i think for asia region these branded companies sell kau kau markup. maybe filtered drinking water is premium here

i see in usa/uk their price is very competitive.
even aquaphor is cheap there.. (inline prices with rm350 for 3 filter)
maybe their filter head also cheap ma. but importer here dont want to sell to u. u ask guy la. why he dont sell cheaper. why must be over 1k for the set?

Been using the Panasonic red water filter for few years.. its on the more expensive side...
Think the difference is that its supposedly can filter bacteria.. as per the note on the packaging and filter.
That the extra I think from the cheaper Panasonic.
Think what its lacking from the more expensive filter is virus killing which mostly done from the UV light. this one not fitted with UV light.

As for me, old habit .. still boil the water....

That's good to hear. Similarly I think I'll also boil the water with this red-coloured Panasonic water filter although the store seller mentioned there is no need to boil water with this product. After reading your post, I"ve gone back to Panasonic Malaysia and looked at the costlier water filter costing RM2,700 and you are right that this one has the UV filter with the NSF42 certification proudly displayed on that page. They have explicitly mentioned that "you can enjoy safe water without the bother of boiling it" so I guess it is pretty much confirmed that there isn't any need to boil water for drinking with this model.

But at a price of RM2,700 which is 6 times the price of the red-coloured water filter, I'd happily settle with the latter.

Currently planning and saving up to purchase this more expensive item. Mainly for its alkaline and other function. Its an expensive outlay but as comfort its a more premium item. One thing good is that the replacement filter element is just slightly more than the price of the red filter element. So not that expensive to maintain.

wah you also use pana PJ-6RF my dad also use that model too before but it cracked already after 8 year of use