[REVIEW] Waterdrop WD-A2: Reverse osmosis with instant dispensing of hot or cold water

We tested a very interesting appliance for both home and the office. It’s an advanced water dispenser with Waterdrop WD-A2 reverse osmosis, which prepares cold or even hot, safe-to-drink water for you instantly.

In the review, we’ll try out all the options this water dispenser offers and share our personal experience after several weeks of everyday use.

Where to buy Waterdrop WD-A2?

You can find the Waterdrop WD-A2 water dispenser at the brand’s official seller. It’s located directly in the European warehouse, which means very fast delivery—already within a week—and with no extra fees! Don’t forget to use the coupon.

BUY Waterdrop A2

💶 Price: 499 €

Technical specifications

Packaging contents & quality

The Waterdrop WD-A2 reverse osmosis comes in a box measuring 48 x 55 x 29 cm with a total weight of approximately 10 kg. Inside, you’ll find the appliance itself with a removable pitcher, a filter, descaling powder, and the user manual.

The packaging quality is on par with a premium appliance: the molded foam inserts keep the unit securely in place and protect it from damage during shipping. In addition, all removable parts on the appliance are sealed with tape, and the display is protected by a film.

We rate both the packaging quality and what’s included extremely positively. The manufacturer clearly put effort into providing high-quality packaging.

Design and build quality

Waterdrop WD-A2 is a tabletop device with clean lines and a modern look—matte finish with subtle glossy details feels premium. On the front, there’s a control display that gives quick access to all the necessary settings – temperature or volume. We’ll, of course, look at the controls and individual display elements in more detail in one of the following chapters.

The water outlet is placed in the front, and beneath it there’s a removable drip tray that’s easy to clean. The back features its own tank with a capacity of 4.7 L. Access to the filter is from the top after opening the top lid.

The appliance dimensions are 40.38 × 20.82 × 39.87 cm, with an approximate weight of 10 kg. It’s a fairly compact solution considering it offers both cooling and heating. On the kitchen counter it won’t take up extreme space, and it’s still easy to move around.

The materials are mostly high-quality ABS plastics, and according to the manufacturer, some components that come into contact with water are made from safe or stainless materials. The workmanship feels very precise — the surface is solid, nothing wobbles, the touch panel responds reliably, and the individual parts fit together well.

Installation, operation, and maintenance

A big advantage of the Waterdrop WD-A2 is its no-installation design. You don’t need to interfere with the plumbing system or install additional accessories like various hoses. You just fill the tank, turn the device on, run an initial rinse, and you’re done—the system is ready to work. However, the rinse is a rather lengthy process and takes more than 20 minutes.

Reverse osmosis and how it works

Waterdrop WD-A2 uses 5-stage filtration with an RO membrane, which is the foundation of the entire cleaning system. Reverse osmosis is a process where water passes through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure. The membrane retains minerals, heavy metals (for example lead), organic contaminants, chlorine compounds, and other impurities, while clean water continues on. This filter captures particles as small as 0.0001 μm.

The filtration system works in stages: first, water passes through a polypropylene prefilter that captures larger particles. Next comes a filter with activated carbon to eliminate chlorine and bad odors. After that, there’s the RO membrane, which removes most dissolved substances, followed by a filter that stabilizes the water taste, and the final step is UV sterilization. The result is very clean, neutral water suitable for direct drinking and for preparing beverages.

The filter is labeled A2RF-RO and has a recommended lifespan of about 12 months or 1100 gallons, which is approximately 4160 liters. Without a discount, it’s currently sold for 69 EUR.

The device always first pre-filters the water into the front pitcher, from which it then draws water during dispensing. Immediately after dispensing, it pre-filters more water so the pitcher stays full.

Hot and cold water

Waterdrop WD-A2 can instantly heat and cool water as needed. Temperature is adjustable directly on the display, and the system can heat water up to nearly boiling—up to 95 °C—and cool it down to 15 °C. In practice, however, the temperature of cold water fluctuates in the range of 9 to 15 degrees. Usually that was 11 °C.

Practical use is broad — hot water is ideal for tea, instant coffee, soups, while cold water is great for refreshing or diluting drinks.

It’s important to keep in mind that the coldest or hottest water may not be available immediately, especially if the system was used shortly before for water at a significantly different temperature. Still, both cooling and heating work very fast, and the device dispenses water immediately even if it doesn’t quite reach the exact requested temperature.

Display and water settings

On the display, we have several buttons that primarily set the water temperature and its volume. On the left side, there’s a quick selection for cold water (15 °C) and hot water (95 °C).

On the right side, there are buttons for other temperature and volume options. As for the default temperatures, we have 15 / 25 / 45 / 65 / 85 / 95 °C available. For volumes, you can choose between 150 / 250 / 350 / 500 / 999 ml. The last value represents a more unspecified amount, which means you need to stop dispensing manually by pressing the button with the drop symbol.

Temperatures should only be taken as approximate, with a relatively large variation. 15-stage water typically doesn’t actually have 15 °C but rather around 18 °C. Colder temperature water is provided only if we let it cool longer before dispensing. Also, 95-stage water is mostly only around 85 °C or even less. Between 85 and 95 °C there isn’t much difference in real temperature. In terms of how it feels, we wouldn’t say the deviations are that big, but this fact turned out only after measuring with a food thermometer.

A quick option for the most commonly used setting is also available – the so-called favorite drink. It’s symbolized by a star and is set by pressing and holding this symbol, when you can choose the volume and temperature, which you can then simply access by pressing the star.

Status information and boiling point temperature

The display also shows status information and alerts with a beeping sound. On the screen, you’ll see the message Flush when the system needs flushing, an icon representing the water tank when it’s empty, or other alerts such as the need to replace the filter.

A snowflake symbol is also shown when the device is cooling. During this, it hums slightly. The downside is that if we leave the temperature set to 15 °C, the device often keeps cooling even after it has dispensed the water, which is often unnecessary.

Performance, taste, and overall impression

The taste of the water after passing through RO is very clean and neutral. The system’s performance is reliable: the flow rate is stable, and the heating and cooling speed is also very good. The system feels like a quality premium appliance designed for people who want both water filtration and temperature control in one elegant device.

The advantage is a container with prefiltered water with a capacity of 1.1 L, where we have clean room-temperature water immediately available. It’s especially useful when we need a larger amount of water, since dispensing a higher volume takes longer.

A limiting factor can be the water tank, which is 4.7 L, but when its level drops to the MIN mark, there is still 1.5 L of water in it that the system can no longer draw from the container. In reality, we therefore only have 3.2 L available, which in a multi-member household can mean frequent refills.

This is also related to another disadvantage – it’s not enough to simply open the top cover of the container and pour in water. With this approach, the device doesn’t register that we added water. We must physically remove the container and put it back in so that Waterdrop WD-A2 registers that we refilled the water.

Maintenance and child lock

As for maintenance, the package includes descaling powders (2 packs). Just pour them into the water tank and start cleaning by simultaneously pressing and holding the buttons with the star symbol and the child lock. Descaling should be performed when an E2 error appears on the display, or if deposits are visible, or when dispensing noticeably slows down.

Since the appliance can also dispense almost boiling water, the manufacturer has implemented a child lock. This is a button that you have to press every time you want to dispense hot water. However, it’s not a sophisticated solution because even small children quickly figure out that they need to press this button since the light turns on immediately. If you don’t have children at home, holding down this lock button longer will disable the child lock functionality.

Waterdrop WD-A2: Final assessment

Waterdrop WD-A2 is a modern, powerful, and practical solution for anyone who wants clean, chilled, or hot water that has undergone filtration. It’s suitable for those who prefer a no-installation solution that doesn’t need to be connected to the water supply.

The advantage is a 5-stage filtration with reverse osmosis, thanks to which Waterdrop WD-A2 prepares clean, fresh, and taste-neutral water. It has a clear display with the option to choose the water temperature and volume, a child safety lock, or a jug for already prefiltered water.

The downside is the higher upfront cost and the rather illogical way you top up water—it's not enough to simply pour more water in, you need to select and insert a water container.