Now that panasonic and philips has also come out with their own water filter with UV, how does this compare with Espring?

It is good but overpriced for what they do. I do think the philips UV water filter is more value for money. 3X cheaper and roughly the same features. If you really kiasu you can connect a normal panasonic water filter + the philips UV water filter. This way you replace the panasonic waterfilter more often rather than the more expensive philips water filter.

I wondering if there is any external water UV module, so if you buy the Aquapure + external UV module, you will have a complete solution at cheaper than those espring .