Culligan Gravity Water Filter – A Berkey Alternative?

I’ve touted the black Berkey gravity water filters for years. I’ve owned a filter system for over a decade. And they’re mostly good filter systems, but their replacement filters are getting horribly expensive. As of this writing, a pair of black Berkey filters are still $280, which is just too much to recommend … even for preparedness.

Plus, I have had troubles with them, including improper storage (which is really my fault), there are people who think they’re a scam (I don’t know what to believe at this point), and if you try to save money buying off-brand filters, like I’ve done, then you’re asking for trouble precisely when you need filters to work the most.

Suffice it to say that I’d had enough. So, I went searching for a viable gravity filter alternative and settled on these Culligan gravity water filters with MaxClear technology. You can read more about them using the previous link (no affiliation), but they’re able to fit Berkey systems among others, use a combination of ceramic and carbon membranes, which are able to filter out microplastics, PFAS (forever chemicals), chlorine, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and more, and they’re reasonable priced.

Perhaps the only concern is that they’re only rated to last up to six months, which isn’t a long time if you intend on using them day-to-day now. Personally, these are going into storage in the basement and will only be used for grid-down water filtration needs.

The good news is that they’re significantly less expensive than black Berkey filters; a pair of Culligan filters currently costs $128, but you can save more by buying four or six filters, which is what I did. It’s been a month or two since I purchased them, but if I remember right, Culligan also offered an additional small discount by signing up for their newsletter; shipping was free.

Now, I can’t speak to how well they work because, like I said above, they’ve gone into storage. But Culligan is a trusted brand name, so I have little concern about them. Just pay attention to their storage, priming, and usage instructions and they should work just fine.