I have always been a fan of using a dish for water, regularly changing water through out the day, but I find my cats have differences for how they take their water and a fountain seems to split the difference. I currently use Petmate's Fresh Flow. It is extremely quite and has a reserve tank to make sure the water is always flowing. I do agree with previous comments about the filters they are a pain to perpetually replace and not environmentally friendly, but it is the price to pay I guess, I would love a better solution but am not aware of any. Overall I find the fountain keeps my cats happy and drinking water so the pros out weigh the cons.