Looking for opinions on digital water testers

[Sandy Wood]

Anyone using a digital tester for their spa? There are quite a few out there and I wonder if they're reliable. I'm using a Taylor kit and to me it's light years ahead of using test strips. The idea of getting a digital readout is pretty attractive though. 

[waterbear]

On 1/19/2025 at 10:51 AM, Sandy Wood said:

I wonder if they're reliable

Digital testers can only measure pH and ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential), which is indirectly related to sanitizer level. ORP is tricky at best, does not really eliminate the need for testing your FC and CC, and is most useful when used with peristaltic pump automatic dosing of liquid chlorine as found in many commercial installations (which is my experience with ORP controllers). A good ORP meter is not cheap (starting at well over $100 plus the cost of standard solution for calibration and replacement electrodes), needs calibration on a regular basis, and the electrodes do need replacement regularly. IMHO, not worth it. For example, The Mryon L (a reliable brand of testing meters)  free chlorine pocket tester is a pen sized ORP meter that converts the ORP reading into an approximate FC equivalent with a range of 0 to 10 ppm and a resolution of .5 ppm.and retails for over $350. The Taylor K-2006 can test free chlorine with a resolution of .2 ppm. Do the math.

pH meters can be useful since they are not affected by high sanitizer levels like indicator dye based tests ( https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/58991-false-high-ph-readings-when-shocking-some-truths/ ).

However, a good meter is not cheap, the glass electrodes are fragile, need to be stored wet and if they are allowed to dry out they won't work,  and need to be replaced every 6 months to year, and they also need calibration against standard solutions (usually 3 different ones at different pH points but some of the cheaper ones use 1 point calibration). The Myron L pocket pH pocket tester is over $250. (Cheaper pocket testers for both ORP and pH are available but the ones I've tried have not been that reliable) IMHO, they are most useful when using either a CO2 injection system or peristaltic pump acid injection system for automatic pH control. These are normally found in commercial installations.

The small, inexpensive handheld tests are useless IMHO. I have played with several different ones and found them to be more trouble than they are worth. A good tester, either handheld or bench tester, is expensive and does not eliminate the need for testing with a good test kit since you still need to test for CC, TA, CH and CYA (and possibly some other parameters such as borate {if using a borate additve for pH control, water conditioning, and algae inhibition} or metals if they are a problem).

This is my opinion based on my experiences with both residential and commercial pool maintenance.

[Sandy Wood]

Thanks for the insight. I'm currently getting comfortable with my Taylor kit and it's much better than just the test strips I used to use. In a perfect world a single, hand-held device that instantly tests everything would be wonderful. 

[THE DUDE]

 I spurged a bit and bought the Taylor stirrer and use it for almost every test except ph and cya.  I also bought the sample sizer sticks. 25ml and 10ml is on one stick and 44 by itself  Still cant fiqure out why the 44ml sizer stick works but it just does. For me, it makes the taylor tests fast and easy. I have some issues with my hands and I felt a lttle uncordinated trying to swirl and add reagants.

Looks like they went up a bit since i bought mine

https://www.amazon.com/Taylor-6190-Samplesizer-Anodized-Aluminum/dp/B004BGFVA8

https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Stirrer-Speedstir-Start-Up-Batteries/dp/B004BGPC5W/ref=pd_bxgy_d_sccl_1/136-8246912-9023404?pd_rd_w=IpuXY&content-id=amzn1.sym.53b72ea0-a439-4b9d-9319-7c2ee5c88973&pf_rd_p=53b72ea0-a439-4b9d-9319-7c2ee5c88973&pf_rd_r=C7QZYGGEGBFV4XYYMYSJ&pd_rd_wg=DhaEJ&pd_rd_r=8824aeb9-3340-400d-b349-e96d525a8dee&pd_rd_i=B004BGPC5W&psc=1