Don,

What was the issue with your CH test? I just used my new ColorQ for the first time and pH, alk, CH, and Cya were all off both from Ben's kit and from fairly recent pool store tests. CH was WAY off. My CH is high, holding steady at over 500 for a couple of years now, both by my measurements and the pool store. The Lamotte thing measured it at 235!
We have had no rain in CA for months and I don't backwash because I have a cartridge filter, so there is no way the CH could have dropped, especially this much. I'll be calling them today and give you all an update.