AquaChek TruTest pool tester

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peterl1365

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LifeTime Supporter
Mar 28, 2007
276
Murrieta, CA
Pool Size
13000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I bought one of these last month.

http://www.aquachek.com/PublicPopups.as ... uct&PID=24

Since I have color vision impairment, test strips and drop tests are as useful to me as sticking my toe in the water.

Has anyone else used this? So far, it seems to work okay, but I'm not too sure about its accuracy.

I've been meaning to do a quick and dirty gauge repeatability and reproducibility study to see how well this works. Hopefully in the next week or two, and I'll post the results here.
 
I would be very interested in how this works. Inexpensive colorimeters are usually worthless. Aquacheck is owned by Hach who do make some excellent colorimeters but they are pricey! My experience with inexpensive meters is that you get what you pay for!
 
I would be intrested as well. We have been testing urines with dipsticks here in the med lab for years and have see good results compared to other testing methods. I know the urine dip stick readers have fallen in price in the past few years. Some companies will give you the urine strip reader for conteact to buy dip sticks from them. If they use the same techonology as the urine strip readers the results will be very comparable to regular wet chemistry.
Steve
 
I've been using the TruTest for about 3 weeks now. It's convenient and easy to use, but I'm not terribly impressed. The problem is that the accuracy and repeatability are suspect.

While I haven't taken the time to run a bunch of tests in a row to gauge repeatability, I have on several occasions run 2 tests about 2 minutes apart. I've seen the FC readings vary from each other by as much as 1.0 ppm. The pH can vary by as much as .3, and the TA can vary by as much as 20-30 ppm.

Overall, the tester is useable, especially since I'm somewhat colorblind and unable to do drop testing reliably. I've had my water tested on 4 occasions at two different pool stores, and the water was always within acceptable limits. Interestingly, the pool stores results did match very well either.

For $50 and $10-12 per 50 test strips, this is a workable device. It at least gets you in the ballpark. You can buy better devices if you're willing to pay $150 and up for a low-end colorimeter, but those also seem to be more difficult to use.
 
Aquachek Trutest

I know this is an old post but I didn't want to start a new one with this already here.

I too am color blind and the color comparison tests are a pain. I can see 10 different readings in 10 seconds. If everything is perfectly in range I can usually see it ok. I make sure my wife is around to verify.

I have been using the aquachek trutest since last year and have found that the only way to get consistent results is to use a glass to pull the water from the pool read from the glass.
I usually do at least 3 strips to verify a reading wasn't a fluke.
My wife and I did at least 50 readings over time and compared to chemical strips and drops.
What we found was that if you dip the strip for no more than one second and don't "flick" it too hard to remove excess water it is pretty accurate/consistent.

It may sound crazy but it is all timing that guarantees accurate readings. Leave it in the water too long and the readings are completely off. A fraction of a second can make the difference.
We still compare to our drop test every once in a while to make sure we haven't deviated too much but I have gained confidence in the trutest over time.

I am still looking at purchasing the tfp testkit soon. I will have to keep my wife close by for that I suppose. :)
 
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