My 3 Favorite Showerheads So Far...

Hansgrohe Croma E100 (and C100) 3 Jet Regular (Not the Eco-Air version)

Alsons Fluidics / Delta H2OKinetics

High Sierra 1.5 gpm Shower Head

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Top Low Flow Showerheads - Less than 2.0 gpm

Alsons Fluidics / Delta H2OKinetics

Available in 1.85, 1.6, and 1.5 gpm.

High Sierra 1.5 gpm Shower Head

The High Sierra is particularly useful for those who have old metal pipes in old houses which are clogged with corrosion, thus restricting water flow.

Honorable Mention

The Niagara Earth Massage is available in White and Chrome plastic and in 1.25, 1.5 1.75, and 2.0 gpm.   It does a pretty good job at low flow for dirt cheap, but the two above are better at rinsing with better spray force. The higher the flow the better the rinse and shower feel with these. 


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Other Shower Heads that Look Promising

Kohler Forte 3 Function - A bit pricey.  Dialing down to fewer and fewer numbers of individual spray nozzles, pumps up the pressure.  The smallest circle of jets has an outward spreading conical shape which is good for coverage.

Waterpik Original Powerspray+ 6 Function

Don't Get Ripped Off! Volume 3

I've seen these for sale on eBay.  These are very similar to the Super Power Shower showerheads that are sold at Home Depot for a $1.25 a piece.  They aren't particuarly good performers, though not terrible.  But they certainly are nothing to get excited about.  

Kohler Flipside Shower Head Reviiew

Also available in a handheld version.

Took my first shower with this one.  Gonna give it a couple more goes and remove the flow restrictor, before commenting.  Overall positive impression, so far, even with the flow restrictor in place.

Skip it.  More coming soon...

Welcome to the Buyer's Guide to Low Water Pressure Showerheads!

Welcome to my showerhead blog, world!

My purpose here is to share my experiences and knowledge and provide useful information to others in search of a better showerhead.  Especially those who reside in homes with low water pressure.

What I will be focusing on..

Inexpensive Showerheads - Less than 30ish bucks will be the focus, maybe an exception or two.

Showerheads that do well in Low Water Pressure Situations - My water pressure is measured  40 psi at best, and it goes down from there.  Average water pressure in the US is 50 psi.  Most towns have standardized on 60 psi as their goal for water delivery. 

Low Flow Showerheads - With an eye towards extending hot water supply, but it just so happens that this is beneficial for low water pressure situations as well.  And of course water conservation and judicious use of energy and resources is a side benefit.  Savings on energy usage (heating hot water) is icing on the cake.  But my primary concern is shower quality (comfort, rinsing, warmth, etc).

What I will not be focusing on...

Showerheads that do well in High Water Pressure Situations - If you have high water pressure, you have a much wider choice of fixtures that will do well for you.  In fact you have different showerhead characteristic requirements if focussed on maximizing comfort...ie high flow, non restricted flow showerheads.  That being said, you may wish to research Low Flow Showerheads for other reasons, thus this blog may be of interest to those with high water pressure.

High Flow Showerheads - Showerheads with flow restrictors removed.  See above.

Expensive Showerheads - Showerheads greater than $50.  Frugal and economical is the focus of this blog.

Rain Type Showerheads - Typically these are lower pressure affairs. I am looking for some force to the spray.

Multi-Function Massage Type Showerheads - Update: Added these as i found some good performers.  Really depends on the head, like with regular showerheads.

Handheld Showerheads -   Update: Added these as I found some good performers.  Really depends on the head, like with regular showerheads.

I will also cover some shower arms, water flow control devices.  I will be posting videos of spray patterns and flows of many showerheads.  Reviewing each showerhead and also comparing them to one another.   Recommendation lists will be compiled.  And a ratings form developed.  

Please note that some of the findings will be subjective and a matter of personal preference.  It's just the nature of the beast.

Hope you find this information useful in your search for a better shower experience!  Good Luck out there!

Best regards

EscapeVelocity


Addendum:

After having some experience with more than a score of showerheads, Ive decided to group the showerheads into classes that have similar mechanical spray functionality.   Each showerhead will get a write up, and then I will do a write up comparing all the showerheads within each class group to each other, with a best in class.  I will then post a comparison between the class groupings.   Finally the Top 4 or 5 ranked showerheads will compared amongst each other in it's own post.  I might have a couple of posts on products of special merit as well.  Best Buy alternatives will also be posted.


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Top Performing Shower Heads So Far...

Hansgrohe Croma E100 (and C100) 3 Jet Regular (Not the Eco-Air version)

Alsons Fluidics / Delta H2OKinetics

High Sierra 1.5 gpm Shower Head

Waterpik LAT-569 Easy Select 5 Setting Handheld

Grohe Relexa 28-342 

Kingston Brass K131A 

HighPressureShowerHeads.com Supreme

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The Whedon Saver Alsons Incredible Head Class of Showerheads Comparative Review

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Top 3

1rst Place

Rainshow'r Bernoulli = 2.5 gpm  Largest droplets amongst the group and a slighly tighter spray pattern make this the most efficient showerhead at rinsing, warmth is slightly better than the rest, as well.  Also the top performer in the group as to spray force.  The donut hole is less pronounced for shorter people.  Slight edge in build qualty and aesthetics goes to the Bernoulli Rainshow'r as well.  Made in USA.  By far, the most expensive of the group.

2nd Place

Alsons Incredible Head Europa  = 2.5 gpm Second place in the group, owing to it's flow control valve, which allows dialing back the flow for shaving or lathering to reduce water usage, without cutting the flow completely off, which helps maintain some warmth and comfort.  The 3rd Place Whedon Deluxe Showersaver has slightly better spray force and rinsing ability, but the spray characteristics of these 2 are similar, with pronounced donut hole.  Delta is now branding these.  Originally made in USA now made in China.  The Peerless knockoff has reduced build quality with a rubber flow control valve....so stay away from that one.  

3rd Place  

Whedon Deluxe ShowerSaver DS1C & DS2C 2.5 gpm = Nearly as good of force as the Bernoulli.  The wider spray pattern and more pronounced donut hole made this one less effective at rinsing.  Warmth was OK, spray force was slightly better than the 2nd place finisher, and slightly less than the 1rst place finisher.  Most Whedon showerheads used to be made in USA, now many are made in China and/or Assembled in USA.   

Others

Alsons Incredible Head 2.5 gpm = This showerhead had a really fine mist type spray, amongst a category of showerheads that are known for that attribute.  Very gentle fine mist sprinkle, with no pronounced donut hole.  Very even distribution of droplets.  I found the spray particularly soothing and thought it worth praising on the blog.  However the rinsing ability suffers greatly making this a less practical utilitarian showerhead.  Warmth suffers as well.  The trickle valve is tightly machined and works great.  Made in USA.  Delta now brands these and they are made in China.

Whedon Ultra Saver 1.9 gpm =  This one has a flow regulator which maintains 1.9 gpm at a range of pressures.  Less forceful spray that the Top 3.  Pronounced donut hole.  Slightly less warm.    This one fell to the bottom.  It does rinse better than the one just above.  Not recommended.

Conclusion

I must admit, the gadgeteer in me has a fondness for these tiny all brass construction low frills showerheads.

In the final analysis, none of these made the list of the creme de la creme of showerheads for low water pressure.  The Rainshow'r Bernoulli is quite livable and kind of stylish in a modern kind of way.   Ultimately the most interesting showerhead in this group is the Alsons Incredible Head Europa, which can be useful where you are trying to limit water (hot water) usage, but still trying to maintain some comfort...avoiding a trickle valve near full shutdown of the flow and instead just dialing it back a bit.  However you can buy stand alone flow valves that sit between a showerhead and the arm for this purpose and use other better spray showerheads.

Note

The High Sierra 1.5 gpm showerhead would upon a quick glance belong to this group of showerheads, however it does not share the same basic mechanical design.   It's design is unique and frankly it blows all of these away in spray force and rinsing ability and warmth, at low pressure at least, whilst using less water to boot.   

Waterpik LAT-569 Easy Select 5 Setting Handheld Shower Head Review

The Waterpik Easy Select 5 Setting Handheld Showerhead is a good choice for low water pressure.  All the settings are fully effected and strong.  

At first I was avoiding multi-setting massage type showerhead and handheld showerheads, but after the success with the Hansgrohe Croma (non-Eco Air version) E100 3 Jet, I decided to give some others a try.   Not all of them have been successes, for example the Waterpik Twin Turbo just doesnt get enough water flow and pressure to be effective at all settings in my shower.  But this does very well.  

Here is a video of the spray settings...

All of the settings are useful and or enjoyable.

The Full Rain Spray setting is high and low flow selectable.  And although I wish the high flow setting were a bit stronger in force and it doesnt drench as well as the Hansgrohe Croma Eco Air 3 Jet rain setting, it is acceptable and the lower setting is nice for doing a modified navy shower....saving (hot) water while still maintaining some comfort and warmth while shaving and lathering.  I wish the Power Spray and the Circular Massage were both a bit wider, but they are useful and usable as they are with nice force and thick streams of water.  The Circular Massage is very nice and provides good rinsing ability as does the Power Spray.  My favorite setting may be the Mist Spray.  It's not a great rinser (but not terrible), but you could do a full shower with just that setting.  

The Easy Select ring switch works with one hand and it's big knobs prevent slipping.   Easy to turn and with a positive click/indentation operation.

The mount is very intuitive and easy to install, pretty well designed, I say.  The plastic faux metal hose is kind of lame.  Build quality on the whole unit is fair.  The faux nickel finish is nice.  

I probably wont be using this as a handheld.  But one nice feature of this unit is the mount lifts the showerhead up a good bit.  A nice touch for tall people.  This also makes this a more downfiring affair than most showerheads.  Like a rainshower head type of overhead mount.  

Note: This thing was terrible with the flow restrictor left in.  I removed it.  This applies to all Waterpik showerheads.  They stink with the flow restrictor.  There are videos on Youtube to help with flow restrictor removal on Waterpick showerheads.

This one is going into the list of Top Performers for the final showdown.

There seems to be some question about this units long term durability based on Amazon reviews.

Spray Force = 5 on some settings
Spray Warmth = 4 on some settings
Spray Width = 4 on some settings
Rinsing Ability = 4 on some settings, 5 handheld 
Build Quality = 3

High Sierra 1.5 gpm Showerhead Review

The High Sierra 1.5 gpm low flow showerhead is a real surprise!  It's a unique design that really delivers a strong force of water.  

A thorough review of the High Sierra showerhead can be found at TriRig.

This showerhead doesn't really fit into the other categories based on physical operation design characteristics.   It uses a hose type nozzle in which a rounded bar is placed in front of the stream to break it up and give the nice showering experience from the flow.  

Without a doubt this is the strongest force water blast from a 1.5 gpm showerhead, even amongst all showerheads Ive tested here in a low water pressure situation.   The forceful spray is not stingy.   The force of this showerhead and stream characteristics makes this shower head a bit more splashy off the body than others.  The spray is fairly tight, but works well.  The spray pattern is oval symetrical with no donut hole in the center like some other shower heads. Warmth is good for such a low flow unit.  Rinsing ability is great.

The force combined with the low flow makes this a great showerhead for saving money or for taking longer relaxing showers.   Combine this with a trickle/shut off valve for even more water savings. 

Build quality is top notch, all chrome plated brass with a polycarbonate water guide cap.  The design also looks promising with regards to hard water deposit, aka lime scale, build up.   The design also prevents water dripping after shutdown.

This is a top contender.  Highly recommended.  Price is $34.95 plus shipping and can be found at the manufacturer's website and Amazon.

Made in USA.


Spray Force = 5
Spray Warmth = 4
Spray Width = 4
Rinsing Ability = 4
Build Quality = 5