Oxygenics Marvel 9-Setting Rain Shower System (Brushed Nickel)

Incredible shower head with great stinging spray that is so therapeutic....if it worked! It is barely use-able because the flow rate is really bad. And "NO", it's not the washer - i even tried hard to find silicone washers. I have ALWAYS been able to remove the flow limiter on every faucet or shower head before and never had a problem. However, this one does NOT have any flow restriction device because they have gone Commi (or just high-production cheapo) now and are building it right into the sealed cartridge head. I disassembled the head using thin pry bars but there is no way to disassemble this thing to a point where you can defeat any flow control! Even went so far as to drill from the back, through the ball joint and into the plastic cartridge with a bigger drill bit than the hole size of the ball joint, but it didn't help. You would have to cut the entire head apart and reverse engineer it with a 3D printer, which is way more work than it is worth. I'll just have to try and find a really good, but different manufacturer, of oxygen (need spray) / multi-function (regular spray) shower head. This could have been the best show head ever, but it has such a poor flow rate it is WORTHLESS! I know how to buy and install my own manual flow control devices (about $9 right here on Amazon) for showers so it is a sad waste of the environment that they didn't include a manually operated flow control (like Waterpik does on some of theirs). As it is this thing didn't serve one week before clogging up a landfill with useless rubbish. It's not even metal enough to recycle! I still think it's pretty amazing so maybe one day when i can afford a 3D printer i'll figure out a way to make this thing the RIGHT way. Be sure and save your packaging for this if you decide to not head my words because you will be returning it. It's so bad it should be recalled and i don't think i've ever said that about anything i've purchased before - since i usually read a lot of reviews and can spot quality before buying, but this one looks very high quality even though it fails miserably. No one should be allowed to build disposable trash like this that can't be taken apart, rebuilt, fixed, tweaked, etc. Hopefully the next generation of kids will pass laws to stop this destructively wasteful type of production. Update 2018-06-18: Well, i have to eat humble pie and admit i'm an outright idiot sometimes. I spent more time on this issue and found out it is NOT the shower head at all but it was the 3 way diverter that i got with the Marvel shower head and hand held Marvel shower. I realize this review is just for the head, which works awesome when you hook it up direct / straight to the shower pipe. Talk about silly, but in my defense: every single faucet and shower head i've ever bought has had flow restrictors that were easy to remove so i just assumed this one would as well, Instead, it was just the crappy 3 way diverter and replacing it with a good / high-flow model fixed all the issues of it not putting out any pressure. I then got my own flow control valve to put inline to easily control the pressure to full blast or slower to save water and not scare small children / animals. Changing my review to 5 stars because i really love the spray options and settings. Still wish it was made easy to disassemble for cleaning, but i'll just soak both the main head and the handheld head in a small pail of vinegar once a year and they will then be fine. Note: this is identical to the one that Oxygenics included, so don't buy it unless you love weak showers that have less pressure than maple syrup through a straw: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J74B2LA?aaxitk=og9HB3OC3r0N.p5Eh6RVuw&pd_rd_i=B01J74B2LA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3930100107420870094&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_i=shower+diverter&hsa_cr_id=8529548260401

Got this from Menards. With great flow and 60-PSI water pressure, this shower head is pathetic. I am not giving up yet, there might be a flow restriction device that needs removed.

I've read a few negative reviews about poor flow rate out of this shower head, but the great majority claim it's just fine. Initially I was having low flow problems, and about to send it back, but when I removed the head from the pipe I noticed that the large washer had squished itself into the pipe and was lodged cockeyed there. While I had the head out I saw that down inside the attachment stem of the head there was a tiny washer (1/4"?) that seemed to partially occlude the little slots that direct the water into the face of the head (I assume to limit flow rate). Unfortunately that tiny washer was also cockeyed in the stem tube. I removed the tiny washer and reattached the head to the pipe this time being careful not to overtighten the stem. The water flow this time was almost too intense. So I took the head back off and shoved the tiny washer back into its original place. Reassembled, and flow rate was perfect. So a few things: First of all I think the mfg. should give a warning about overtightening the stem of the head in the installation info. Second, if you want a really intense shower experience, or have low water pressure, remove that tiny washer from inside the stem. Finally, I noticed that water leaked slightly from the stem at its connection to the shower pipe (possibly due to my damaging the big washer initially) so I used Teflon thread tape to ensure a watertight fit of the stem to the pipe. I would give this head a 5-star rating, but I think the mfg. could offer a little more info. and tips in the installation flyer.

As mentioned by others, the shower head as-delivered suffers from such low flow that the features built in barely work. My experience matched that of the reviewer who found that removing the small O-ring that throttles the volume changed it into a nice shower head. Of course, it no longer is low-flow, but I'm fine with that. Without the O-ring, it is in fact rather strong and we turned the flow to the shower head down to get a rate we liked. As a negative, it is somewhat poor that one can only very lightly tighten the shower head on the pipe or the rubber washer distorts and makes it leak around the threads. For a head that adjusts position very stiffly, having the whole head tend to spin on the water pipe is not a good setup. This and the as-deliverd low flow were what resulted in my reduction to 4 stars.