Test Strips - Further Discussion
- Thread starter Pool_Medic
- Start date
Test strips are test strips are test strips. Name on the bottle does not matter, none of them are great for anything.
Impressive you can tell with the huge ranges each color represents, not many can read an FC of 4.5 and somehow get that from the test strip shade of pink between 3 and 5. Or that there's so little difference between any of the colors to begin with so accurately reading anything on them is virtually impossible. Or that the strips are so easily damaged by moisture that they start to go bad the moment the container is opened. Or that they are sold so cheaply that quality control is virtually non-existent and it's just impossible to know whether a strip is good or bad and if it is bad why its bad...
Yeah, I'm going to stick with them not being great for anything. Or good for anything.
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Taylor test strips are far from cheap, they also use thicker pads. I agree the cheap Chinese ones are brutal but not these.
Aquachek TruTest has a digital reader for Cl, pH, Alk. Not precise but good enough for me. I use it regularly.
- Jul 17, 2019
- 3,731
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I'll confess, I bought some and used them this winter on weeks when I didnt feel like busting out the TF100. They are certainly easy, and mine seemed to be reasonably accurate to the drop tests, but precise they are not.
In my TF100, I know exactly what all of my numbers are.
In my test strips I know:
FC is somewhere between 5-10, ok thats mildly helpful
pH seemed similar to the drop test in terms of readability and preciseness
TA - I know its between 40-80, so I guess that is mildly helpful
Calcium - I can tell its somewhere between 100 and 500, which pretty much tells me nothing.
CYA - Is that color 40, 100, 150 or something in between? Not very valuable info here either.
Bottom line, I'll continue to use the test strips periodically, but only when I'm 99% certain my numbers are good going into the test and I do not have to make any adjustments. In a site dedicated to helping people with their pools based on accurate numbers, there is no way I would recommend them to anyone on here asking for help.
In my TF100, I know exactly what all of my numbers are.
In my test strips I know:
FC is somewhere between 5-10, ok thats mildly helpful
pH seemed similar to the drop test in terms of readability and preciseness
TA - I know its between 40-80, so I guess that is mildly helpful
Calcium - I can tell its somewhere between 100 and 500, which pretty much tells me nothing.
CYA - Is that color 40, 100, 150 or something in between? Not very valuable info here either.
Bottom line, I'll continue to use the test strips periodically, but only when I'm 99% certain my numbers are good going into the test and I do not have to make any adjustments. In a site dedicated to helping people with their pools based on accurate numbers, there is no way I would recommend them to anyone on here asking for help.
thefloatqueen
Bronze Supporter
This is a terrible device. I owned one, and besides giving me 3 different readings in a row, I would say it's spot on. Especially on PH, constantly would read low 6.8, when it was actually around 7.6-7.8. All of these devices are the same, They promise convenience, but they end up making you do more work.
All test strips I've ever used all point to my PH being low. Between 6.8-7.0. Even when my PH was as high as 8.0. CYA on test strips is very inaccurate. I don't know if my CYA was 40 or 120 based on the strips. I would not recommend any test strips to anyone ever.
Can anyone think of a reason most pool stores only sell strips to customers but then tell you to bring in a water sample 1-2 times per week to test with their dropper Taylor k-1004 test kit? I won't spoil the answer...
Even if they were correctly within their own ranges 0-20, 20-50, 50-100 and 100-200 does absolutely ZERO for accuracy
TheDeuce
Gold Supporter
Since I have a bunch of test strips I wondered if they would have any value as a quick FC test. When I use my Taylor 1000 all I know is that my FC is 5 or higher - about the same thing these test strips I have tell me. So any reason I shouldn't use them for a daily FC snapshot?
m.
m.
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