Certification Coverage
+5.0 AquasanaCrystal Quest Not certified (30); Aquasana NSF/ANSI 61 (8).
Brand comparison
Crystal Quest vs Aquasana
Crystal Quest scores 5.4 across 30 products; Aquasana scores 5.8 across 18. They overlap in under sink, shower & faucet, and whole house. That is 53% of what Crystal Quest sells and 78% of what Aquasana sells. Crystal Quest leads on value, Aquasana on certification coverage.
All 30 Crystal Quest products
Crystal Quest
30 of 30 products scored · $40 – $2,389
- Value — 5.0 against 3.5
- Build Quality — 7.0 against 6.0
- Ease of Installation — 6.0 against 5.0
5.4
5.8
All 18 Aquasana products
Aquasana
18 of 18 products scored · $120 – $6,640
- Certification Coverage — 7.0 against 2.0
- Warranty & Support — 3.0 against 1.0
- Contaminant Reduction — 8.0 against 7.0
Across everything we scored, Aquasana sits 0.42 ahead — led by certification coverage.
Both brands also sell into Countertop, Reverse Osmosis, and Well Water. Neither side carries enough scored products there for a median we would publish, so this comparison does not cover them.
Brand verdict
ahead · +0.42 (5.8 vs 5.4)
Pick Crystal Quest when
Value matters most5.0vs3.5
Pick Aquasana when
Certification coverage matters most7.0vs2.0
What only Crystal Quest sells — and only Aquasana
Not a loss for either brand. If you need one of these, the choice is already made.
Only Crystal Quest
Only Aquasana
Nothing outside the shared categories.
Where Crystal Quest and Aquasana differ
Median scores on a 0–10 scale. Each row is one criterion.
Warranty & Support
+2.0 AquasanaCrystal Quest 1 Year (30); Aquasana 1 Year (8).
Value
+1.5 Crystal QuestCrystal Quest 2.0–9.0 vs Aquasana 2.0–8.0.
Contaminant Reduction
+1.0 AquasanaCrystal Quest 3.0–8.0 vs Aquasana 6.0–10.0.
Build Quality
+1.0 Crystal QuestCrystal Quest 5.0–8.0 vs Aquasana 6.0–8.0.
Ease of Installation
+1.0 Crystal QuestCrystal Quest 3.0–10.0 vs Aquasana 4.0–10.0.
Flow Rate
tiedCrystal Quest: 29 of 30 scored products carry this criterion.
Filter Life
tiedCrystal Quest: 17 of 30 scored products carry this criterion.
The scores above are our reading of the evidence below. This is the evidence.
Certifications are recorded per product as published by the manufacturer. Anything carrying a NSF/ANSI standard can be checked against NSF's own certified product listings.
Certifications held
Crystal Quest
30 of 30
Aquasana
18 of 18
Warranty terms
Crystal Quest
30 of 30
Aquasana
18 of 18
What Crystal Quest and Aquasana owners report
Independent sources pooled per brand. Each row is one source.
N of M = how many scored products carry the brand-level reading shown, out of all scored.
Crystal Quest: 1 of 30 scored products carry this reading; Aquasana: 2 of 18 scored products carry this reading.
Source details
Crystal Quest
- No thread on the refrigerator inline line was located.
- The brand pool is r/WaterTreatment, r/Plumbing and r/HydroHomies: an installer vouches for the under-sink RO having fitted several, a Plumbing commenter runs a 14-stage whole-house setup and rates the difference, and a HydroHomies build uses the SMART cartridge as its last stage.
- Volume is low and a bare brand-name search on Reddit is dominated by a 1987 Macintosh game of the same name.
Brand rollup across scored products.
1 of 30 scored products carry this reading
Aquasana
- Aquasana is discussed across roughly thirty distinct events on r/WaterTreatment, r/HomeImprovement, r/Plumbing, r/water and r/BuyItForLife, and the split is consistent: owners are positive on taste and clarity and negative on reliability.
- Leaks are the brand's signature failure mode and carry nine independent threads, including a three-year-old whole-home post-filter housing that split along a manufacturing seam and flooded a basement, and a T-pipe fitting failure that became a water-damage claim.
- Pressure loss carries six threads and filter-replacement cost another six.
- Neutral and adversarial framings both run.
- Scored down twice: the pool describes different hardware, and no thread discusses this system.
Brand rollup across scored products.
2 of 18 scored products carry this reading
Owner reviews
+1.0 Crystal QuestCrystal Quest: 1 of 30 scored products carry this reading; Aquasana: 2 of 18 scored products carry this reading.
Source details
Crystal Quest
- Trustpilot reads 4.0 from 54 reviews with 37 in the past twelve months, bimodal at 50 percent five-star against 39 percent one-star.
- Crystal Quest solicits reviews and has answered 83 percent of the negatives.
- BBB Kennesaw is the disagreeing second profile at 1 out of 5 from six customer reviews against an A plus accreditation, with the complaints concentrated on post-sale support, returns and a 30 percent restocking fee rather than on any product of this size.
Brand rollup across scored products.
1 of 30 scored products carry this reading
Aquasana
- No retailer lists HealthShield, so the figure is the brand's third-party profiles, and two independent ones agree.
- Trustpilot reads 1.5 out of 5 from 172 reviews distributed 77 percent one-star against 8 percent five-star, with 39 of them inside the past twelve months
- The profile has been claimed since 2021, shows no recent history of the company inviting reviews, and Aquasana has replied to 100 percent of the negatives.
- The Better Business Bureau carries 1.42 from 33 customer reviews on a non-accredited file alongside an A+ letter rating, which measures complaint handling rather than satisfaction.
- Both profiles are unsolicited and self-select toward complainants, and the brand's retailer listings run far higher, so this is a floor on service sentiment rather than a verdict on the hardware.
Brand rollup across scored products.
2 of 18 scored products carry this reading
Crystal Quest: 1 of 30 scored products carry this reading; Aquasana: 2 of 18 scored products carry this reading.
Source details
Crystal Quest
- Coverage credits the catalogue breadth and the published pricing, and repeats the certification finding: the media inside holds real NSF/ANSI listings, no finished Crystal Quest system appears at NSF, IAPMO or WQA, and the reduction percentages are brand laboratory data.
- Nothing written anywhere examines the inline fluoride products.
Brand rollup across scored products.
1 of 30 scored products carry this reading
Aquasana
- Nothing independent covers this platform.
- The only writing about it is Aquasana's own launch release, which states the system is certified to NSF/ANSI 53 and 401 for PFAS, VOCs, BPA and ibuprofen and adds, in its own words, that it is internally tested to reduce 97.4 percent of chlorine and chloramines - so the two headline percentages are the brand's own and sit outside the certified set.
- A certifier row readable through a third party confirms Standard 53 for five named PFAS compounds plus chloroform as a VOC, at 5.7 gpm over 165,000 gallons, and carries a pretreatment condition that influent aluminium must be reduced before treatment.
- The 401 and CSA B483.1 rows could not be confirmed at a certifier source.
Brand rollup across scored products.
2 of 18 scored products carry this reading
YouTube
tiedCrystal Quest: 1 of 30 scored products carry this reading; Aquasana: 2 of 18 scored products carry this reading.
Source details
Crystal Quest
- The independent video testing on this brand is confined to the bath filter, the faucet mount and the countertop reverse osmosis unit.
- Nothing covers the refrigerator inline line, and the videos that name it are roundups reciting the product page with a discount code attached.
Brand rollup across scored products.
1 of 30 scored products carry this reading
Aquasana
- Independent video coverage of Aquasana is substantial and every tested system is a Rhino, a Claryum, a countertop or a SmartFlow.
- No video covers HealthShield at product, line or brand level.
- The only HealthShield footage on the platform is Aquasana's own two launch videos, at 267 and 101 views, and they are first-party and excluded.
- One brand-tagged creator short exists whose channel and date could not be established.
- Scored down for describing different hardware.
Brand rollup across scored products.
2 of 18 scored products carry this reading
Amazon
tiedCrystal Quest: 1 of 30 scored products carry this reading; Aquasana: 2 of 18 scored products carry this reading.
Source details
Crystal Quest
- The refrigerator in-line systems are all listed and all under the ten-review floor — 4.3 from 4 on the arsenic, 4.6 from 10 on the nitrate, 4.3 from 6 on the fluoride — which is a real presence with no readable pool.
- The fallback is the Amazon brand-insights panel, which reads 4.3 from over a thousand ratings with 5,000-plus orders in the trailing three months and prints 4.2 on a minority of listings, collected on bath, shower, faucet and pitcher goods rather than plumbed hardware.
- Scored down for that distance and for the spread of the product-level readings it stands in for.
Brand rollup across scored products.
1 of 30 scored products carry this reading
Aquasana
- Neither WH-HS nor WH-HS-UVM has an Amazon listing - a marketplace search on the product name returns the Rhino range and competing brands, and a search on the model code returns no products at all, so this is an absent listing rather than a listing with no ratings.
- The brand panel is the fallback and it renders in both of its forms across Aquasana's listings: the scoreable proportion reading is 80 percent of brand ratings at 4-plus stars over 50,000-plus orders in the trailing three months, and the badge reading on the same ASINs gives 10,000-plus raters with no denominator.
- Scored down twice for scope: the panel is collected across cartridges, shower filters and under-sink units, and this is a platform sold direct only.
Brand rollup across scored products.
2 of 18 scored products carry this reading
Best Crystal Quest vs best Aquasana, category by category
The three best-scoring products each brand sells in every category they both compete in, ranked by overall score.
Under Sink
See all Under Sink productsShared: 6 · Crystal Quest only: 3 · Aquasana only: 2
Contaminants — Shared: Disinfectants & byproducts, Heavy metals, Sediment & particulate, Microbiological, Industrial & agricultural chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & microplastics. Crystal Quest only: Fluoride, Nitrate & nitrite, Taste & odour. Aquasana only: PFAS, Asbestos.
Aquasana leads
5.6
11th of 20 in Under Sink
0.2 micron ultrafiltration membrane at the head of the stack, no power or drain needed
Three capacity steps at twenty dollars each, up to 30,000 gallons
Eight stages combining UF, redox alloy, ion exchange resin and carbon
No NSF/ANSI 53 or P231 listing, so the microbiological claim is unverified
6.4
5th of 20 in Under Sink
WQA tested and certified to NSF/ANSI 42, 53 including P473, and 401
99.7% PFOA and PFOS reduction, tested to 20 parts per trillion
99.6% microplastics and lead, 99.995% cysts
500 gallons or six months is the shortest cartridge life in the under sink range
5.5
12th of 20 in Under Sink
SMART media blend is broader than the single carbon block typical at this price
Three configurations spanning 60 dollars, all on one page
Catalytic carbon in the blend, which is what actually handles chloramine
Maximum flow of 0.5 GPM is slow for a kitchen tap
6.3
6th of 20 in Under Sink
5 micron pre-filter protects the Claryum cartridges from rust and sediment
600 gallons, 20% more capacity than the 2-Stage
Same WQA certification to NSF/ANSI 42, 53 including P473, and 401 as the 2-Stage
$100 more than the 2-Stage for 100 extra gallons and a pre-filter
5.4
13th of 20 in Under Sink
Nitrate-selective anion exchange, which carbon-only systems cannot do
Capacity published as a number, 5,500 ppm nitrate
Three configurations on one page spanning 72 dollars
No NSF/ANSI 53 nitrate reduction listing on a contaminant where that matters most
6.2
7th of 20 in Under Sink
No dedicated faucet or sink hole required, filters through the existing tap
1.5 GPM, three times the flow of the 2-Stage
IAPMO tested and certified to NSF/ANSI 42, 53 including P473, and 401
No sediment pre-filtration, and independent testing recorded it clogging when rust came through the line
Shower & Faucet
See all Shower & Faucet productsShared: 1 · Crystal Quest only: 4
Contaminants — Shared: Disinfectants & byproducts. Crystal Quest only: Heavy metals, Sediment & particulate, Well-water minerals, Taste & odour.
Aquasana leads
5.6
8th of 15 in Shower & Faucet
Drop-down cartridge holds more media than puck-style shower filters
About a year of cartridge life, roughly double the category norm
5.75 foot flexible hose with three-way adjustable spray
No NSF/ANSI 177 listing, the only shower filtration standard that exists
6.6
3rd of 15 in Shower & Faucet
92% recommend rate at Home Depot, the highest on any Aquasana product
Supplied head is matched to the 2.5 GPM the filter is rated at
Highest design score of ten shower filters in independent testing
Independent testing measured chlorine down 57%, against a stated category expectation of 80% minimum
5.6
9th of 15 in Shower & Faucet
Eight finish and head combinations at a four dollar spread
Cartridge interval published honestly at 6 to 12 months rather than a gallon figure
2 GPM rated flow keeps a normal shower feel
No NSF/ANSI 177 listing, the only shower filtration standard that exists
6.3
4th of 15 in Shower & Faucet
Independently tested to NSF/ANSI Standard 177 and media certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 61
Highest design score of ten shower filters in independent testing, with the sturdiest housing in the group
Ongoing cost of just over half a cent per gallon, scored 9.75 on maintenance
Independent testing measured chlorine down 57%, against a stated category expectation of 80% minimum
5.5
11th of 15 in Shower & Faucet
Fixed head and handheld wand on one diverter, sharing a single cartridge
Drop-down cartridge holds more media than puck-style shower filters
About a year of cartridge life
No NSF/ANSI 177 listing, the only shower filtration standard that exists
6.2
6th of 15 in Shower & Faucet
Handheld wand suits seated showering, rinsing down and washing pets
Independently tested to NSF/ANSI Standard 177 and media certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 61
Highest design score of ten shower filters in independent testing
$50 more than the filter-only version for hardware, not filtration
Whole House
See all Whole House productsShared: 5 · Crystal Quest only: 3 · Aquasana only: 4
Contaminants — Shared: Disinfectants & byproducts, Heavy metals, Sediment & particulate, Industrial & agricultural chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & microplastics. Crystal Quest only: Fluoride, Nitrate & nitrite, Dissolved solids. Aquasana only: Hardness & scale, Microbiological, PFAS, Taste & odour.
Aquasana leads
5.6
30th of 55 in Whole House
Nine capacities from 300 to 7,000 GPD, sized against bathroom count
Storage tank kits of 165, 220 and 500 gallons available on every capacity
Brass or stainless rotary vane pumps, 1.5 HP horizontal pumps on larger units
No NSF, IAPMO or WQA listing, so the 95 percent TDS rejection claim is unverified
5.4
37th of 55 in Whole House
14 GPM rated flow, double the standard Rhino and enough for up to six bathrooms
Independently lab-tested at 100% reduction of chlorine and of all three detected disinfection byproducts
1,000,000 gallon or 10-year capacity, unchanged from the standard Rhino
$800 more than the standard Rhino for flow rate alone, not better filtration
5.0
50th of 55 in Whole House
Media blend described in genuine detail, including catalytic GAC for chloramine
One million or 1.5 million gallon capacity with automatic backwash
9 to 11 or 10 to 13 GPM service flow, real household figures
PFAS listed among treated contaminants with no reduction percentage or listing
WH-1010-CT-UVM-BLM
Aquasana Rhino Max Flow with Conditioner, UV, Bypass and Pre-Filter
$6,640
Buy Now5.4
38th of 55 in Whole House
Filter tank tested to NSF/ANSI 42 at 14 GPM for up to 97% chlorine reduction
UV certified to NSF/ANSI 55 Class B for up to 99.8% of bacteria and viruses
Salt-free conditioner controls scale without salt, a drain line or demineralisation
No bundle discount, the price is the individual upgrades summed exactly
4.9
51st of 55 in Whole House
Point-of-entry fluoride reduction, which very few manufacturers offer at all
Media chemistry explained specifically rather than named as a marketing blend
Automatic backwash, 9 to 11 or 10 to 13 GPM service flow
No NSF, IAPMO or WQA listing on a 1,665 dollar fluoride reduction claim
5.2
43rd of 55 in Whole House
Independently lab-tested at 100% reduction of chlorine and of all three detected disinfection byproducts
Tested to NSF/ANSI Standard 42 for up to 97% chlorine reduction
1,000,000 gallon or 10-year capacity, the longest interval in its price class
Independent certification covers chlorine; the wider 78-contaminant list is not separately certified
Crystal Quest vs Aquasana: the numbers
5.4
Products scored30 of 30
Price range$40 – $2,389
5.8
Products scored18 of 18
Price range$120 – $6,640
Crystal Quest vs Aquasana: common questions
Is Crystal Quest or Aquasana better?
Crystal Quest 5.4 from 30 scored products; Aquasana 5.8 from 18.
What is the biggest difference between Crystal Quest and Aquasana?
Certification Coverage: Crystal Quest medians 2.0, Aquasana medians 7.0 (Aquasana by 5.0).
Which is better for warranty & support, Crystal Quest or Aquasana?
Aquasana on warranty & support — Crystal Quest 1.0, Aquasana 3.0.
Which is better for value, Crystal Quest or Aquasana?
Crystal Quest on value — Crystal Quest 5.0, Aquasana 3.5.
What does Crystal Quest make that Aquasana does not?
Crystal Quest sells specialty and water softeners; Aquasana does not, in the products we scored.
Which Crystal Quest and Aquasana under sink should I buy?
Crystal Quest: Crystal Quest Voyager Triple Inline Water Filter System. Aquasana: Aquasana Claryum 2-Stage Under Sink Water Filter, 500 Gallons.
How does Stuff VS Things score Crystal Quest and Aquasana?
Our own product medians: 30 Crystal Quest and 18 Aquasana. A criterion is compared only where both brands clear the floor.
Other comparisons
Scores calculated 16 September 2026 · Products excluded where fewer than two independent sources cover them · How we score