cartridges and then do the exchange for the 2. They include a postage-paid return label.
I'd really like something like this but not for $180 bucks plus having to replace the co2 canister and the drops. I just couldn't do it. Since I love high carbonation (my favorite sparkling water is Topo Chico) I'd need replacements often. And I don't have the funds for that sort of thing. Thanks for the honest review as usual James.😊
I use this more economical system - ruclips.net/video/5Mu-ENQ-Qfo/видео.htmlsi=ey-H7eO2rgEWpOIU
What I'd be interested in knowing is the price per oz. If it turns out to be way cheaper than buying soda, it would eventually pay for itself. If it's the same or more expensive, then what's the point?
I'm surprised you didn't cover what it's like to clean the unit afterwards. Looks like it could be a pain to clean the whole thing. Does this thing support any kind of syrup drinks such as coke?
he mentioned doing a cleaning cycle before starting which only took a minute. i think it has an auto feature based off what he said
Hi. could you compare the Ninja Thirsti against the Sodastream and show the results? Thank you,
Great review. I came in a little lower on my average cost per use with taking advantage of all the subscribe and save benefits, etc...I also bought some Sodastream flavors to use and had excellent results.
Are you saying you used Sodastream flavors in this Ninja Thirsti? I have no experience with the Sodastream so I have no reference as far as size, shape, etc. I suspect that Sodastream would have more flavors since it's been around much longer.
@@zendasmom Not to promote my channel on James’s channel but I reviewed this product as well. Yes, I used Pepsi and Starry and I just dropped them into the plain carbonated water.
@@DiffFamilyReviews Thanks!
I have the Thirsti Max and I only bought it because I paid $130 for it. Taste is subjective, but in my opinion the Ninja Thirsti water drop flavors are just average at best. The whole point of this machine is to explore many flavors at the touch of a button. But if you have to seek other options to flavor your water then all you have is a high tech sodastream. If you drink a lot of soda and you think this machine will help you ditch the cans, you’d be wrong. Cans can often be purchased on sale and when you buy Pepsi or Coke you know that it’s going to taste great each and every time with good carbonation. With the Ninja Thirsti, to get a really nice crispy carbonated soda you need really cold water each and every time. You’re currently limited to Cola, Orange, Rootbeer, Dr. Thirsti, Lemon Lime & Mt. Thirsti all zero sugar. Moreover, some of these flavors are always out of stock or not sold in stores yet, and if you purchase directly from Ninja shipping can be extra. So really you don’t save a whole lot of money and you’re sacrificing taste as well. I have Dr. Thirsti and it’s pretty good, but the Cola is not. It tastes like off brand Diet Pepsi but worse. Overall, I do enjoy my Ninja Thirsti to make flavored water but it’s more work than you think. Each time I want to make soda I have to get my water tank out the fridge, add ice, shake the ice around to make the water as cold as possible. Choose my settings and start. It’s really a lot of work as opposed to just grabbing a can like I’d normally do.
Looks to me sometimes when you do more than 6oz, for example 12oz. It adds flavors for both cycles and sometimes it only did it on the first cycle. That's why some of them were all CO2 water at the top.
It seemed that the second side never shot out flavor, which it seems it should have done on the second fill. Which is why you don’t get two flavors on the 6oz.
Uh. I see a major issue with this machine. looks like there is a small tank which holds the liquid before it drips down. I worry about residue left in there. I would also worry about the possibility of mold growing in there over time.
You wouldn't have to worry about it overflowing so much if you didn't have so much ice in it🥶
My grandparents had an old coke fountain drink machine hooked up in their garage when I was a kid.. It was weird, it didn't use bags of syrup.. The syrup came in big stainless steel canisters that kind of looked like oxygen tanks with flat tops.. The coke truck used to stop by once a month and swap the empty canisters with new ones.. My grandparents owned a company that supplied C02 to restaurants and bars for their beer taps and fountain drink machines.. I don't know if they just had a hook up with coke because of their business or if anyone can just buy a fountain drink machine for their house and open an account with Coke.. That's always something I've wondered about.. I need to research that and find out..
That CO2 canister can been used on a Sodastream machine also 😉.
Both old and new.
basically, an amped up Soda Stream, so if you liked that you might like this as well, would like to know how hard or easy it would be to re-fill the flavor containers if it is possible, since that was always a good thing with the soda stream where you could add your own juice or flavor and carbonate it,
I suspect the reason it's overfilling is because of the ice? Try filling the glass without ice first then add it after.
The commentary on it needing to be "ice cold" is a preference. I used to stuff my drinks with ice until a mother-son road trip where we ended up drinking everything room temp for a couple of weeks. Neither of us ever went back to "ice cold". Either way I would suggest no ice in the glass when dispensing, add after. It would have been better if you could just press & hold the button for however long needed to fill your glass, rather than guessing the proper size, like the Bevi Station (commercial supplier), but there may be flavor-mixing issues with that. Strong contender overall. Nice review.
I like how you really get into the Item/gadget you are reviewing and your initial opinion of it. It does look good, but I have a Soda Stream, which I must say the flavours are not great. I might considering getting this, when released in the UK, but will depend on price and flavours available.
I love my SodaStream but I gave up on their flavors long ago. I use real Coke syrup, and those drink enhancers you find in stores to flavor mine. You've not lived until you've carbonated koolaid and gatorade :D
@@robinkesterlives In the UK Koolaid and Gatorade is not really something we drink, but I have heard of both.
@@groovydonkey Basically, any powder or liquid flavoring works. If you have a fave cheap rdrink mix, try it carbonated ftw :D
@@robinkesterlives Thanks for that
The soda stream flavors are the worst.
I just ordered my Ninja Thirsti Black Friday sale got it $120 with coupon. I am super excited! I got it so the kids can drink more water with flavor so we don’t have to purchase high price drinks.
I really like Ninja products, they always seem to hit the perfect price/compromise ratio. I use my foodi for pretty much everything that isn't boiling water. This is one product though that I would not buy, that price is pretty is not what I've come to expect from Ninja. That said, Ninja stuff always goes on super sales for like half price, so for $100, this would be great as I drink a ton of sparkling water. I wonder if you could reuse the flavor pods and fill them with your own stuff?
I'm a Ninja addict. I'll be keeping a lookout for a sale, too.
I love my Foodi but this and the Creami were big passes for me. Overcomplicated solutions looking for problems.
@@kiwisoupthe Creami is great, but it definitely has a place and I can see why many don't think it would fit their lifestyle/line of kitchen gadgets. Especially if you already have an ice cream maker
I just got a ninja thirsti just yesterday and it works perfectly and it makes pretty tasty drinks plus it is pretty easy to use and it is also safer for the environment then the bottle drinks that you buy from the store
This reminds me of Big Clive's videos where he carbonates various drinks using his high pressure hand-held carbonator, sometimes with pleasing, and sometimes with devastating results, depending on the solubility of the beverage. It makes sense that the machine you are reviewing has different levels of carbonation 👍
its not a handheld carbonator, it is a countertop drink carbonator called Soda-Stream.
Big Clive just has pretty big hands so in his hands the soda stream dispenser looks small and handheld lol
i've had a soda stream dispenser for over 20 years (got it sometime in 2003 or 2004) and that thing is still carbonating drinks to this day, the best 50$ i've ever spent i'd say.
Clive is funny as heck,
That milk went everywhere.
I asked him to do Beef gravy
Or soda batter for lighter crisper batter (beer battered fish)
@@JaSon-wc4pn Soda batter might be good 👍
That channel always draws me to the videos. Even if they're product reviews of something I don't need.
Do they have any “normal” flavors? Would have liked to see it compared to Coke, Sprite, Fanta, etc
There's no branded flavors
Sodastream has Pepsi and the like...
I bought this unit about 6 months ago. Big fan. I drank carbonated bottled water for years. Moved out to the country and cannot get carbonated water easily. And the bottles have doubled in price. I subscribe to a bottle refill service. I love this unit. Highly recommend. I drink about 2/3 gallon of water a day. A 2 pack of refill co2 last for about 5-6 weeks.
I might buy one as I've always wanted a box that says 'empty box'. Never found one yet.
🤣🤣
I can make you one and send it to you. It won't come with a soda maker, so I'll only charge you half price: $90.
@@kane2742 Will it have factory air inside?
@@lefroy1 That's up to you. I can include the air at no additional charge.
@@kane2742 I've just ordered a Despicable Me teapot🤞 If that doesn't come with an empty box with factory air, I'll get back to you.
Looks cool. I'm not a fan of the preselected flavors though. Am I able to select my own flavors?
Your glass size was fine, you just had way too much ice for the glass. 😂
If you were saving time or saving money it might be a viable option but since you aren’t saving either I have no idea why someone would pay $180 for the Easy Bake Oven equivalent of a soda machine.
Too much hassle. When I was a kid (back in prehistoric times), I had a friend who had a seltzer water bottle at her house and we'd put the seltzer water in a glass and then we could pick from many pump bottles of different flavored syrups. I always liked pineapple orange. It made great drinks for kids. Sometimes simple is better.
I looked around at your videos and couldn't find your review on the Ninja Express Chopper. After watching your review, I went and bought one! I have bearded dragons and they need their veggies chopped up and this little chopper gets things done FAST and perfect! I also use it on my own things, like ham salad and onions, etc., but it's a beast! So easy to use and clean! If you could find & reply with your review, I'd love to watch it again. Thanks for testing this stuff and saving us the money & trouble! And if you haven't (that I've seen) Test the Ninja Auto IQ blender! It's a beast! I love Ninja products!
I really love your reviews and your excellent on how the products go. I'm sorta interested in the soda machine but my wife can't have any drinks with "bubbles" because she had a stomach operation years ago and also too cold drink gives her extreme pain. Thank you for the review ❤😊
Just get a cheaper sodastream for yourself, basically the same thing just less convenient
Thank you for taking the time to do this review. I needed this before my purchases.
I mean...I get what it's trying to do...but it has the same problem with all appliances that carbonate water and add in some syrup: why can't I just buy seltzer and mix in some syrup (and even decant the "fancier" syrups from Foodi or wherever) and make an Italian soda? And save like $170 comparatively (which I'm not sure I need to pay for the ability to mildly adjust how fizzy the end result is).
The idea is not having to buy bottled seltzer and just making it at home from tap water. I use a carbonation device like sodastream, but it doesn't add any syrup. I can just add that on my own if I want to. $170 is too expensive though. Mine was like $60.
Thanks for this review. I purchased one this week as Costco has a set (including a starter 12 pack) for $100. I'm enjoying it.
This is basically a Soda Stream except they are trying to get you locked into their flavors too. You could probably refill the syrups with other brands, like Miio or generics to save money.
Hi James, can you please do one or more of the new Ninja Creami
I feel like it’s good for someone that hosts allot of parties and such! Because then you have the fun gimmick of mixing drinks! But honestly for me I rather get the 12 pack of cans and they go on sale allot!
Might want to put less ice in to not have it overflow?
The ninja air fryer also makes that beep sound. That's pretty funny lol.
We can get the Co2 cannisters for 3$ each in our stores, the co2 cannister is a standard one that is replaced in European stores
Almost 200$ for the appliance and then you are vendor locked for those taste capsules. Just drink water man. It's good for you and you save money.
I think another big consideration is where the heck most people will put this in their kitchen? That beast looks tall to be placed under a cabinet.
The only thing i would say about all these machines is that you buy the gas canister's and flavours and all the machine does is take the measured syrup dose and make soda water and dispense it. Not sure about the usa but in the uk soda water is extremely cheap and the amount you pay for the gas canister is more that it costs to just buy bottled soda water then add the syrup of your choice...much cheaper and will taste just as good
Yeah, it's cool, but still costs more than an average 12oz can of soda until you've paid off the unit and I just don't drink enough soda to justify the $190 price tag and possible savings years down the road.
wish you'd do more resonabkly priced gadgets. wanna see more $20 gadgets instead of so many $200 ones i coiuld never dream to afford
Reminds me of the soda stream I had years ago . The flavours were nothing like the taste they tried to mimic eg coke . Like the look, interesting flavour combinations 💯🤙
Hehe yeah. It's like.. NICE TRY but we aren't fooled!
That is a pretty sweet machine. It sounds like those public AC transit buses here in California when the brake releases.
I supper appreciate and like the review, almost to the point where I would consider getting one. The down side for me would be similar to a Keurig "The waste" if the pods were refillable and they sold just the syrup that would make it more desirable along with the Co2 canisters. Also not sure what the connection looks like for the C02. If the connector for the Co2 was standard I would be able to use my own canister the one I purchased to carbonize my home brew. Which I refill at Praxair for a lot less than what they are charging.
My opinion, to much of a money grab for a great idea.
We have the Spärkel carbonator which I use only as backup because it's a bit too slow/involved for my taste. 😂 My fav drinks are cheap Winn-Dixie- or Target- brands cans of sparkling water (around 40c each) which I mix with a spoon together with: shaved ice syrups, fruity pancake syrups, apple juice (amazing), cheap cartons of guava/mango juice, smoothies, emergency fruit jam mixed with boiling water then flash cooled in freezer for 10 mins, emergency heated real fruit mixed with corn syrup, etc. I do the same for sweetening gentle/lite beer as I don't enjoy even slightly bitter beer...
Question, are you able to make fizzy water without using the flavor pods? Also, what are the grams of sugar per use of pods?
I don't know., $180 bucks can buy alot of regular soda. This seems like something you might want but don't need.
There is an unofficial 3rd party CO2 adapter that allows more standard size canisters to be used. However some can cause stress damage if the pressure is to high and of course void's the units warranty.
I’m looking at this from a water quality standpoint as I have a water purifier. So, even if it’s not cheaper than the carbonated waters I normally buy, the water will be healthier. Thank you for this great review!
1:09 It is not a proprietary CO2 canister. It uses a TR21-4 adapter which is used by many other soda machines like the classic SodaStream machines
This is about your review of popcorn poppers, which happened two years ago, but I'm putting my comment here so that you will see it. The best popper I have ever used is a a large pot, either Calphalon or stainless steel with an aluminum bottom. (They are quite heavy.) You put the oil and the popcorn in, put on the lid, turn on the heat, and wait for the popping to stop. You don't need to shake the pot.
Thanks I wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy it, but you gave honest detailed description so I’m going to try
Would it still work, if you didn't put the flavour pods? So you could add other sirups or flavours... What is the biggest size (want to see it, not hear it in ouces).
It seems like a very high price for what it does. How does the price compare to a SodaStream where you are? And the gas cannisters?
How about a comparison of the 2?
For that price, I want a table dance included.
Please test out the ninja coffee machine. I would like your reaction. I absolutely love mine. Mine can make a full pot or just a cup and can do grounds or pods. Lots of stuff.
Not trying to knock the people who use the product, but you can get like 5 two liter bottles of club soda for like 5 bucks and squirt your own flavors into a glass with it.
I looked at getting this but I'm not a fan of the proprietary flavor pods. Eventually they'll phase out. In the end I got the Sodastream based on simplicity and price & could use any numerous flavorings out there
You're essentially making pop at home. I gave up pop many years ago. So, this product wouldn't be for me. But I can vouch for Ninja products. We've been using our Ninja air fryer for several years now, and it's still like new. And it also uses that exact same chime sound.
I purchased my Ninja Thirsti from Costco for $69.97 (phase-out) with 12 flavor packs. I ended up purchasing three machines because it was less expensive than buying the CO2 cartridges and flavor packs separately. Thanks for the excellent review!
So is this better than a SodaStream or is it cheaper? The SodaStream Sprit that I have is definitely smaller. Definitely more option's than the Sprit, I think the sprit is just meant for sparking water.
My friend has one and he likes it - I have the old soda stream but I don't like the taste of their flavors. I'm wondering, the Thristi canister looks just like the soda stream canister, and maybe stream canister may work on the thirsti?
I just opened mine up today and made a fizzy drink,it was pretty good,I think it was worth the money,but you do have think you have buy the canisters and the fruit drops,so to maintain it ,it's going costs a little more, it beats buying sodas all the time.