When canister shopping I find there are small but very important things sometimes missed. One is that some miss whether media and what quality of media is included in the price. If one doesn't actually know that media is included, check before buying. Good quality media can may a major difference in the overall value and enjoyment of filters. That works over into how we perceive the filters and judge them. We need to recognize that simply moving lots of water through the canister is not the same in all cases. Lots of water flowing through thin, poor quality media is much less value than moving lesser volumes of water through good media. Also when judging value, a tremendous flow can also be obtained by letting lots of water bypass the media.
One major point where you may have to actually get hands on with the filter is bypass. My biggest fault with the lower end filters is that there is a real question on bypass and many do not know or look for this. When water enters the canister there is usually a way to pass it to the bottom and then let it work it's way to the top. So take a look for how much space is left along the sides of the canister between the walls and the baskets. If there is a 1/4 inch gap around all sides of the baskets, why would water force it's way though media when it can simply flow around the sides of the baskets and back to the top? But that certainly is one way to get really high flow numbers. When I found leaf parts stuck inside the filter spraybar, I knew my filter was not good.
Looking at the specs on electrical usage can help on the question of value. A filter running 24-7 using 56 watts is going to cost you a lot more over the lifetime than a filter using 17 watts. How much may depend on your personal use of power, also. My energy price is high and I also spend a good deal on cooling during a large part of the year. That makes it important to me that I have a much smaller amount of heat generated by an efficient motor rather than a cheaper motor using far more power. Much of that power used becomes heat which I have to pay to remove from the house so I get hit both coming and going.
Rather than giving a personal review, I like to give you points and let you look over the particular filter and make the big decisions. In the end it is YOU that gets good or bad.
