I've seen seveal different computer water testers at the different Pool stores I have been in. Many advertise the Alex or Accuscan machine from BioGuard. These plug into the USB ports and "read" the test strips. I can't find anywhere that sells these. I mean how much could it cost? 200-300 maybe? Sure would like to have one of these as it would take the "Guess work" out of reading strips or "eyeing up the color in the bottle" trick. Am I the only person who thinks this?
Computer testing devices?
- Thread starter Hpdrifter
- Start date
If I were you I would spend $68.00 get a tf-100 test kit and get better results than some computer could ever generate.
There's no guess work with that kit. I have my 8 year old daughter doing the tests with me watching her and she tells me what the results are. I love that kit!!! You could never go wrong with it.
P.S. Do I get a discount now????
There's no guess work with that kit. I have my 8 year old daughter doing the tests with me watching her and she tells me what the results are. I love that kit!!! You could never go wrong with it.
P.S. Do I get a discount now????
The ALEX system is notorious for overdosing pools with things they don't need. There are inherent problems in all strip readers, btw.
A colorimeter, such as the LaMotte Waterlink system, which is quite a bit more expensive, is more accurate but not without it's own set or problems and still needs to be backed up by titration tests at times.
The main reason these are used by poolstores is because they are FAST. I can do a battery of 8 tests in under 5 minutes with the Waterline Express system at work but I often have to pull out the Taylor set to thtrate the calcium if it is beyond the range of the meter or the TA if the chlorine levels are high.
A colorimeter, such as the LaMotte Waterlink system, which is quite a bit more expensive, is more accurate but not without it's own set or problems and still needs to be backed up by titration tests at times.
The main reason these are used by poolstores is because they are FAST. I can do a battery of 8 tests in under 5 minutes with the Waterline Express system at work but I often have to pull out the Taylor set to thtrate the calcium if it is beyond the range of the meter or the TA if the chlorine levels are high.
The Taylor chemistry based tests are the best, used in the Taylor kits, the TF Test Kits and the Leslie's kits. If you want a fancy toy to play with you should look at the ColorQ. It does FC, CC, and PH very well so long as FC is 10 or lower. It does several other tests as well but is not as good at them. You can get some fairly fancy colorimeters in the $600 price range, but they aren't much better than the ColorQ. Even the pros, who can afford multi-thousand dollar test machines often go back to Taylor chemistry. Avoid digital strip readers, they are invariably imprecise.
Thanks guys! I have ordered the TF -100 test kit, and yes I got the discount! :-D I will see how that goes I was just looking for a fast and easy way. I also have a hot tub that I need to test so having the computer system seems attractive. Plus then you can run one of the "pool programs" automatically on the PC to see what you need.
The BEST "pool programs" that you can use are free and available in the stickies section of this site.
check out BleachCalc (Windozwe only) and Jason's Pool Calculator (works in your webbrowser on any operating system).
check out BleachCalc (Windozwe only) and Jason's Pool Calculator (works in your webbrowser on any operating system).