No matter what state you’re located in, at a minimum, you’re required to test your pool water before opening to ensure the water is clean, healthy, and safe to swim in. For most commercial pool operators, you’re testing the water multiple times throughout the day–a number that multiplies exponentially if you’re operating multiple pool facilities.
Testing pool water is not only the safe and responsible thing to do for your guests, but it’s also required by health departments. The accuracy of the pool test kits you use can significantly impact how easy it is to maintain your pool, the volume and cost of chemicals you put in, and the safety of your pool water.
It’s not a process to invite user error into–and if you’ve ever squinted at a pH test strip to try to compare the shades of color by eye, you know it’s easy to make an error. There are too many different variables that impact your test results using non-digital test kits. Even the surrounding light or wall colors can affect how a user sees the colors. From failing to hold the reagent bottle precisely to different users seeing the same color differently, there are many downsides to using non-digital pool test kits. This is especially true in this day and age, when digital pool test kits are readily available.
When you make the switch to a digital pool test kit, naturally you want one that’s going to be far more accurate and easy to use than non-digital ones. But they’re not all made equal, which is why we put together this guide to the best digital pool test kit to help you narrow down your shortlist and make an informed decision for your pool operations.
The Importance of NSF/ANSI- 50 Certification
First, we’re going to cover one of the most important features to look for in a digital pool test kit: NSF/ANSI-50 certification.
NSF and ANSI are two separate, independent organizations with similar missions.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the US voluntary consensus standardization system, and is also the US member body to ISO (International Organization for Standardization). Essentially their mission is to enable the development of international standardization, which not only makes it easier for manufacturers to comply with the same set of standards worldwide, but it also helps ensure that people and companies alike can expect standardized products and experiences. Their work covers a variety of industries, from technology and computers to swimming pool equipment and chemicals.
While they don’t create or publish standards, they do approve standards to be used–and they also certify that products do or don’t meet those standards for their industry.
Established in 1944, NSF is a private organization made up of “auditors, engineers, microbiologists, toxicologists, chemists, and public health experts” who together test, audit, and certify an array of products in multiple industries.
They partner with ANSI to develop standards and uphold their integrity, producing the NSF/ANSI-50 Standards. For Pools, Spas, Hot Tubs, and Other Recreational Water Facilities, this standard “establishes criteria for performance validation, operational safety, and testing of pool and spa products. Certification to this standard is mandatory under the Model Aquatic Health Code and is a requirement for most U.S. state and local pool codes.”
The products that fall under the purview of this standard include water treatment chemicals, suction covers, pool pumps, and water quality test devices i.e. pool test kits.
Should a manufacturer choose to, they can go through the NSF certification process and receive certification that their product meets standards and complies with even the strictest public health codes at either Level 1, 2, or 3–with Level 1 being the highest. Any product that doesn’t meet Level 3 means it doesn’t meet the standards required to be certified. For pool test kits, this means that products that don’t meet this level aren’t accurate enough to be certified.
Why does this matter for pool operators? If you’re using pool water quality test kits that give you more accurate readings, your water will be more consistent and cleaner, and you will most likely use fewer chemicals–helping keep your chemicals costs lower.
For this reason, the state of Florida is moving towards requiring all commercial and public pools to use Level 1 NSF Certified Pool Test Kits in the future.
When you’re evaluating digital pool test kits to use in your pool operations, this certification level is what you want to look for–to ensure that the test kits you’re using are accurate and easy to read.
Our Top 3 Best Digital Pool Test Kits
1- LaMotte WaterLink Spin Touch
This digital pool test kit is our top test kit, thanks to its ability to perform all water tests at one time in 60 seconds. As an automated photometer, it essentially does all your water testing for you–fast–virtually eliminating the risk for human error.
The LaMotte WaterLink Spin Touch:
- NSF Level 1 Certified
- Each sealed reagent cartridge contains the exact amount of reagent needed to run the complete series of tests
- All a user has to do is fill a reagent cartridge with less than 3mL of water, press a button, and they’ll have accurate test results for all water tests in 60 seconds
- Performs all water tests, including free chlorine (DPD), total chlorine (DPD), bromine (DPD), pH, calcium hardness, total alkalinity, cyanuric acid, copper, iron, salt, phosphate, borate, biguinide, and biguinide shock.
We’re so impressed with the LaMotte WaterLink Spin Touch’s accuracy and time-saving capabilities that we’ve partnered with them to make adding your test results to the Pool Shark H20 app seamless. All you have to do is tap a button to transfer the information via bluetooth, logging and locking it in your Pool Shark app, ensuring you’re health department compliant. If you’re testing pool water multiple times a day–especially for multiple pools–the time savings from this alone can make a significant impact on your operations, and your pool operator’s day.
2 - eXact iDip Pool Professional Test Kit
Sensafe’s eXact iDip Pool Professional Test Kit is another great digital test kit that features a Level 1 NSF/ANSI-50 Certified photometer system. The kit also comes with an electrochemical pH+ meter system and can test up to 40 different water parameters.
While we still prefer the LaMotte’s sealed, premeasured reagent cartridges–which eliminate any human error related to adding testing reagents–the eXact iDip is a solid digital pool test kit option that still gives you the benefit of a highly accurate photometer.
The eXact iDip Pool Professional Test Kit:
- Features a Level 1 NSF/ANSI-50 Certified photometer system, ensuring its accuracy
- Can test up to 40 water parameters
- Comes in a ruggadized and padded carrying case
- Can connect via Bluetooth to iOS and Android devices to add test results to the Sensafe app
3 - Palintest Lumiso Pooltest 3 and 6 series
Palintest’s Lumiso Pooltest 3 and 6 are both photometers that will reliably and accurately test water quality.
The main difference between the two are the water parameters they test for:
- Lumiso Pooltest 3 tests for chlorine, pH, and cyanuric acid
- Lumiso Pooltest 6 can perform a complete water balance calculation all in one, with tests for alkalinity, bromine, calcium hardness, chlorine, cyanuric acid, and pH
Both the 3 and 6 are lightweight and easy to carry around, and can connect via USB cables to transfer test results. They have both received a NSF/ANSI Standard 50 Level 1 certification and are IP67 Waterproof. Each comes in a protective carrying case, packaged with reagents and accessories, and space for spare test tubes and check standards, to help reduce the amount of materials you have to tote around.
Ultimately, the NSF/ANSI-50 certification ensures the accuracy of both Lumiso Pooltest photometers, and both of these test kits reduce human error by running the tests for you. The downside to these is, because they require USB connectivity, you either have to transfer test results to your digital pool logs later or carry a USB and the necessary device with you.
Summary - Best Digital Pool Test Kits
Inaccurate pool water testing can lead to some bad outcomes. At best, it can lead you to waste chemicals and money, by adding chemicals unnecessarily. This can even lead to unbalanced pool water, costing even more to correct. At worst, it can lead to severely unbalanced pools that need to be shut down–or lead to the spread of disease, again causing a pool to need to be shut down and remidiated.
Accurate digital pool test kits greatly reduce the risk of human error in performing and reading pool water quality tests. To ensure accuracy, look for digital pool test kits with NSF/ANSI-50 Level 1 certification like our top three listed in this blog.
In the case of the LaMotte WaterLink SpinTouch, you can virtually eliminate human error, eliminate the need to perform complex pool math equations, and save a significant amount of time. When you pair the LaMotte SpinTouch with the Pool Shark H20 app, you can perform all your necessary water tests in 60 seconds, then quickly and easily transfer test results to your Pool Shark pool log with the push of a button, locking them in for accuracy and health department compliance.
