Aquachek Select Pool Water Test Strips

Pros: Ease of use
Cons: Some colors are hard to read; High price

Maintaining the proper chemical levels is essential for swimming pools and spas. If one or more chemicals fall outside of the recommend levels, it can cause damage to your pool; skin irritation; depletion of other chemicals; or a combination of different ...

Pros: Very easy to use, the manual is invaluable
Cons: Costs more than most, but gives you much more information about your water

AquaChek Select tests for Total Hardness, Total Chlorine, Free Chlorine, pH and Total Alkalinity. (5 ...

Pros: Easy to use, easy to read charts
Cons: Expense

I grew up in a house with a pool. My brother and I would fight over whose turn it was to go out and check the chlorine. We both hated doing the job. It was time consuming. What we didn't know was that, beside being troublesome, it was also imprecise....

Pros: Gives you the chemical balance in seconds.
Cons: The results you get aren't accurate

After purchasing the AquaChek I was excited to finally have a device that takes the guess work out of keeping my spa chemicals in check.  What a let down...   The Alkalinity results were off the charts high and were all over the place with back to back tests.  I even took my sample of water and AquaChek to the dealer where I purchased it from for them to check.  Sure an behold, my device gave the salesman 3 different numbers so he assumed it was a bad device and opened up a brand new Aqua Check.  Same thing, three different #'s all over the place.  I was given my money back and the salesman is considering pulling the devices due to the inaccuracies it gives.  Stick with the droplet's to check the water chemicals.  This method has been used for decades without any issues.  Nice Try AquaCheck, I'll be waiting for a new version to come out...