LaMotte ColorQ Water Tester

[donaldm823]

Well here goes my full review-had the new LaMotte ColorQ water tester now for 3 weeks. Love the tester. Initially had a problem with Hardness accuracy, but LaMotte tech support replaced the unit quickly. The unit cost $129 plus shipping and comes with 140 tests (liquid reagents) except CYA (uses pills which) there are 50. A refill package is in the $45 range, but you get enough chemicals with the tester itself to last a pool season without a refill kit.

The unit comes in a handy test kit rubber bag (zippered) which hold the 4 test tubes that come with the unit, all of the reagents, and of course the electronic device (colorimeter)(size of your hand) which measures the color intensity of each test which is correlated to a ppm reading that reads out on a digital meter. Unit is powered by 2 AA batteries and is guaranteed for 6 months.

You basically add 5 drops of a specific liquid reagent based on the test performing (one test tube per test), and they put the 5ml tube into the unit and read the tests in sequence, replacing the test tubes for each tests. You read a blank at the start (pool water) which calibrates the colorimeter. Have tests for free and total Cl up to 10ppm, pH, TA, CH hardness, and CYA.

I am very please with the unit and its accuracy. Have compared all of the tests results against by Ben Pool Solution kit, and all the results were within the accuracy accept for Hardness. Since they just replaced the unit for the hardness issue, I do not have a lot of run time, but the hardness result was 220ppm and my Taylor reports a 260-280ppm-close enough for my use

Highly recommend if you are tired of all of the titrant kits. At $129 not a bad buy. Checkout LaMotte.com website under pool/spa water/new products. They also sell the refill kits as well as spare test tubes