A.O. Smith is a multinational company with a history of more than 140 years, headquartered in the United States. A.O. Smith's more than 140 years of history is not as always focused on the water purification industry, its main business is hot water equipment and boiler manufacturing, from 2009 began to acquire the domestic water purification brand Janet, A.O. Smith is officially into the Chinese water purification market. With the foundation laid by Janet, coupled with the continuous research and development of water treatment technology, coupled with the original sales channel network, A.O. Smith's water purifier quickly occupied the market, and its sales have been in the first camp in the industry, and has become one of the drafting units of the national standard for water purifiers.
 
"Localization" is a major advantage of A.O. Smith compared with other foreign brands, in the impression of many consumers, "original imports" often means more assured quality and better performance, in fact, the tap water quality at home and abroad is very different, and the water purifier that is favored abroad may occur in China "water and soil adaptation" situation. A.O. Smith has been deeply involved in the Chinese market for many years, and its water purifiers are tailored to China's water quality conditions, and are produced in the directly affiliated Nanjing factory, which has a reliable guarantee for both product applicability and product quality.
 
The mid-to-high-end market is the main position of A.O. Smith, the product type is concentrated in the RO reverse osmosis water purifier, its series include SR, R, AR, etc., the price covers the price of 4000-10000 yuan, all series are based on the classic 5-stage filtration program, and at the same time according to different product positioning and additional functions. 5-stage filtration refers to a complete filtration scheme composed of PP cotton-activated carbon-PP cotton-RO membrane-activated carbon, which can take into account the filtration effect and the life of the filter element at all levels, and is more convenient to deal with the complex tap water environment in China.
 
No matter which series, from the naming rules of the product, it can be found that "large flux no barrel" is the most significant advantage of A.O. Smith, compared with the rest of the foreign brands most of the small flux with barrel design of less than 100G, A.O. Smith uses the top high-specification RO membrane of Toray of Japan, Dow of the United States and other first-line brands, and can drink fresh filtered water without too much waiting. Taking the SR series with a relatively balanced overall performance as an example, the number "400" in the SR400 means that its water purification flux is 400G, while the flagship model SR800-T6 is even as high as 800G, and it only takes about 5 seconds to fill a glass of 200ml of fresh filtered water, which is enough to meet the direct drinking water needs of a family of four.
 
Thanks to the patented MAX3.0 technology developed by A.O. Smith, the SR series is also very long-lasting. Compared with the previous design of water inlet at one end and one end of the water outlet, the water inlet at both ends can further improve the membrane pressure and form the effect of "vortex washing" inside, and the random agitation of the water flow can effectively prevent the adhesion and blockage of pollutants. O. Smith claimed that the MAX3.0 can increase the life of RO membranes to 3 years when purifying 15-20L of water per day, and won the Epplan Environmental Award for this patent.
 
It is worth mentioning that the rated total water purification of SR400 is 4000L, which is the mainstream level of the current industry, but some mathematically sensitive users feel that the total water purification of 4000L does not seem to match the promotion of "3 years long life". In fact, the rated total water purification refers to the total amount of water purified when the "first filter element" is replaced separately for the first time, and the "first filter element" is generally pre-PP cotton or activated carbon, not specifically referring to RO membrane, which is also the current labeling practice of testing institutions. Because the pre-PP cotton is responsible for intercepting the larger pollutants in the water, the service life is often much lower than that of the RO membrane, and it should be replaced separately after reaching the rated total water purity.
 
As for AR and R, it can be regarded as an upgraded series of SR, and there is little difference between the water purification flux and the total water purification, and the main improvement is in the pure wastewater rate. Through the "side-flow reverse osmosis membrane" technology, multiple RO membranes of different lengths are embedded in the RO filter cartridge fixing rod and then rolled, so that a single water production channel can be turned into multiple, and the yield of pure water can be greatly improved with the same flow rate. Combined with A.O. Smith's unique "Scale Inhibitor Cartridge", the pure wastewater ratio of the AR and R series models has reached the top 3:1 in the industry, which means that only one cup of wastewater is discharged after producing three cups of pure water, which is an extremely significant improvement compared to the mainstream 1:1 pure wastewater ratio of the SR series. In addition, the AR series has been improved in appearance, and the filter cartridge is wrapped in an integrated shell to avoid the "patronage" of insects such as cockroaches in the kitchen, and it is more thoughtful in terms of water hygiene.
 
In today's increasingly homogeneous water purifier, it is no longer possible to measure the excellence of a water purifier from the water purification effect alone, consumers pay more attention to the comprehensive experience of the product, and the humanized function is an important part of it. A.O. Smith water purifier is set up with a variety of automatic flushing modes, such as flushing every half an hour, automatically draining the internal water after 72 hours of inactivity, etc., which not only ensures the safety of drinking water, but also improves the service life of the filter element. In addition, the reminder of the life of the filter element also has a great impact on the overall experience, because the water purifier is hidden under the cabinet all day long, consumers can choose a faucet with TDS detection light, which plays a timely role in reminding the filter element when it needs to be replaced, and the sensitive TDS lamp can also monitor sudden water pollution in real time.
 
For a family of four, the high-flux balanced products represented by the SR400 series have been able to fully meet the demand, with a price of about 5,000 yuan R600EDA1; Users who pursue high-end can pay attention to AR600-H3, SR800-T6 and other models, the ultimate comprehensive purification performance is definitely worthy of the word "top flagship", but the price of nearly 10,000 yuan also weakens its market competitiveness.