Nowhere will you find a better explanation of the new Enagic K8 Kangen water ionizer than this blog post. Ever since I started Alkaline Water Plus over ten years ago, I have made every effort to accurately  compare water ionizers in order to bring real and tested information to you. Prior to this testing, there was literally no valid (tested and proven) information about the Enagic K8's performance anywhere on the internet. So, I purchased an Enagic K8 machine myself to test. You can see the videos and results below. 

ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential)

Comparing one water ionizer with another is a way to boost the validity of the testing by giving you a reference point. I can't possibly test all water ionizers against each other in one test, but over time, testing one against another, you can get a very good idea of how all of the water ionizers compare to each other.

Oxidation reduction potential (ORP) has been traditionally used to judge the antioxidant levels of a water ionizer. As a water ionizer boosts the pH of the water, along with that it boosts the ORP. You must control the pH in order to compare ORP between two water ionizers. You can see I have done that here. 

I set the two water ionizers to produce 9.7 pH water, then tested the ORP. In this test the two water ionizers could not have performed more equally. 

• The Enagic K8 Kangen Water machine tested -817 ORP
• The Smart 7P water ionizer tested -814 ORP 

You can see this testing in your browser (below video) or visit YouTube directly.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEjCESiQy9k

Over -800 ORP is extremely high. This test shows that both the Smart 7P and the Enagic K8 should be considered in the category of "the best" water ionizers for ORP.

Molecular Hydrogen Levels

A newer way to test for antioxidant levels produced by a water ionizer is to test for molecular hydrogen (specifically). There are two ways to test for hydrogen, one is with the Trustlex meter and the other is with methylene blue drops. I used both methods to test the molecular hydrogen levels of the Enagic K8 and the Smart 7P water ionizers.

Both the Enagic K8 water ionizer and the Smart 7P had equal hydrogen levels when using the Trustlex meter (see above video). The K8 had 1.63 ppm (parts per million) and the Smart 7P also tested at 1.63 ppm for molecular hydrogen. [Note: 1.63 ppm is extremely high molecular hydrogen levels for any machine to produce.]

Using the  Blue Drops, the Smart 7P tested way higher in molecular hydrogen at 1.8 ppm of molecular hydrogen. The Enagic K8 only tested at 1.0 ppm of hydrogen in the blue-drops-test. 

Note: The blue drops is another kind of test altogether. The blue drops (methylene blue) are a simulation of "free-radicals", and the more drops you can add to the 6 ml water sample will simulate a greater and greater ability to neutralize free-radicals, provided the solution turns from blue to clear. When it turns blue and stays blue, it is said to no longer be able to neutralize free-radicals. The instructions state that each drop that clears shows the hydrogen levels in the solution being tested are equal to .1 ppm. So 10 drops would be equal to 1 ppm, and so on.

You can see the blue-drops-testing in this next video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt4IyQD6Pb8

These tests show that the Enagic K8 is one of the best water ionizers in the area of producing high molecular hydrogen levels. It joins the ranks of other great water ionizers, such as the  Athena Classic Water Ionizer, but is not quite as good as the Smart water ionizers (or other water ionizers specifically configured to produce more hydrogen).

Regular water doesn't fight free radicals, but hydrogen water does (because the hydrogen is free and unbonded to other elements). When you test regular water (not ionized) your results on both tests (with the Trustlex meter and with the blue drops) would be zero.

The amount of free hydrogen in ionized water varies from water ionizer to water ionizer, and also varies by source water, flow-rate, and ionization setting. 

Both water ionizers being tested are above average in their free-hydrogen content. The Smart 7P water ionizer was developed specifically to have high levels of molecular hydrogen antioxidants. You can see that in the testing. It took 19 drops to neutralize the ionized water from the Smart 7P vs 11 drops for the Enagic K8 Kangen water machine.

What Makes a Water Ionizer "Better"?

Water ionizers range in their ability to produce hydrogen. The better water ionizers produce about equal to the K8 in this testing. There are only a few water ionizers that can produce better than that, such as the  Smart water ionizers and the H2 water ionizers. Other things that make a water ionizer "better" (other than h2-levels) are of course the quality of filtration and the plate-cleaning methods used. Only continuous-cleaning would be considered the "best".

Another quality that some may consider when buying a water ionizer is the use of a saline port. Enagic is one of the only brands that uses a saline port. By the way, using a saline port with a water ionizer is somewhat dangerous to the machine, because saline corrodes platinum (on the electrodes). A better choice for someone who wants a saline port is also one of the best water ionizers ever made:  Ionia's Best SuperS12 Water Ionizer.

How Does the Enagic K8 Compare to the Enagic SD501?

The Enagic K8 is definitely better than the Enagic SD501 in producing molecular hydrogen. The Enagic SD501 was only able to produce about .5 ppm of molecular hydrogen (about half of the Enagic K8). The Enagic SD501 tested in most respects about equal to our  Nexus X-Blue water ionizer (which is a great water ionizer by the way, but definitely not the best.) Whereas, the Enagic K8 is comparing about equal with the Athena Classic now, except it is still not able to do continuous-cleaning and the filtration is not as good.

Further Observations and Comparisons of the Enagic K8 water ionizer vs Other Water Ionizers

Just like the Enagic SD501, the Enagic K8 uses a carbon block filter. It's a good filter, but not the best. It is quite acceptable for removing chlorine and heavy metals, but is not suited to removal of Fluoride, chloramine, chromium, pesticides, herbacides, arsenic, or many pharmaceutacles.

The Enagic higher pH-level water has a foamy look to it when it pours vs other water ionizers. Many Enagic dealers claim that this foam is proof of higher hydrogen levels in the water. However the testing shows with 100% certainty that it is not an indicator of that. What is most likely the reason for this foam is the production of more combined, but undissolved, oxygen and hydrogen gasses at the alkaline pole. These are clearly undissolved, because you can see them, and they obviously dissipate quickly after pouring (as you can see in the videos). 

I don't think the taste of the Enagic Kangen water is bad at all, but it isn't as good as I have come to expect with UltraWater filtration (which is what I'm used to).