Sutro device, anyone know if it works?
- Thread starter brucehenson
- Start date
- May 23, 2015
- 24,492
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Just search the forum for posts with the search terms “Sutro” and/or “WaterGuru”. You’ll find a lot of mixed reviews most of them trending towards the negative. Nothing replaces manual water testing in terms of accuracy and believability. The remote sensing systems are, by and large, expensive toys that are designed to hook you into a fee-based subscription service.
I like it... It definitely doesn't replace manual water testing BUT for a new pool for me it's convenient. I can check the pool while away from home and turn on the stenner pump to lower the ph or adjust my chlorine with the iaqualink web interface. I still do manually check my pool but for when I'm away I find it very convenient. It checks ph and fc twice a day and TA once a day. 
I have the blueriiot version. It’s great for monitoring water temp, and the pH and salt level are pretty accurate so far. Mine measures orp, but it doesn’t really give me fc levels. So I disregard that. I like it as a quick ph measure on the pool, since it’s new, and creeps high pretty quickly. I got mine for free, and otherwise probably would not purchase one. The advice here seems to be that they are unnecessary.
I've had the Sutro since September 2022. It was working great until November 2022. It is now end of January 2023 and the issue is still not fixed.
The issue started when I installed a new cartridge in November, all the readings were off compared to my Taylor K2006 kit. You can see how the readings spiked in the photos. It spikes up and down, never consistent. They asked for a water test, I'm not sure how to share my Taylor test results, so I sent them a test from Leslie's, which also showed that Sutro's readings were off.
Sutro sent a new cartridge, and same thing, readings were still off. Sutro's support only responds once a day. Everyday they say the engineering team is working on it. Every month they send a free new cartridge since the issue isn't fixed yet.
Last week I installed another new cartridge. While I was removing the old cartridge I noticed some leakage, you can see in the attached photos. I thought this was probably causing the problem, but Sutro support says to just try to clean it up. I thought they would just replace the unit, but nope, we will just continue to change out cartridges until one works.
I've really lost hope, at least I'm in the early stage of the 1 year warranty, after that, maybe I'll draw a happy face on the Sutro and call it Wilson
The issue started when I installed a new cartridge in November, all the readings were off compared to my Taylor K2006 kit. You can see how the readings spiked in the photos. It spikes up and down, never consistent. They asked for a water test, I'm not sure how to share my Taylor test results, so I sent them a test from Leslie's, which also showed that Sutro's readings were off.
Sutro sent a new cartridge, and same thing, readings were still off. Sutro's support only responds once a day. Everyday they say the engineering team is working on it. Every month they send a free new cartridge since the issue isn't fixed yet.
Last week I installed another new cartridge. While I was removing the old cartridge I noticed some leakage, you can see in the attached photos. I thought this was probably causing the problem, but Sutro support says to just try to clean it up. I thought they would just replace the unit, but nope, we will just continue to change out cartridges until one works.
I've really lost hope, at least I'm in the early stage of the 1 year warranty, after that, maybe I'll draw a happy face on the Sutro and call it Wilson
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Wow...that's expensive...$500 plus 30 or 40 bucks a month.
That's like 5 TFT 100 kits a year.
That's like 5 TFT 100 kits a year.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,933
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
If you use PoolMath
Then choose what you want to share
The link option will show all your logs on a webpage.
Like this
The other choices will just be a text file
Like this that you can email or whatever
Oh yeah I use poolmath, but I didn't think that would have been trustworthy since I could enter any number I wanted
I've used the Sutro for the past three Summers in New York and can say I honestly really like it. By no means does it replace my weekly Taylor kit testing, but it does help you see if the pool chemistry begins to go in the wrong direction so it can be corrected mid-week. I know a lot of people test daily with Taylor - just not realistic for me. With that said, I had one or two months where the readings were pretty far off, otherwise 99% of the time it hits very close to my Taylor test. I noticed towards the end of the cartridge life the readings fall from accuracy but nothing major. I am on my third unit which has been replaced under warranty and find their customer service knowledgeable. Both replacements, customer service proactively reached out to replace the unit as they saw an issue on their end but I didn't see anything wrong in my testing. Good luck - hopefully they can get it fixed for you.
Yup
So you're on your third unit within 1 year? Does the warranty reset after each replacement?
All support is doing for me is send new cartridges. I've asked them to replace the unit but they insist they're still troubleshooting.
3 units in 3 seasons - two the first season when it was first released. They've never asked about my warranty, it's never been an issue. Each time they did a fair amount of troubleshooting and eventually replaced it.So you're on your third unit within 1 year? Does the warranty reset after each replacement?
All support is doing for me is send new cartridges. I've asked them to replace the unit but they insist they're still troubleshooting.
I'm still using my sutro and compared to my Taylor kit the pH and Free Chlorine are usually dead on but the Alkalinity mostly reads way high and I just ignore it. I've messaged tech support in the past about this issue and they seem to fix it on their end and then eventually the alkalinity is off again. I've gotten to learn my pool with the alkalinity so haven't worried about it much. I like it to keep an eye on the free chlorine and ph during the week and realize it's something that I really don't HAVE to have and that it is by no means a replacement for a taylor or tftestkit but like it for now. I'm going on my second season with this unit and keep my pool open year round.
I am on day two of my Sutro and Ph looks reasonable vs Taylor color matching, the Sutro FC is on the low side vs FAS DPD, and TA is telling me 181-200 when Taylor K2006 is at 60. Way way off. Granted I am on day 2 only and I need to let it shake out some before contacting customer support.
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