Have been using Brita for many years as a second source of water. I hate the way the water turns green after a week or so, so I thought Larq might be better. Was very excited to getbthe lovely navy bottle and put it together with the App. After running many jugs full through, thinking it was a new filter, my conclusion is that this is a scam. The water out my tap tastes better!
I've contacted the company asking if I'd done something wrong installing the filter..got a generated response and nothing since.
The water, after running through the filter, tastes VILE!
Do not buy this product
I call this bottle a subscription bottle. It becomes unusable after a few months. After my second cap broke, customer support said that my warranty technically expired. The second cap broke in less than 8 months. This is absurd. I strongly do not recommend this product.
My bottle broke within 3 months of purchase. The inner part on the UV cap came away from the outside metal casing. I also purchased a filter cap for the bottle in good faith which is now useless as I can not use the bottle the way it was advertised or intended. Considering the price point and marketing it’s a massive let down. Although LARQ refunded me for the bottle they did not for the accessory which is specific to the product. I feel robbed.
I'm surprised that no one has pointed out that this bottle can't possibly do what it claims to do.
What its makers claim is that you can put water contaminated with microbes in and get pure water out, by shining UV light on the microbes. But we all know that things, including microbes, don't just disappear, with or without UV light. If there are microbes or other contaminants in the bottle, you'll be drinking them.
The most you can hope for with a sufficient dose of UV light is to prevent some microbes from reproducing (it doesn't even kill them). But bacteria don't reproduce in clean water anyway, and the UV has no effect on suspended solids and chemicals in your water. If you want to drink clean water, you have to filter it *before* putting it in your bottle.
In my eyes, this product and its marketing are just a cynical (and successful) attempt to exploit the fears and ignorance of consumers for the gain of the Larq founders. A simple glass or stainless water bottle filled with clean water and washed when needed would be more "sustainable," healthier and much cheaper.
The bottle is great, sleek and nice design, vacuum flask works well, but not durable. Very expensive but not worth the price. My LARQ bottle cap broke shortly after the warranty expired (1 year), so they can't help me and asked me to buy a new bottle cap ($70 USD) but they gave a discount.
Pros:
Good vacuum flask
Nice design
Customer service replies very fast
Cons:
Not durable
Expensive
If it breaks after the warranty is over, you're sh*t outta luck.
Really Bad Customer service, buggy device, If you take off the sticker in the bottom of the bottle while washing it then they will not replace it for you knowing that it is a bug in the Bottles software
I supported these bottles's project since 2017, after many delays we received our bottles in summer of 2018. In the beginning they failed in less than a month but we were able to get replacements quite easily. In December we got our 2nd replacement bottles and since then they have worked quite well. There is a slight change in the taste of the water after the UVC led is on. The water tastes slightly better. We use now the bottle in a frequent basis, from 6 to 10 times per day. If you sum all those bottles, the investment in the bottles pays it off very quickly.
I purchased the top of the line bottle. I informed Larq. They asked me some questions and for picture evidence of the broken technology. I did everything and then Larq has not responded for more than month. They suck. Waste of money.
I think I'm on my third Larq bottle at this point? Maybe fourth? Every single one I've had has red-ringed (instead of working and cleaning your water, it displays a red ring and is nonfunctional forever).
Larq has been very good about replacing bottles, but enough is enough. This is brutal. I'm done.
