Before having this water dispenser unit, I was a former customer of one of those water delivery services (I will not name names). I had a pretty bad first timer experience being a customer of water delivery, with them having extremely terrible customer support service, overpriced 5-gallon water, other hidden fees, and knowing I was bound and at their mercy of a contract.It was hard to figure out which water delivery company was actually good unless you signed up with them and go through their services. Evidently, I can see that it was going to be a tedious and frustrating process just to have water in my house. It just wasn't worth the mental effort thinking about how am I going to get water, you know?After doing some research, I figured it was actually the best idea just having my own water dispenser(not renting), no contracts, no bs. Another big reason why this made the most sense for me is because there are 3 water dispenser vending machines outside of a grocery store that's literally 2 blocks from my place. So I purchased this Brio Water Dispenser, then went to my local Wal-Mart to buy five 5-gallon container bottles, went to my grocery store to fill up the water myself. It's definitely way cheaper to fill up the water bottles myself than to go with a water delivery company.Once I got to using my Brio Water Dispenser, I barely had to do any other work just to figure out this machine. Everything was super easy. Just turn on all the knobs behind the machine, wait 20 minutes to warm it up and get it cycling. The bottom door opens like a fridge. There is a small little ramp that allows you to easily slide your heavy water bottle (3 or 5 gallon) into the dispenser. Literally, you do not have to do ANY lifting just to get it inside the dispenser. There are 3 buttons on the top that easily tells you hot, room temp, and cold water. The night light is an option for you as well, but I like to keep it on. This product also has a self-cleaning cycle, but I haven't gotten around to using it yet.Water dispenses pretty quickly, so you're not standing there for 15 minutes to fill up your 40oz thermal bottle. The amount of water dispensing out feels pretty satisfying.Tall people like me!(I'm 6'1) This dispenser, unfortunately, is designed a bit short, so I recommend squatting/kneeling down if you're filling up a lot of water. Please don't injure your lower back over water, that would really suck.Note that when your water is running low, there will be flashing red light indicating so. But more importantly, your "room temp" button might not dispense any water if it happens. Just know that this is normal and probably designed that way on purpose(hot and cold water buttons still work when machine detects low water). Just replace with a full 3/5 gallon water, and everything should be good. Once you fill with new water, give it time for the machine to run the water cooler to ensure cold water at the push of a button.My only downside with this product is that the removeable water drip tray it comes with doesn't always feel secure when you attach it on. Like pulling a parking voucher ticket out of a kiosk, it can take the same amount of pulling force just to remove the water drip tray, so be careful.Overall, I'm extremely happy with this purchase. You do get what you pay for, so make sure you buy a decent(not cheap!) water dispenser. I would highly recommend this product for its very intuitive use and design. How you get water is up to you, so strategize that well before buying a water dispenser.First time, finally, owning one of my own and I think I got it right first time. The legitimate cons I've read in reviews have been due to poor packaging, causing damage in shipment. I don't really think it's poor packaging at fault, more...woops...something slammed into a corner, pierced the box 2 inches deep, or a frustrated driver threw it down stairs. Otherwise the packaging is decent, relatively thick cardboard, cushioned top and bottom. I kept the box, for re-packaging/moving as that's pretty easy to do once you take it out. The one lone strip of box tape that holds the bottom is OK, but potentially a weak link, double up on that or use a couple layers of plastic box tape and that's not going anywhere. Fortunately, the box on my order was treated very kindly by our parcel friends. Quite pristine actually. Next complaint was noise. This unit does have some running noise, on par with an older generation refrigerator (even though it does have a modern energy star rating). It makes noise when the pump is filling up the reservoir with water and of course while dispensing water to replenish the reservoir. Reservoir seems pretty big, if I was to guess 1/2 or probably more a full gallon at the ready. Anyway, a bit of a hum. For me, having on the edge of the kitchen/dining area, hardly notice unless I listen for it. I could see if you had it next to your bed or something, this could be slightly obtrusive.The positives: Good room for a variety of containers and pitchers, especially if you remove the drip catcher. Looks great, bottle out of the way and hidden, another stable surface to set drinks, or whatever on. Like the night light...and that it is switchable, also, all functions are individually switchable with confidence inspiring switches, in easy reach on the back edge. Main power, hot, cold, light. So, if you don't find yourself using the hot water feature for a day or a year, have kids around, etc...you can just turn hot water off entirely. That's cool. Seems well made...I won't call it a tank because it's rather thin brushed stainless steel and plastic, but seems built to survive normal regular use. Great idea with the release to the cap from tube, allowing for a good fit with pretty much all types of water bottles. Get one! Five gallons goes a long way and easy to find cheap at only 4-5 dollars. Water is an often underappreciated necessity to a happy healthy life. Drink more, make shakes, make tea, make hot chocolate, chug homemade lemon/lime aid, toast to your good fortune and abundance of good clean water. Tap water tastes funny usually. Having all that on easy tap just makes life better.I am very happy we finally decided to do this. The machine is very easy to set up and use, and looks great with any decor. Not only are we drinking more water but we can also feel good that we are not polluting with plastic bottles! The temperature for both cold and hot is perfect out of the box. It's the perfect cold so you can chug it and not cringe but still get the refreshing coolness you desire. The hot water is hot enough for tea so no more waiting for the kettle to have a cup of earl grey. The only thing I would change if I could is the noise level when it pulls water up from the jug. It's not disturbingly loud but certainly noticeable but overall you forget it's there until you want a drink and then you're just so pleased to have it. The cleaning feature is nice peace of mind and the only long run question is how well the buttons hold up. I am a bit concerned with this button layout although I'm not sure how else it could be done so I will be sure to update this review after long term use and note any issues that may arise as this is not cheap and one expects long term quality. So far though... 5 stars!I had to replace my old water cooler because it quit after 5 solid years of use and no complaints. I could not get the same brand so after reading the reviews on this Brio brand cooler, I decided to pay the high price to get a good quality cooler. I am very unhappy with it. The main feature that I use on my cooler is the hot water on demand. This machine never seems to have hot water when you need it. We have to turn the button on the back off and then on again for the water to heat up and it takes way longer than our old cooler. I am thankful that I have something to compare it to. Our old cooler kept the water very hot and then all you had to do was push a button on top and within 1 minute it would be hot enough for a coffee. This Brio machine takes about 15 minutes to get the water hot enough. This is not acceptable. I can get hot water faster with my kettle. The price of this cooler is way too high for only the cold option to be working. I would not buy this brand if you are wanting hot water on demand.Stopped worked a week before warranty is up. Guess what? They offered to replace but since I’m in canada, nope can’t send to canada even though they can sell the unit in canada. Buyer beware.J’ai passé la commande le 14 novembre avec livraison prévu le 23 novembre au 1 décembre j’ai reçu quelques jours plus tard le 4 décembre pas la fin du monde !!! Mais avec une méga bosse sur le côté.j’ai demandé un retour il ont accepté la même journée et j’ai décidé d’annuler le retour parce que j’ai pas envie d’attendre encore et de risquer les mêmes problèmes par contre je dois dire que l’eau est bien froide merciDepuis le 25 mai 2021 très déçu de ce produit il fait un vacarme tout simplement incroyable, Je ne le recommande pas du tout. de plus l'eau n'est pas très froide un peu plus froide que celle de la maison.N'achetez pas ce produit.We liked this water cooler. Although it does make some noise when it refills, it wasn't particularly annoying. It looked nice, cooled the water and worked as expected. However, it has now (post-warranty) developed a leak in the reservoir system. Our last water cooler lasted 8 years. The price is too high for a disposable unit.