Can You Trust Pool Test Strips?

Your pool test is only as good as the tool you choose—and the eyes reading it. We dive straight into the real-world trade-offs between test strips, reagent kits, and photometers, showing where “good enough” saves time and where precision protects plaster, budgets, and your reputation. You’ll hear how modern strips have improved, why big manufacturers now back them, and the simple reason human color matching still introduces error.

We walk through the key differences between ranges and exact numbers, using practical examples for chlorine, pH, and alkalinity. For everyday backyard pools, getting into the right band is often all you need to maintain clarity and comfort. For new plaster startups, commercial compliance, or tricky water, exact numbers matter—so we explain when to reach for a photometer like the LaMotte ColorQ or SpinTouch and how to weave precision checks into a weekly route without crushing your schedule.

Troubleshooting gets a spotlight. If chlorine keeps vanishing or algae won’t quit, phosphate and nitrate strips can surface hidden issues fast and point you toward the right fix. We also break down brand choices—AquaChek for easy readouts, LaMotte for range and pairing with meters, Taylor for consistency—and share tips on storage, reading technique, and smart timing. By the end, you’ll have a simple framework: use strips for speed and trend-checking, confirm with a photometer when stakes are high, and keep your workflow lean while your water stays dialed in.

If this helped sharpen your testing strategy, follow the show, share it with a fellow pool pro, and leave a quick review so others can find it. Got a testing hack or tool you swear by? Tell us and join the conversation.

• modern strip accuracy and human color limits
• ranges versus exact numbers for routine care
• when precision matters for LSI and compliance
• photometers as the gold standard for accuracy
• workflow: weekly strips with monthly precision checks
• problem-solving with phosphate and nitrate strips
• brand comfort: AquaChek, LaMotte, Tay

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting Up The Big Question
• 2:14 Sponsor: Coaching Program
• 2:33 Who Makes Strips And Why It Matters
• 3:54 How Accurate Are Strips Today
• 5:18 Human Eyes And Color Matching Limits
• 6:50 Ranges Versus Exact Numbers
• 7:56 When Precision Truly Matters
• 9:01 Photometers And Reagent Alternatives
• 9:11 Using Strips On A Service Route
• 10:48 Pairing Strips With Monthly Precision
• 11:15 What Strips Can And Cannot Test
• 12:40 Choosing Brands And Formats
• 14:09 Speed Advantage And Workflow
• 15:40 Strips For Troubleshooting Problems
• 17:29 Double‑Checking Odd Readings
• 18:53 More Resources And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:02

Hey, welcome to the Pool Guy Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to talk to you about test strips. Specifically, are they accurate? Should you be using them? Do they have a bad rap? Are they useful in the industry? Should you test weekly with them? Are they accurate? I'm going to go over all of these here. I'll try to cover most of this here for you on Pool Water and Spa test strips. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support. From me, I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. I think the number one way you can find out if test strips are legitimate, are by which companies are making them. That sounds kind of like circular logic, but it is true that the people that make the test strips also make other testers for the industry. In fact, Taylor, the one that's pretty famous for the region test kit, didn't really start making test strips until about, I think, seven or eight years ago is when they first started making them. So that tells you something about jumping into the market with test strips from a company that stayed out of the market for a long time and decided that maybe there is something here and the technology might have improved to the point where we can get into the market and be and still consider the testing accurate because their big thing is accurate water testing. And so Taylor is known for having really accurate reagents. So besides Taylor, of course, Lamont has been making test strips for decades. And then you have Aqua Czech, it's the Hawk company. They make a lot of digital testers. So you kind of can feel that these test strips may actually be viable based on major manufacturers making them. Of course, a lot of smaller companies make them as well. And so let's talk a little bit about accuracy of the test strip. Yes, I believe that the test strips have become much more accurate over the years, for sure. I started using test strips, you know, 25, 30 years ago, and I would say that the accuracy and reliability of the test strips was, I guess, suspect in some ways back then. Now when you put a test strip in the pool, you feel fairly confident that the reading is going to be trustworthy. And it's true that it's more or less you're looking at the test strip to see what the reading is. And this is probably one of the things that makes test strips inaccurate. Not per se that the test strip itself or the chemical on the test strip that reacts the change to color is not accurate. Maybe your eye is not as accurate as you think. I mentioned this game when I talk about matching colors, and it's a board game called hues and cues, and basically you have this board with a bunch of different shades of green, purple, red, yellow, and it's your job as the player to say one word. You can say like Barney, and then everyone has to figure out which purple you're talking about, or which shade of purple, or you say the Lakers, and then you have this, you know, are you talking about purple or yellow? So it's one of those things where it's pretty interesting what shade or what hue people think Barney is, you know, the the dinosaur that kids watch all the time. I don't know if you even know who Barney is. And it's really interesting what the person picking the color thinks it is. And so there lies the inaccuracy of test strips, in my opinion, is that you have to kind of gauge which color purple that is, you know, what color green that is, what color you know, the pH I think is the easiest because you have more red and then more orange to the side. In alkalinity, I believe, is fairly uh harder to distinguish because of the levels of green when you're reading the alkalinity on a test strip. Cyanaric acid is pretty easy as well because you have purple all the way to you know light orange. So some of them are easier than others, but I would say that the accuracy is determined by what you think it is. And the ranges on the test strips are a lot more broad than you would get on a photometer, of course. So Lamotte makes test strips, they also make photometers which are extremely accurate down to the point, basically. You know, pH is at 7.23. It's really, really accurate. But if you look at the test strip range, you'll see I'll just take pH for example. You have 7.2 to 7.8, and then you have that range only with maybe kind of a different shade of orange. And therein lies another accuracy problem because it's not where it's not it doesn't say 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7. So the range, of course, is much broader in a trust test strip. So what exactly are you gauging with the test strip? I think you're gauging more or less the range of the pool chemistry. So you have to be aware that this is not going to be something you're using at a commercial pool for the health department and logging the readings because they certainly aren't using test strips to check your readings. And this is important to note that you're looking at a range in the pool versus an accurate number. Now, do you need an accurate number? Sometimes you do, and sometimes you really don't need an accurate number, in my opinion. For example, if you're testing for chlorine and it is either five or six parts per million or seven parts a million, I don't think it really matters too much at that point, to the point where you have to get a photometer and double check it. The pH as well, if you're at 7.4 and you think it's 7.5 or 7.6, you're pretty close in range there. So, but there are certain situations where I think the range can be critical. You're starting up a new pool, you of course are doing commercial pools. For that, the range needs to be really precise because if you're starting up a pool and you're doing the LSI and you think that it's 7.6, but it's really 7.2, there's a major difference in that pH number when you're factoring in the new plaster, curing, and all the things that need to get done with that. But for a regular backyard pool that people hardly use, I don't really think that if the chlorine comes in at four or five or six parts per million, that you really need to worry about it at that point. So accuracy is based on the need for accuracy, I should say. If you're looking for a test kit that needs to be accurate, then of course a reagent test kit, or better yet, a photometer would be what you would want to use. For Lamotte, I like the Color Q Pro 9, 2X Pro 9. I think that's their the best uh best affordable photometer on the market. And of course, they make the spin touch as well, which is the Ferrari of photometers that they can do 10 different readings in one minute. And so the question is should you be using test strips on your pool route to check the chemistry of pools and spas? And I would say yes, you can safely use test strips for that, it's not going to be a problem. However, and this is something that you really need to understand that if you're using test trips every week without using any other kind of tester like a region tester or a photometer, you may not have really accurate readings overall for the pools on your route. So keep that in mind that test strips are good, but the drawback is you're not going to have super accurate readings out there. So I would say using test trips in conjunction with other more accurate testers would be logical. You know, if you're if you have if you're it's if it's two o'clock and you have eight pools left and you're behind schedule, testing all those pools with test strips is not a problem. If you're in you know January and the water's cold and there's not much going on, the test strip is definitely appropriate for that. So you got to use your judgment of when to use a test strip and when you really need to take an accurate reading. So some pool pros will use a photometer once a month on their pools to get an accurate reading, and they'll use test strips in between. Others will use test strips of every other week. So I wouldn't say that you can get away with using test strips on a regular basis, continuously without some kind of accurate test to back up whatever you're getting or whatever you think you're getting on the test strip, because remember, it is more of a range than something that is accurate or pinpoint. One of the things about test strips that I like is the number of different test factors you can accomplish with them. You have test strips that can do free chlorine, total chlorine, bromine, pH alkalinity, calcium hardness. Now remember that's not the it's actually the total hardness and not calcium hardness when you're using a test strip. Cyaneric acid, which is stabilizer or CYA. And then you have really a farther range of testing that a region and sometimes a photometer can't test for. Although there's a lot of photometers like the Pool Lab 2.0 that can test for a lot of things that test strips test for as well. You could do copper, iron, borates, salinity or salt, sodium chloride is actually what it tests for. I find those test strips to be a little suspect. You have phosphate, which is a test strip that's really vital in the industry. And then you have, of course, alternate sanitizers, so you have biganide, biganide shock, hydrogen peroxide, and you you really can't do a lot of the things that you can do with a digital meter like totalizol solids and conductivity with a test strip. So there are limitations to what a test strip can test for in that regard. So there are limitations with test strips, but there are also advantages because of the wide ranges or test factors you can test with with a test strip. And I guess you may be wondering, well, who makes the best test strip? And that's something that you have to kind of find out out there while you're working. I don't think I would say that you would want to look at who makes the best test strip. More or less, you want to make you want to find the test strip that you're comfortable with as far as the color chart and as far as what you think is accurate for your pool route. Now there are some go-to ones. I think the Aqua Check test strips have been around pretty much forever as well. And I find those very easy to read and very accurate. So you you may want to get those test strips. I also like the color chart on back or the side of it. I find that it's easy to read. So Aqua Check is one of the easiest. Now there's all different ones like three-way test, four-way, five-way, seven-way test. So you have to figure out what's also best for you. You know, how many test factors do you really need each time you dip it in there? If you have less test factors, of course, the test strip is less expensive. You know, how often do you need to test for these seven test factors? And it's one of those things where you're going to have to choose and pick which test strip to use at the situation. You of course should have a lot of seven-on-one test strips available for you to test for a number of factors, and then of course the Lamont test strips. I I like those as well. I find those to be very accurate, and there's a wide range of Lamotte test strips as well. And then, of course, Taylor is one that you may want to gravitate towards because you're using the region test kit. They do make robust test strips as well. I like the Taylor test kits as well. I think they're very well made, and the color chart on the back again is somewhat easy to read and match the color. Some of the advantages of test strips are, of course, again, the variety of things you can test for that you can't test with the region tester, like phosphates. You can get a good phosphate reading with the test strip. I think the main advantage of the test strip really is time saving. I filmed a video where I was doing the color cue 2x Pro 7. I was running all seven test factors in real time, and I think it was about five minutes to do all seven test factors, which of course is very accurate, but it is time consuming. And the test strip takes no less than 20 seconds basically. Dip it in, you take it out, and you look at the reading, and that's all you're doing. So it's a huge time saver, especially if you're maybe doing filter cleanings during a time of month and you want to test the water. There's no need really to do a battery of tests at every pool sometimes when you're in a rush. And so just take a test strip, dip it in, and that'll give you a good reading. And I wouldn't say anymore that it's a ballpark reading, because you have to, you know, they're they're more accurate, and you can distinguish colors to where you have a range of what the chemical factors are, and not really a ballpark. So there is a range, of course, is not exactly accurate to the decimal point, but for time saving and speed, you can't beat test strips. And I think that's one reason why a lot of pool pros use them, and a lot of homeowners as well, because the speed of the test strip is just something that you can't compare to even with a reagent test kit, and even with a reagent test kit like the Taylor, you know, K2006 kit, you still are matching the color with your eye, and it's gonna be as accurate as you see that color, and so therein lies also the problem with the reagent test kit. It's very similar to a test strip, maybe not quite as broad a range, but there still is something to be said with distinguishing the colors, just like you would distinguish the test strip. The only tester that I would say is accurate beyond a doubt is a photometer. So if you really want accurate water testing, you go with the Lamotte photometer or you go with the pool lab 2.0, whichever one you prefer, and you're gonna get a really accurate reading. I think truly only with a photometer. But if you have a pool and you suspect there's copper in the water or iron in the water, trust test strips are great for that. Just dip it in and it can tell you if there's copper or iron. If you use borates on your pool route, the borate test strips are fairly accurate. You can get a range of how much borates are in the water, those are great as well. I think phosphates is a great test strip because you may have a pool where the chlorine is zeroing out, or you're having trouble with algae, or you're just battling the pool, water chemistry, getting a phosphate test strip, dipping it in there, and checking the phosphate level will give you an idea that hey, this pool has a problem with high phosphates. I'm gonna use the phosphate remover. So the fact that test strips can help you on your pool route with pools that are you have trouble with, like for instance, nitrates is another one where if you have a pool that you're dumping, you know, five gallons of liquid chlorine, putting four tablets in every week, and zeroing out, you get a nitrate nitrate test strip, dip it in there, and it may indicate that there's nitrates in the water. Then you have to drain the pool and refill it. So there is something to be said with test strips really being an eight out there in your pool route. They help you in situations where you're running into tough problems. They're also great for double checking the reagent test test kits. If you are getting a weird reading, like you're getting alkalinity of like 40 or alkalinity of one 180, the test strip will be a way to kind of double check that reading. Or if you're getting a chlorine reading of zero, but you're pretty sure that you have a ton of chlorine in the pool, the test strip will verify if there's chlorine in there or not. So I think to verify kind of weird reagent readings or photometer readings, test strips do come in handy because they'll give you that range and it will be more accurate, I think, than something that you're getting with a reagent that's maybe expired, or maybe there's a factor in the water that's interfering with the reagent, and a test strip will cut right through that. So there is something to be said with the test strip being a tool that aids you on your pool route as well as a way to speed up your testing out there. If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, something for learning.com. Click on the podcast icon on the banner. That'll take you to a drop down menu over 1800 podcasts. And if you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at poolguidecoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have you rest of your week? God bless.