So I ordered the TF-Pro Test kit and it came in on Saturday. Got around to running all the tests and thought I'd give a thorough review of it with the pros and cons. This is going to probably be a long post, but just thought I'd throw out my details.
Little bit of info about my situation. My pool was built before last summer so this is now my 2nd year maintaining it. It's a vinyl pool, about 22,000 gallons with a cartridge filter, and Hayward vsp and heat pro heat pump that heats and cools. Last year, all I did was put in a few 3" tablets a week in the chlorinator, and maybe added baking soda twice the whole summer. That was basically it. A few shocks with the 1 lb powder stuff. Pool was crystal clear with zero issues.
I then discovered this website and started reading about how the 3" tablets are, in short, the devil, and not recommended. I got super stressed that my cya was through the roof. After 2 pool company testers giving me opposite end of the spectrum results on everything, I decided to get my own top notch test kit and run everything myself. BTW, as many probably know, phin is now dead but I downloaded the iopool app and it will still let you sync the phin with it. I use that as secondary ph/sanitizer monitoring and it surprisingly does very well. 700-750 mv roughly translates to 3-4 FC and the pH has been right on. It doesn't test anything else though which is where the test kit comes in. Ok so to the test kit.
I couldn't decide rather to get the TF-100 or the TF-Pro. The website was not clear on what the differences were between the two. To my naked eye, it looked like it basically had the automatic stirer/magnet included (which I wanted) and a really nice looking box to pack it all in. After searching other posts on this forum, that seemingly matched with what I was understanding. Only thing that made me a little nervous was I found a post a few years back about somebody complaining about the calcium hardness being off on the Pro compared to the TF-100. Hoping it had been resolved since then, and since I really liked the case and wanted the stirer, I went ahead and spent around $20 more for the TF-Pro.
Impressions
I really like the case a lot. It was well thought out, everything was arranged and organized smartly. The bottles for alkalinity, calcium hardness, etc are all color coded and arranged together. Made it very easy to run the tests. The instructions are laminated/water proof which was also very well thought out. They were also very easy to understand and straight to the point details. The magnetic stirrer worked great and was cool to see. Is it worth $50? Probably not honestly but it is really cool and gives you a little more peace of mind that your "extra" tests are accurate.
I ran every test except the powdered chlorine and the CC. I was overall very impressed with the accuracy and the ease of it. Here are a few negatives I can think. The ph meter only read in 0.3's, meaning it was either 7.2, 7.5 or 7.8. The phin read 7.6 and a cheaper liquid test kit I had did 0.2 increments and was also 7.6. Coincidentally, my cheaper knock off test kit had the same looking chlorine and pH dual tubes, but it read the pH in 0.2 increments and chlorine in stricter increments. For a $150 test kit I honestly expected it to at least be 0.2's. It was slightly darker than the 7.5 so I estimated my ph was around 7.6....but wish it had more pH variance. This is also just a rare thing, but when I was running one of the blue bottles for (I think) the calcium hardness test....somehow during shipping a small portion of the liquid in one of the blue bottles was loose so when I opened it, a chunk of liquid dumped in my test tube and all down the sides of my magnetic stirrer, staining the side and it went inside the crack. I'm sure it's all fine but was just a little annoying. Had to dump everything out and rerun it. Only other thing is I wish there was a way to test for metals, particularly cooper.
Here's a little detail on each test.
Chlorine/Ph:. Idiot proof. 5 drops each, mix them up and you have your results. My FC chlorine showed up 3-6 and my pH was a little darker than 7.5 but not as dark as 7.8....so 7.6 estimate.
Alkalinity: Very easy to follow instructions and magnetic stirrer made it much easier. On the 7th drop, it turned a very light pink, then on the 8th it was a solid pink. For kicks, I put a few more drops in but it never turned "red" as the instructions indicated....was more of a dark pink. Assumed that was how it was supposed to be so 70-80 range was alkalinity. Pool store B called it 80 so I felt confident. Pool store A called it a single digit # lol...a 6 I think.
Calcium Hardness:. Same as alkalinity. Magnetic stirrer made it nice. It changed colors on the 5th drop indicating a 125 reading. Pool store A and B also called it a 125 so I felt confident in that result.
CYA:. This was the big one I was curious about. Since I used 3" tabs all last summer (about roughly 60 tabs from May 1 to October 15), pool math said that would of raised my cya by 94 so when I read all the horror stories through this website, that honestly was the main reason on why I bought this test kit. After all of that, my CYA turned out to be 30, possibly 40. I maybe saw the smallest hint of the dot at 40, but definitely nothing at 30. I used the light from the magnetic stirrer. Instructions weren't clear on if I should use that as the guide or not, but light or no light it was either 30 or 40 range. So why wasn't my cya higher? Best factors I can think of is I live in central Arkansas where we get plenty of rain in the off-season. I would guestimate that half or more of the water is probably replaced by rain during the year. July and August are hot and realtively dry, but otherwise there is decent rain here and there. I only had to top off my pool rom the water hose maybe a few times last year and it was during those months. So my conclusion at least for now is if you live say in Arizona or somewhere where you don't get the water replaced often, that would probably explain why the cya goes out of whack? Who knows but since I'm on the lower end, I will continue to use the 3" tabs since I have a 40 lb sealed container from last year. Every month, now that I have a nice test kit, I will monitor the cya level. I'm strongly considering going swg next year so way I see it, it would need to rise for a swg anyway.
So that's what I got. I know this was a marathon of a post, but just thought I'd give a detailed analysis of what I thought about it.
Conclusions
I think the $150 pro is overall worth it. The ph and FC was not anything special. My cheap knock off test kit that you can buy for $10 at Walmart gives the same results there. The extra tests is where it's worth it and I really trust the results. The TF-100 case looked unimpressive so for me I was ok to splurge another $20 or so to get what I think is an A+ case since I wanted the magnetic stirrer. If you want the magnetic stirrer, I think it's worth just getting the Pro. Shipping was great. Ordered it I think on a Wednesday afternoon and got it that Saturday. The no sales tax for uncle Samuel was also a nice touch.
What I would do if I ran the TF Test Kit website.
Make it very clear what the differences are between the TF-100 and the Pro. Put it in the Pro description with a statement saying something along the lines of "The difference between the Pro and the TF-100 is ......". If feasible/possible, include something to test for metals.... particularly copper.
Overall, very happy with the purchase and feel great that I now can test for everything.
For anyone that read through this, do all my levels seem ok. Anything I should do?
FC 3-6
Ph 7.6
Alkalinity 70-80
Calcium Hardness 125
CYA 30-40
Little bit of info about my situation. My pool was built before last summer so this is now my 2nd year maintaining it. It's a vinyl pool, about 22,000 gallons with a cartridge filter, and Hayward vsp and heat pro heat pump that heats and cools. Last year, all I did was put in a few 3" tablets a week in the chlorinator, and maybe added baking soda twice the whole summer. That was basically it. A few shocks with the 1 lb powder stuff. Pool was crystal clear with zero issues.
I then discovered this website and started reading about how the 3" tablets are, in short, the devil, and not recommended. I got super stressed that my cya was through the roof. After 2 pool company testers giving me opposite end of the spectrum results on everything, I decided to get my own top notch test kit and run everything myself. BTW, as many probably know, phin is now dead but I downloaded the iopool app and it will still let you sync the phin with it. I use that as secondary ph/sanitizer monitoring and it surprisingly does very well. 700-750 mv roughly translates to 3-4 FC and the pH has been right on. It doesn't test anything else though which is where the test kit comes in. Ok so to the test kit.
I couldn't decide rather to get the TF-100 or the TF-Pro. The website was not clear on what the differences were between the two. To my naked eye, it looked like it basically had the automatic stirer/magnet included (which I wanted) and a really nice looking box to pack it all in. After searching other posts on this forum, that seemingly matched with what I was understanding. Only thing that made me a little nervous was I found a post a few years back about somebody complaining about the calcium hardness being off on the Pro compared to the TF-100. Hoping it had been resolved since then, and since I really liked the case and wanted the stirer, I went ahead and spent around $20 more for the TF-Pro.
Impressions
I really like the case a lot. It was well thought out, everything was arranged and organized smartly. The bottles for alkalinity, calcium hardness, etc are all color coded and arranged together. Made it very easy to run the tests. The instructions are laminated/water proof which was also very well thought out. They were also very easy to understand and straight to the point details. The magnetic stirrer worked great and was cool to see. Is it worth $50? Probably not honestly but it is really cool and gives you a little more peace of mind that your "extra" tests are accurate.
I ran every test except the powdered chlorine and the CC. I was overall very impressed with the accuracy and the ease of it. Here are a few negatives I can think. The ph meter only read in 0.3's, meaning it was either 7.2, 7.5 or 7.8. The phin read 7.6 and a cheaper liquid test kit I had did 0.2 increments and was also 7.6. Coincidentally, my cheaper knock off test kit had the same looking chlorine and pH dual tubes, but it read the pH in 0.2 increments and chlorine in stricter increments. For a $150 test kit I honestly expected it to at least be 0.2's. It was slightly darker than the 7.5 so I estimated my ph was around 7.6....but wish it had more pH variance. This is also just a rare thing, but when I was running one of the blue bottles for (I think) the calcium hardness test....somehow during shipping a small portion of the liquid in one of the blue bottles was loose so when I opened it, a chunk of liquid dumped in my test tube and all down the sides of my magnetic stirrer, staining the side and it went inside the crack. I'm sure it's all fine but was just a little annoying. Had to dump everything out and rerun it. Only other thing is I wish there was a way to test for metals, particularly cooper.
Here's a little detail on each test.
Chlorine/Ph:. Idiot proof. 5 drops each, mix them up and you have your results. My FC chlorine showed up 3-6 and my pH was a little darker than 7.5 but not as dark as 7.8....so 7.6 estimate.
Alkalinity: Very easy to follow instructions and magnetic stirrer made it much easier. On the 7th drop, it turned a very light pink, then on the 8th it was a solid pink. For kicks, I put a few more drops in but it never turned "red" as the instructions indicated....was more of a dark pink. Assumed that was how it was supposed to be so 70-80 range was alkalinity. Pool store B called it 80 so I felt confident. Pool store A called it a single digit # lol...a 6 I think.
Calcium Hardness:. Same as alkalinity. Magnetic stirrer made it nice. It changed colors on the 5th drop indicating a 125 reading. Pool store A and B also called it a 125 so I felt confident in that result.
CYA:. This was the big one I was curious about. Since I used 3" tabs all last summer (about roughly 60 tabs from May 1 to October 15), pool math said that would of raised my cya by 94 so when I read all the horror stories through this website, that honestly was the main reason on why I bought this test kit. After all of that, my CYA turned out to be 30, possibly 40. I maybe saw the smallest hint of the dot at 40, but definitely nothing at 30. I used the light from the magnetic stirrer. Instructions weren't clear on if I should use that as the guide or not, but light or no light it was either 30 or 40 range. So why wasn't my cya higher? Best factors I can think of is I live in central Arkansas where we get plenty of rain in the off-season. I would guestimate that half or more of the water is probably replaced by rain during the year. July and August are hot and realtively dry, but otherwise there is decent rain here and there. I only had to top off my pool rom the water hose maybe a few times last year and it was during those months. So my conclusion at least for now is if you live say in Arizona or somewhere where you don't get the water replaced often, that would probably explain why the cya goes out of whack? Who knows but since I'm on the lower end, I will continue to use the 3" tabs since I have a 40 lb sealed container from last year. Every month, now that I have a nice test kit, I will monitor the cya level. I'm strongly considering going swg next year so way I see it, it would need to rise for a swg anyway.
So that's what I got. I know this was a marathon of a post, but just thought I'd give a detailed analysis of what I thought about it.
Conclusions
I think the $150 pro is overall worth it. The ph and FC was not anything special. My cheap knock off test kit that you can buy for $10 at Walmart gives the same results there. The extra tests is where it's worth it and I really trust the results. The TF-100 case looked unimpressive so for me I was ok to splurge another $20 or so to get what I think is an A+ case since I wanted the magnetic stirrer. If you want the magnetic stirrer, I think it's worth just getting the Pro. Shipping was great. Ordered it I think on a Wednesday afternoon and got it that Saturday. The no sales tax for uncle Samuel was also a nice touch.
What I would do if I ran the TF Test Kit website.
Make it very clear what the differences are between the TF-100 and the Pro. Put it in the Pro description with a statement saying something along the lines of "The difference between the Pro and the TF-100 is ......". If feasible/possible, include something to test for metals.... particularly copper.
Overall, very happy with the purchase and feel great that I now can test for everything.
For anyone that read through this, do all my levels seem ok. Anything I should do?
FC 3-6
Ph 7.6
Alkalinity 70-80
Calcium Hardness 125
CYA 30-40
fc range higher than that 
