At least get the OTO drop test kit now. It's about $7 usually and only has two tests: Chlorine (OTO test) and pH. You cannot trust the strips.

I would only use either Hache or LaMotte brand strips and even they aren't very good. It's very hard to match the colors to the keys and even then, when compared to a drop test they are AT BEST, so-so.

I know most men have a poorer color sense than most women and it's genetic. Color-blindness is common among men but a medical oddity among women, but I generally have a very acute color sense--even my wife admits I can detect variants in shades and tints better than she can (not by much, though--and only when I actually CARE ) but I have a devil of a time seeing subtle differences in the test strips.

I mainly use them for a quck check of FC. If it's white I have none. If it's a watery purple I have some but probably not enough. If it's deep purple I have at least an FC of 10.

This is why we do NOT recommend using them, preferring for new-comers to the B-B-B method of pool maintenance to use drop testing instead. Pool store clerks LOVE to argue with us, but they're the ones that push all kinds of useless and even damaging chemicals on you.