At CES 2016, my wife and I had a great time trying out gadgets, and we were grateful to discover that Keurig was willing to send a Keurig KOLD Drinkmaker to us for testing out for this article. I will have to say that we our reviews of it are…mixed. I will explain that it is more than just a pun.

In case you can’t tell by the name, The Keurig KOLD Drinkmaker is made to make cold drinks on the spot. I must say that the box that this device came in was big, and it was heavy. This means that it also takes up a lot of countertop space as well.

You know how most fast food restaurants have that fountain drink, where you can get unlimited refills for a low price? Some people say that soda tastes better from one of these, and I am in that club. I remember when I worked a pizza restaurant, and discovered that fountain soda comes from the combination of seltzer water with a dash of syrup.

In the case of the Keurig KOLD, the water comes right from your tap, but it must be flavored with these little flavor pods. All that is required to do is put in a small flavor pod that is the shape of…you know those gumball machines in front of grocery stores that will give you a toy when you put a quarter in? You remember the shape of those plastic things that the toy would come in? The Flavor Pods are that shape, but flat on both ends. I think that is the best description of it that I could possibly give.

Anyway, we took out the Keurig KOLD Drinkmaker out of the box, and it required two hours of cooling down plugged in the wall before you could get it to work. There is this bar of an indicator to let you know when it is ready. Then you had to use a purple thing to cleanse it, so it can fill an empty glass with water. One of the sides detaches so you can fill it with water, and it good for six cups as the indicator light then goes from purple to blue.

Then you can put in a flavor pod, and it will fill with authentic soda from brands like Dr. Pepper, Coke, Sprite, and much more. It starts with the water, and then it adds the color and the fizz. It sounds a little funny, but it works. I have to admit that even without ice, the soda tastes pretty darn authentic.

So what are pluses? Well, if you want an authentic fountain drink in your home, this is the way to go. I actually think that a restaurant soda fountain would cost more and take up a lot more room.

The minuses might outweigh the pluses. Those flavor pods cost a lot, and it is just easier to just buy six-packs or cases. You can get 20 of these for $20.99, and that is good enough for 20 individual 8 ounce drinks. In comparison, it would be cheaper to buy it by the case at 75 cents per can.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether or not the price for fountain soda is worth it. If you do, you can go to Keurig’s site and pay about $369.99 with a discount applied to the cart. It comes with 2 glasses, but packets are sold separately.