Regarding the matrikx pb1, it is a 0.5 micron nominal filtration with low cost and it removes sediment, dust, cysts, chlorine, lead, ammonia, and other heavy metals. It is from the American company KX Technologies and has been manufactured in India for the past 2 years. The company has 3 factories, one in America, one in India, and one in Singapore, and it has distributed production among its factories. The filter needs to be changed once a year, and it filters everything mentioned above up to 9600 liters of water. From 9600 to 22,000 liters, it only filters chlorine. It also has the necessary certifications from NSF and WQA (American quality organizations) which certify that the filter is safe and actually improves the taste and odor of water, among other things. It has NSF 42 certification, which means it improves the taste, odor, etc. of water and does not add anything harmful to the water.
Here are all the links for the certifications from the official NSF and WQA sites:
https://matrikx.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/WAT058-Matrikx-PB1-Data-Sheet-Issue-5.pdf
In the above link, you can see the durability of Matrikx in liters. It can hold 9600 liters of lead and up to 22,000 liters of chlorine, as I mentioned before.
In the link below, you can see the certifications of Matrikx on the official NSF site:
http://info.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU/Listings.asp?TradeName=Matrikx&Standard=&ProductType=&PlantState=&PlantCountry=&PlantRegion=&submit3=Search&hdModlStd=ModlStd
And below is the certification of Matrikx on WQA:
https://www.wqa.org/find-products/ctl/detail/mid/1054/cid/kx_technologies_llc/sid/52/keyword/matrikx
I use it as the first filter in my home's dual system. At first, I used it alone and it did a great job, no odors, no cloudiness, nothing...everything perfect. I have also installed it directly in my parents' house since it is very economical and cleans the water for a year. Of course, there are much better filters with many more certifications, but also at a much higher price. But for Greek water, which is theoretically one of the best, the matrikx pb1 is the best option. Be careful when you buy it, check the cartridge, make sure it is not broken from a fall or anything else. If it is broken, cracked, or anything else, it is useless.
Update: The company has renewed all models of its filters and has added greater resistance to chlorine, and many can also hold chloramines. The new pb1 holds chlorine for 114,000 liters of water, chloramines for 7,600 liters of water, cysts for 1,890 liters of water, and lead for 14,000 liters of water. Also, the new one has a slightly different label than the old one. It says "Now with chloramine and VOC reduction" in green.
Matrikx.com is the official site to see details.
For those interested in something of higher quality that can also remove nitrates, pesticides, and hexavalent chromium, they should check out my evaluation of aquametix (costs 80€). It is by far one of the strongest and best carbon filters.
