Taylor Test Kit-Vinny?!

[kervis]

Vinny, you constantly rave about your Taylor Test kit.  My spa comes at the end of the month thus I have no kit yet.  My wallet says to buy the $15 kit at WMart.  My brain has not decided yet due to several factors, your high opinion of the Taylor being one of them and I think it is Gomboman? that says the HTH kit is good enough. Here are my thoughts as they come to me:  Aren't the test strips good enough to get me "in the range"?  Isn't spa ownership supposed to be EASY and fun--get out, throw in a tsp of Dichlor for every bather, push button and leave! Don't I just need to be "in the range" instead of possibly obsessive or overwhelmed about all the stuff in the water?  I already know that body lotion, sunscreen, and dirty kids will greatly affect my water   and I am prepared and willing to face this battle as it will be a family tub.  I know I will need swirl away or it's equivalent when I  drain and refill, and a bazillian scum ball thingys to help me out.  I am not quite getting the Free Chlorine vs. the whatever other chlorine reading it is, but I can read up on that.  Sell me on the Taylor  kit.  I want to do it right the first time!  Tell me why I should get it vs. the cheaper kit or just using the test strips.  Thanks so much.

[tonyp]

I have the WalMart kit but hardly use it.  Other than Ph and TA once in a while, I don't check anything.  

I have ozone and use N2.  I shock each week with dichlor(3 TBS) and add MPS(2 TBS) before each use.  Over 1.5 years and no water problems.  I also use 2 oz. of Scale and Stain each week.

My water is extremely hard and I adjust the Ph down every few days and it can take 1-2 months to get it in range as the high TA will always bring it up again.

I have the test strips but find them useless as my Ph is always too high and my Ch is always 0 except after shocking.

[wmccall]

Test strips for reading PH would rank high on my most worthless product list.  Besides being very subjective, how you read them can vary with light and you have to be quick. In the time it takes you to decide what color it matches, that color changes.  The only thing I see the strips as any good for is detecting the presence of Chlorine, which I really don't even pay attention to any more. - I use the $15HTH kit from Walmart, as much as I hate Walmart  :-/

[salesdvl]

Vinny, you constantly rave about your Taylor Test kit.  

I think Vinny is gonna name his next kid Taylor.  

[Gomboman]

Vinny, you constantly rave about your Taylor Test kit.  My spa comes at the end of the month thus I have no kit yet.  My wallet says to buy the $15 kit at WMart.  My brain has not decided yet due to several factors, your high opinion of the Taylor being one of them and I think it is Gomboman? that says the HTH kit is good enough. Here are my thoughts as they come to me:  Aren't the test strips good enough to get me "in the range"?  Isn't spa ownership supposed to be EASY and fun--get out, throw in a tsp of Dichlor for every bather, push button and leave! Don't I just need to be "in the range" instead of possibly obsessive or overwhelmed about all the stuff in the water?  I already know that body lotion, sunscreen, and dirty kids will greatly affect my water   and I am prepared and willing to face this battle as it will be a family tub.  I know I will need swirl away or it's equivalent when I  drain and refill, and a bazillian scum ball thingys to help me out.  I am not quite getting the Free Chlorine vs. the whatever other chlorine reading it is, but I can read up on that.  Sell me on the Taylor  kit.  I want to do it right the first time!  Tell me why I should get it vs. the cheaper kit or just using the test strips.  Thanks so much.

Kervis,

I didn't have much luck with Test Strips but some people love them here. I bought a K-2005 Taylor Test Kit and it's the best money I've ever spent. I'm not familiar with the Wal-Mart kit but someone said that it doesn't test for Free Chlorine. That's the most important test for me. I personally try to avoid Wal-Mart like the plague.

Maybe you can start out with strips and see how it goes for yourself. I've learned to test the water only once a week to avoid the over balancing routine. Good luck.

[Vinny]

I am extremely fussy about my water, both in my pool and spa. It needs to be sparkling or else I'm not happy. I purchased the Taylor originally for my pool.

I never have used test strips ... my neighbor just showed me theirs because they have a problem and quite honestly it was too vague. I was totally unimpressed.

I used to use the $15 Aqua Chem test kit from K-Mart. It tests for almost everything that the Taylor does. I say almost everything because the Taylor will test for free & total chlorine, not just chlorine. I once read that the OTO test kit (K-Mart) doesn't really measure free chlorine. I want to know both so I purchased the Taylor. Reagents are also available for the Taylor where I don't believe they are for the inexpensive kits.

Like Tony I don't test many parameters in my spa. I know based on testing the water that if my PH is low so is my alkalinity so in goes Baking Soda. I also like to know what my free vs total chlorine is so that I know how to shock ... less than 0.5 PPM combined chlorine gets a chlorine shock, greater than gets MPS with some chlorine for disinfection. You can't do that with the OTO tester. My pool is a different story, it behaves differently than my tub and I test all the parameters.

How you handle your water is really up to you but if you start having problems, it's good to have something that you can know what's going on. I would recommend NOT using strips but as far as test kits both will do a good job with the Taylor being better IMO. BTW, I keep a cheap OTO test kit around in case I get a "bad" reading on chlorine - just in case.

[sandiego]

Vinny, you constantly rave about your Taylor Test kit.  My spa comes at the end of the month thus I have no kit yet.  My wallet says to buy the $15 kit at WMart.  My brain has not decided yet due to several factors, your high opinion of the Taylor being one of them and I think it is Gomboman? that says the HTH kit is good enough. Here are my thoughts as they come to me:  Aren't the test strips good enough to get me "in the range"?  Isn't spa ownership supposed to be EASY and fun--get out, throw in a tsp of Dichlor for every bather, push button and leave! Don't I just need to be "in the range" instead of possibly obsessive or overwhelmed about all the stuff in the water?  I already know that body lotion, sunscreen, and dirty kids will greatly affect my water   and I am prepared and willing to face this battle as it will be a family tub.  I know I will need swirl away or it's equivalent when I  drain and refill, and a bazillian scum ball thingys to help me out.  I am not quite getting the Free Chlorine vs. the whatever other chlorine reading it is, but I can read up on that.  Sell me on the Taylor  kit.  I want to do it right the first time!  Tell me why I should get it vs. the cheaper kit or just using the test strips.  Thanks so much.

I'm sure people will aruge with why you should get a fancy kit and that's fine. For some people that works. But your commment out spa ownership being easy is accurate. Most people obsess way too much about keeping their water perfect. Most of the time you don't need to obsess. Remember you bought this spa to relax, not to have another thing to take care of.

Most people are fine with test strips, you might use a little more the first month than normal because you are trying to figure out what's best for your spa and your useage, but after awhile most people I know don't even use test strips regularly. They get their own formula down and only occassionaly do they need to use the strips.

So my advice would be stick with the test strips, if you are having problems then get a fancier kit, but you shouldn't need it, what are you using? Chlorine?

[Snowbird]

Like Tony I don't test many parameters in my spa. I know based on testing the water that if my PH is low so is my alkalinity so in goes Baking Soda. I also like to know what my free vs total chlorine is so that I know how to shock ... less than 0.5 PPM combined chlorine gets a chlorine shock, greater than gets MPS with some chlorine for disinfection.

The Nature2 strips are pretty basic and unreliable and it is clear that free chlorine has to be monitored.  I never really know for sure what is going on using the strips.

We have had a K2005 for a while but didn't use it because of the confusion.  Understanding spa chemistry has been a real chore for me and this paragraph goes a long way towrds cleaing things up a little.  I'll use the test kit with the info above and see how it works out.

[Brewman]

If you can get those strips to work, go for it.  
I always had trouble reading them, so I switched to the
"Walmart" kit (which incidentally, is available outside of Walmart for those who despise the place).
But as mentioned, it doesn't test for free chlorine.  
But it costs less than $15 and does what I need it to.

[windsurfdog]

I, too, am a Taylor devotee.  One consideration about the Taylor kit purchase.....it comes with what is arguably the best water balance information booket in existance.  If you decide against the Taylor purchase, then the Taylor booklet can be purchased separately here:  Taylor Testing Guide

[drewstar]

I use liesure time test strips and have had no problem.  I thought about buying a test kit, but then thought; Why?

My water is great, the strips work very well and I have no desire to over analize my water.  If I had "dificult" water and needed to really stay on top of it, or my tub was showing problems that I couldn't get a handle on, I'd consider a test kit.

[Snowbird]

Regarding test strip accuracy, here are the readings from my 1st test with the Taylor kit this morning.

TA - 100
pH - 6.9 (added 2.75 oz soda ash)
Calcium - 150
Free Chlorine - 7
Combined Chlorine - 0
CYA - 65 (62 days since last water change with light use - next change due 7/5/06)

Before adding soda ash I tested with the Nature2 strip and it showed the pH to be 7.4 and the TA to be 40.  I will only use those strips for mps even though that isn't very accurate either.

[tony]

I am also a Taylor 2005 user.  Test strips work fine for chlorine readings, but kits are much more accurate for pH and TA.  The Taylor kit also includes a base demand and acid demand reagent that will tell you how much chems to add to correct pH.

[Vanguard]

If you want accuracy, go for the Taylor Kit.

In my past  life, I took care of swimming pools for a living.  I always used the Taylor kits.  Partially for the DPD portion of the chlorine test.  So much more reliable.

As others have said, test strips are okay and if you aren't fussy about perfect water, you should be okay.  I use test strips on my spa and have been happy with my water.  I do use my old Taylor kit on start up though.  I like to make sure my calcium is good.

You can always use test strips and then go to your dealer for more accurate testing once a month.  They'll do it for free.  Just buy your chems from them - that's only fair.

Don't waste your money on a cheap kit if you are looking for accuracy.  Test strips are as good as cheap kits.