Kriggin,

I'm a new pool owner, but my experience thus far tells me that a precise digital read-out -- such as what I get from the two pool stores I visit weekly to get my water tested -- is nothing but a very precise figure that conveys far more precision than what is warranted. That explains why my two pool companies nearly never agree on anything they're measuring. One says the pH is 7.6, the other 7.8. One says the chlorine is 4.0, the other 6.9. One says the alkalinity is 100, the other says 160. What's the truth? Who knows? But they are both very, very precise in telling me what's in my pool.

So, I take everything with a big grain of salt -- including how much salt they're telling me to add in my pool. :-)

Like you, I prefer the exactness of a digital read-out. I just think the digital test kits aren't really any more precise than the dropper kits, so I'm opting for the dropper kits because they seem to be the gold standard of pool water testing (so says the maker of the highly regarded Tailor kits).