Breville the AquaStation Chilled + Hot LWA600

This is a purchase you could consider very, very carefully. This is a machine, which you put have to water into, and it vends it back to you in a fashion which could only be best described as mediocre, especially given the price. Lukewarm hot water, cold water which borders on ambient room temperature. It's hard to know where to start but this is… Read more

a good example of where we've taken a simple concept, heating water up or cooling water down, and turned it into an expensive machine which doesn't deliver. First off, for a machine with only 6 buttons, it's phenomenally complicated to set up. A great example of the mediocrity of this machine is how you select 5 degrees and it serves you is over 15 degrees. This is a big difference and what you select on the screen is not what comes out of the machine. It's the same with hot water. You select 100 degrees, you get less than 100 degrees. I've actually taken to chilling water in bottles in the fridge and I dug the kettle out of the camping kit so I can have an actual hot coffee when I want it properly hot. Facts are facts. This machine costs over $500. For that price you will put water in the top of it, and the tank isn't that big so it takes constant filling, you put water in the top (which you've paid for, the water that is) and the machine will vend the water back to you. The same very water you paid for which you put in the top. When it comes out down the bottom you will pay for electricity which the machine will use vend to you water, which you've paid for, at a temperature either less than what you want for hot and more than what you want for cold. That's a chemistry lab grade thermometer in the photo. The water setting was set to 5 degrees, you get 17. Frankly I'd avoid this machine and invest in a decent kettle and a fridge with space for bottles of water to cool down. I know this review isn't supposed to sound aggressive and I really hope it doesn't but I want to share my honest experience. I don't understand how a water vending machine has become so complicated, expensive, intensive and mediocre at the same time. It's very underwhelming. It doesn't hold up to the usual quality offered by the brand-name.

Surprisingly very good – This review is broken up into a number of sections that will give you the user (you) to use your preferred browser's "Find on page" function to skip to the area of interest. [The Summary] [The Product] [The Package] [The Pros(+) vs Cons(-)] [The Final Thoughts] [The Summary] Approximately seven (7) days ago, I purchased this as part of my… Read more ·  1

partner’s wish list and also that the water out of the tap was not that great… mostly due to the higher-than-normal concentration of chlorine. Our previous attempts were boiling the kettle and substituting the water using a Soda-stream. Then one day after entering into one of two local Westfields, we walked into a Harvey Norman that we previously didn’t know existed. After perusing the offerings on the shelves, we came across this and at first, didn’t know what it was until we read the advertised marketing spiel and immediately my partner said… yeap we need one of these.

A few days later, I started looking at a number of websites and surely enough, apparently, there was a sale going around. Though before I went and purchased this specific model, I jumped onto my usual sources of truth such as ProductReview for any reviews and comparisons. As well as YouTube and looking at the manufacturing companies and reviewed the capabilities and compared them to a short list. My short list were a cross between Phillips and Breville. Having owned both product brands, I thought Phillips and especially in this instance had a better reputation in terms of build quality and just felt up-market. However after finalising my purchasing decision, it boiled down to this specific model, the LWA600BSS2IAN1, that were based on two specific areas of interest. Namely: (1) the overall capacity; and (2) supporting and compatible water capturing containers.

[The Product] As advertised, the product is a water purifier that comes with a shelf-life filter that sits at the base of the water container that holds six (6) litres of water and lasts for ninety (90) days which you will have to replace that is around fifty-dollars ($50) at the time of writing this review.

After filling the container of its six (6) litres of water, the water is immediately filtered and transferred into an internal two (2) litres which is then immediately cooled that takes approximately 1 hour.

To our surprise, whether cold or hot this product removed all traces of chlorine which is a godsend. Though due to its size, it is massive in size and takes up quite a lot of space. We have it sitting next to our kettle which we use to fill up the tank if so to speak.

There are however some pet peeves about this unit. I will provide further context into the pros and cons later; as this unit is not perfect. Which so far relate to the interactive computer screen and its functionality that lacks easy customisation.

At the time of purchase, this product was on sale, and I bought it along with an additional three (3)-year service warranty and combined, the overall cost was less than the recommended-retail-price (RRP).

[The Package] Upon delivery by the courier company in which The Good Guys used, the boxed received was badly dented and I naturally assumed, everything inside would be damaged. Though upon closer inspection, and peeling away the packaging, the unit was very much protected with a great deal of foam and the boxed packaging had minimal damage.

When it came to assembly, it took about three (3) to five (5) minutes, after you peel away all of the internal components.

[The Pros(+) vs Cons(-)]

The Pros - adjustable temperature through presets including manual dial adjustment - easily accessible at any time - removes chlorine and any other chemical tastes - can do both hot and cold though with a small delay between - huge water storage capability - value proposition of this can do for you and your whole family - noticeable difference when combined with other appliances (e.g. Soda Stream, our Rocket Expresso Coffee machine which is unplumbed)

The Cons - the unit defaults to “ambient” temperature, so if you want cold, you have to press a button; however, it does not give you an option to choose above 250ml. The menu system is fidgety meaning that there should be additional buttons instead of using a dial that double as a button. - another issue, though not a big one and more to do with user preferences – is the fact that there is no way to set the unit to Cool by default as opposed to ambient where it normally sits. This may well be due to a power consumption feature that places the unit into a kind of stand-by mode; or in other Breville choice of words “ambient”? Perhaps. - foot print – if you have a small kitchen, I would strongly recommend not buying this unit as it takes up a huge amount of space similar to our Rocket Express Coffee machine.

[The Final Thoughts] I went for this specific model, because I simply do not like refilling. One can argue that to that of a Kettle, however this is 8+ times bigger in water capacity. Hence this was main sole reason for purchasing this unit due to its capacity.

Refilling is easy as well, having to use our old kettle container to draw water directly from the tap and into this unit via its huge plastic lid.

Other than the negatives that I have mentioned, I would highly recommend you consider this in your next household or even business purchase; if of course you do not have filtered water.