Does anyone else find the CYA test scale hard to see on these Taylor kits?

[DangerBoy]

I did a CYA test for the first time today using my Taylor K-2005C test kit. The embossed scale for the test is on the outside of the small comparator tube and on my comparator it's in a location that's EXTREMELY hard to see. My 50+ year old eyes have lost a step or two but I'm not blind by any means and I didn't even know the scale was where it is until I read the test directions which told me the scale was where it was. Even with my 2.5x reading glasses on and working to get the angle of the light just perfect I couldn't even get close to reading the numbers on the scale. I finally had to take a photo of the scale with my phone camera and then zoom in a bunch before I could read the numbers on the scale. I then used something sharp to put scratches next to the 30 and 40 ppm marks so I'll be able to tell when my CYA is within my target range.

Has anyone else had problems trying to read that CYA scale on the Taylor comparator? I don't think they could've put it in a more hard-to-see location if they had tried to. The rest of the kit is great; they just dropped the ball on that part of the design.

 

[jseyfert3]

Embossed? Mine isn't embossed. It's printed in white lettering on the backside of the black card that surrounds the tests. Your CYA markings are all embossed into the clear plastic?

 

[DangerBoy]

Mine's different than that. Here's what mine looks like. Small clear embossed numbers stuffed on the inside corner of the comparator tube where you can't look at them directly. The absolute worse design imaginable. Epic FAIL on the part of Taylor's designers.

 

[DangerBoy]

The good news is that I complained to Taylor about it through their feedback form and received excellent customer service. I sent the feedback in yesterday afternoon after they were closed and first thing this morning I had an e-mail from them offering to send me a 9193 test tube which is way easier to read and the scale goes all the way down to 20 instead of 30 so will be better for monitoring a CYA level kept at around 30 - 35. I really respect companies that give great customer service.

 

[kimkats]

awesome follow up!