When you’re testing pool water multiple times a day–especially across multiple locations and aquatic facilities–the details matter. Not to mention, because your guests’ health and safety, and your pool’s reputation and business depend on it.
While many of us came up in an industry that relied on manual pool test kits, we now have the great benefit of advances in testing technology. Manual pool test kits invite a lot of error into the testing process, with too many variables that impact your test results. Different people, for example, see color differently (especially for color blind staff), and even the surrounding light can impact the way colors show up on a test kit. It’s also notoriously tricky to compare test colors to the control.
Yet you’re not only required to maintain accurate tests and records for health department compliance, the accuracy of your tests has a significant impact on how easy, or difficult, it is to maintain your pool, the volume and resulting expense of pool chemicals you use, and of course, the health and safety of your swimmers.
In our expert opinion, this makes the case for switching to digital pool test kits easy–especially as many of them will also save you a significant amount of time, creating better operational efficiency.
Ahead, we’re comparing two of the top digital pool test kits made by LaMotte, an industry leader for over 100 years, to help guide you as you consider investing in new test kits. Both of these test kits feature digital photometers, which essentially take all the guesswork out of comparing test strip colors by analyzing the colors for you–so you get an accurate read, every time.
The ColorQ 2X photometer is fully waterproof and tests for multiple water parameters. There are 8 different kit options that all feature this photometer: the main difference being that you can choose from kits that test for four pool and water tests, seven different tests, or nine different tests, depending on your needs.
The different test options are:
For all of the LaMotte ColorQ 2X Test Kits, they:
NSF and ANSI are two separate organizations that work together to achieve a similar mission, with CAN 50 being their Canadian counterpart. ANSI stands for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a private non-profit organization that oversees the US voluntary consensus standardization system. ANSI is also the US member body to ISO (International Organization for Standardization). 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. Operating since 1944, they work with ANSI to both develop and uphold standards, including the NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 that applies to the pool and spa industry.
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.”
Water quality test devices, or pool test kits, fall under the purview of this standard. Manufacturers can choose to go through the NSF certification process to certify that their product meets these standards and complies with even the strictest aquatic health codes. There are three NSF certification levels–Level 1, 2, and 3–with Level 1 being the highest. Any products not assigned to one of these three levels are not accurate to be certified.
Another important note is that this certification process is not “one and done,” but must be repeated at regular intervals to ensure continued certification.
For pool operators and commercial pool owners, it’s important to use NSF certified pool test kits as they are the best way to ensure you’re using kits that consistently give you accurate readings–ensuring your pool water stays constantly clear, clean, and safe, and helping you reduce the amount of chemicals you’re using, also lowering your operational costs.
The LaMotte ColorQ 2X pool test kits are all NSF certified, but vary in their certification levels. For example, Free Chlorine tests are rated L1 accurate by tablet, for pools, and L2 accurate by tablet, for hot tubs and spas. When testing Free Chlorine with liquid, the device is rated L2 accurate for both pools and hot tubs and spas.
The LaMotte WaterLink Spin Touch is our top pool test kit, out of all the ones on the market. It virtually eliminates every risk for human error by combining a high-quality, automated photometer with pre-measured cartridges for each testing reagent. It also runs all water tests in 60 seconds, making it a tremendous time saver with a high level of accuracy.
In fact, these are the main differences between the WaterLink Spin Touch and the ColorQ 2X. The WaterLink Spin Touch is certified to NSF Level 1 accuracy–which not only ensures you have the most accurate test results, and apply the most accurate chemical volumes, but will also become more important moving forward, as the state of Florida is transitioning to requiring all commercial and public pools to use Level 1 NSF Certified Pool Test Kits in the future.
The LaMotte WaterLink Spin Touch stands apart, thanks to:
Because of its accuracy and time-saving ability, we’ve partnered with them to make adding your test results to the Pool Shark H20 app seamless.
Simply tap a button to transfer the information via bluetooth This logs and locks test results in your PoolShark H20 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.
Both of these digital pool test kit options from LaMotte are going to be a step up from manual test kits, providing more accurate water quality tests, on a consistent basis. As you look to make a decision, think through the importance of NSF Level 1 certification (and its resulting accuracy) to your operations–as well as time savings. Finally, consider the ability to quickly and easily transfer results to a digital log book that will lock them and ensure Health Department compliance.
When you pair the LaMotte WaterLink Spin Touch with the PoolShark H20 app, you can perform pool water tests in 60 seconds, then quickly and seamlessly preserve results and any related chemical adjustments–freeing up your pool operators and other staff members for the other important parts of their job, all while making it easy for managers to check logs and receive crucial alerts from anywhere, at anytime.
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Guide to Public Pool Testing Requirements
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The Ultimate Guide to Swimming Pool Logs
PDF & Excel Printable Pool Log Sheet
Benefits of Using A Pool Chemical Monitor