AquaChek TruTest Spa Digital Test Strip Reader - for Spa and Hot Tub Water Testing - Tests for Total Bromine, pH, and Total Alkalinity - Quick and Accurate Results - Includes 25 TruTest Strips (Red)

Works great..

Performed several pH tests in a controlled calibration fluid of exactly 6.8 pH. Multiple tests performed only seconds apart returned pH levels between 5.7 and 10.1.Bromine levels would also swing widely between 2 and 20ppm when testing only minutes apart.All tests were performed out of three separate test strip containers to ensure that the test strips themselves were not faulty or contaminated. These units are just plain garbage. Avoid.

I decided to purchase in spite of the low ratings, after reading how others had good results when following the instructions precisely. I figured: I can follow instructions precisely! ;-)My process: (1) run the jets of the hot tub for a few seconds to mix the water a bit, (2) scoop out a sample of water in measuring cup, (3) clean the reader window with the provided tool, (4) turn on the TruTest, strip in hand, press bottom button, (5) wait for countdown to say "dip", (6) dip for a second, then pull out, and shake off droplets (once only), (7) without sliding, insert strip into reader, aligning with top and making sure it lays flat, (8) do all this in the shade, and additionally cover the reader to keep external light from getting in (9) wait for readoutI did this 5 times in a row, with the same sample of water.I also used 3 regular AquaChek Total Bromine strips for comparison, waiting for 15 seconds before letting my wife do the readout (I'm color blind).Results with red TruTest digital reader and matching red strips:(Total Bromine / pH / Total Alkalinity)8.9 / 7.7 / 2401.9 / 8.0 / 1200.0 / 8.4 / 200.9 / 8.0 / 600.0 / 8.4 / 60Results with AquaChek Total Bromine strips and "wife" analog reader:1.0 / 8.0 /801.0 / 7.5 / 601.0 / 7.5 / 65As you can see, the later results match up reasonably well between digital reader and my wife's readings: I should probably add some brom tabs, shock the hot tub, and use a small amount of "down" to get back to a lower pH level. After making those adjustments, I should also keep an eye on alkalinity, to see whether I need to increase it.But the first two results are WAY different from all the rest! Even if I'd done "best out of three" (wasting extra strips in the process), I still wouldn't have made the right decisions, based on those bromine and alkalinity readings!Now I'm torn. It would be nice not to have to wait for someone else to be available to read the strips for me, but if I can't use these digital readings with confidence, what's the point?

Easy to use - no guessing - fast

sooo much easier to use. if you are color blind this is a godsend

Wildly inaccurate and variable readings everytime I use it, including when I take a second reading right after the first reading (why would they be different?).Brominating readings are ridiculously high each time (I have yet to get a reading below 20!), and alkalinity readings are variable to the extreme. Thought it would be so much better than strips, but the complete opposite is the case. Would recommend not buying it and sticking to regular strips, which are what I have gone back to. Very disappointing.

Works great!!! Just wish I had more specific instructions about how to rectify the probelm once I find out what it is. Other than that, I love it!

I read the bad reviews on this but decided to take a chance and buy one anyway - wish I hadn't; the reviews are right, this thing is worthless. Many reviews say the key to getting it to work is to ensure you keep the unit completely shaded/in the dark while it is trying to read the test strip. I did that to the extreme - covered up the unit with a black card and my hands, to allow it to be in darkness. The results are still inconsistent and clearly inaccurate for the bromine and alkalinity readings (keeps showing both as 0 levels), but for some reason the ph readings do appear to be accurate, compared to my Taylor chemical test kit (which I bought after it was obvious this digital unit was worthless). Anyway don't bother with this one, instead get a Taylor chemical test kit.

Nous avons voulu tester notre jaccuzzi. Il affichait un taux de ph trop élevé et nous avons fait que de rajouter des produits ph-et sur la machine la valeur ne change pas. Cela fait depuis le début que cela bloque sur 8.4 (high). En essayant une autre machine (pas aquacheck) ainsi que d'autres bandelettes cela nous a donné une tout autre valeur et un ph bien trop bas(nous n'avons fait que le baisser vu que la machine nous indique trop haut). Donc évidemment la machine dysfonctionne et nous indique les mauvaises valeurs... donc aucun intérêt d'avoir dépensé 100francs la dedans pour finalement que les valeurs soient fausses...

The Aquachek meter for Bromine works well. I was unable to get a PH reading with normal test strips as I was trying to balance my hot tub water.The unit gave me accurate readings that allowed me to get the correct balance.

Generally works well. When bromine levels are very high it doesn't read accurately.Since I'm colourblind I can't vouch for a comparison with the regular strips but my tub doesn't cause any skin irritatons, doesn't smell, controls bacteria levels well, so it must be fairly well calibrated.

HARD TO GET A READING. NOT CONSISTENT CONSTANTLY GETTING AN ERROR READINGMULTIPLE TRIES, RESULTING IN DIFFERENT READINGS

As others have said, this unit is very inconsistent. Half the time it wouldn't even give me an alkalinity result, it would just show 0. I found myself having to use a second regular dip strip just to double check what I just checked so now I'm using twice as many strips to do the same check as I was doing before I got this. For the same money you can pretty much buy a Taylor drop test kit instead and will be 100x more accurate.