The Good, the Bad and the Possible...
I got this as a gift 2 years ago. I think it's been a work in progress. I have always wanted a fountain in the house. My first word of advice is to think about where it is going to go before you purchase one. Have a plug close. And don't forget to add water DAILY if you use it a lot. It holds less than a half of gallon, so water evaporates quickly.
Overall, I like this fountain. I have read all the reviews about this fountain from other sites (ie Amazon is the best for reviews). Most people complained about the quality, the pump being loud and basic design flaws. They all have a point.
1. The bowl isn't copper, but light weight tin with copper color coating. But the description never said it was a copper bowl. I don't think it looks bad & mine has held up quite well.
2. The pump is loud. For whatever reason, if you use the low setting it vibrates, whereas the high setting doesn't seem to be a problem. Usually rotating the bowl can help. Also, you can alter how loud or quiet the water falls by adjusting the rocks and water level. Spreading the rocks evenly over the top bowl creates more sound and splashing, whereas piling the rocks up more in the center makes a quieter sound.
3. Couple design flaws. You have to disassemble it to change the pump speed. (the pump itself slides to change the speed.) BUT...take my word for it, use HIGH setting. The low as mentioned before seems to cause more vibration issues and there just isn't enough pressure to pump the water through all 7 holes. You can plug the holes you want, forcing it to go through the 3 or 4 holes that you want it to go through if you want to use the low setting, but just use high. Also, what I found most annoying is that there isn't a toggle switch to to turn it on and off. at first rather than unplugging from wall, I would just pull it apart where the cord separates from the transformer for cleaning. Now I have it set on a timer where it runs during the daytime hours and shuts off at night. Problem solved.
4. Many complained that the water doesn't flow over the top bowl into the bottom like in the picture. This is true, there are slatted holes in the top bowl for the water to flow through. That's the way I've always had mine running. After just recently reading the reviews I changed mine. I cut a circle out of clear plastic and placed it over the holes in the top bowl before adding the rocks. (don't use opaque plastic or you lose the affect of the light shining up through the rocks from underneath) Don't worry about making a water tight seal. The weight of the rocks on the plastic will block the holes enough so that the water will flow over the top of the bowl into the bottom.
5. Lastly, another one of my complaints is that the light in the bottom is quite bright. I worked with making colored sleeves to go over the light and using colored plastic to put on the inside of the bottom ring, but finally landed upon marbles or those clear colored stones you put in vases. Right now I have a blue/green combination of stones, but the color kind of takes away from the serene feeling, so next time I'm at Michaels I'm going to pick up some dark amber colored stones.
So.......there you have it....the good..the bad...and The Possible. I've really come to like this little fountain. I'm going to put some plants around it and I think it will really be nice in my entryway.
A word on cleaning. Use distilled water. Just buy several gallons and keep them on hand. Otherwise you end up with waterspots on the bowl. I did find that using a coat of paste wax on the bowl does help with that. And if you don't want to end up with a slimy fountain I suggest an algaecide. There is a product called Fountec. Amazing product. 1 drop per gallon per week keeps algae away. The bottle says harmful for pets and animals, but that is straight from the bottle. When diluted 1 drop per gallon it says it's safe for pets and environment.
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