I bought 10 of these for my 2 Emperor 400s (to have extras...). They got here about 8 days ago.
So far I like them, but it'll be hard to review them without seeing how long they last, and whether or not they can be rinsed out without falling apart. The frame is little flimsy (compared to the rite-size E cartridges), but it doesn't seem like its so flimsy that it'll dislodge from where it sits.
Theres not much carbon in them, but some people don't use carbon so maybe thats a bonus for you.
I made the mistake of replacing all my filter cartridges at the same time (kind of had to...). My old rite-size E cartridges were so clogged up that hardly any water was passing through them (mostly going over them and out the overflow). So when Ken's cartridges arrived I changed them out on 1 of my Emperor 400s, with the intentions of waiting a week or two before changing out the other 400's cartridges.
BUT, right after I finished changing cartridges on the first filter, I noticed the other filter was louder than usual, and had almost no water flow. This filter was over-due for maintenance/cleaning so I went ahead and removed it do that. I put the old cartridges for this filter in a bucket with tank water with the intentions of re-using them. But after the maintenance/cleaning was done and filter put back on tank, it was still noisy! This
the ____ out of me so I had to keep messing with it to try to fix it...and each time I messed with something the old cartridges would dump some nasty stuff in the tank (and yes I was unplugging filter first
).
Sooo I got sick of seeing the nasty water go back into the tank so I removed the old cartridges and added Ken's. Ended up putting 4 cartridges in the filter I pulled off to clean (its STILL being loud but it also seems to have a stronger water flow than the other filter...planning on replacing it with a couple AC70s next month, the noise is driving me
.
To make a long story short: My water is still a little cloudy because I changed all my cartridges at once and probably lost most of my beneficial bacteria, but I think this is because I changed all the filter media at once, which is a no-no. But it is clearing up a bit more each day...
So, thats why I can't give it a full review yet. But for a $1.40 each, buy a dozen of 'em, and if you don't like them...oh well
edit: One concern I do have is that the filter pad isn't thick/fine enough to filter really small particles....but it may be getting them just fine, too early to tell.
Ordered a Shi* load of them 
