sutroSutro Pool & Spa Water Smart Monitoring Device | Tests Alkalinity, pH, Chlorine | Digital Water Tester

Summary: I wasn’t sure if the Sutro would be helpful in my pool care routine, until I started using it, and now I don’t want to maintain a pool without it. I have a cleaner pool and save both time and money.Details: Having taken care of my pool myself for years, I had a routine that generally kept it in good shape, save for some occasional algae on the sides of the pool. I tested the water once or twice a week with at-home test kits (TFP-100 and Taylor DPD), adding chemicals (typically chlorine or muriatic acid) on the weekend attempting to have it last through the week. This generally worked well except for the warmest summer months, which had lots of sunshine and water temps in the 90s, causing more rapid chlorine degradation. This would require me to spike up chlorine on the weekend and have it degrade through the week. Chlorine degrades faster at higher concentrations, which meant that this method used more chlorine overall, was riskier as the chlorine levels could drop below the acceptable sanitizer level, and was harsher on skin and clothing if the pool was used early in the week.How it works: Sutro works by performing 3 tests a day. It tests chlorine and pH 3 times a day and alkalinity once a day. It measures the water temperature hourly. It uses the same liquid reagents that are used in at home tests or in the pool store. In side-by-side testing with my at home kit and pool store testing, I’ve found the Sutro results to be extremely reliable (with testing margin of error).Results: The Sutro improved upon my prior method, allowing me to reduce the amount spent on chemicals, totally eliminating any signs of algae, saving me time, and providing a better maintained pool. I’ve used the Sutro for two seasons, and liked it so much that I just bought a second one as a gift for a family member. Now, rather than spending a few minutes testing the pool water, I just open up the Sutro app and check the levels. When I saw the sanitizer was getting low, I would add a small amount in the morning or evenings, which typically lasted 2-3 days.Update #1: I subsequently added a Hasa Liquid Feeder to my system to provide a steady stream of sanitizer (chlorine) while my pool pump runs. Using the Sutro with the Hasa Liquid Feeder is a perfect combination. I use the Sutro to monitor the sanitizer levels daily, and adjust the flow rate of the Hasa Liquid Feeder to keep the pool water at a consistent sanitizer level. This system works even at lower temperatures when salt-based chlorine generators don’t. Other than brushing my pool once a week, changing the Sutro cartridge once a month, and refilling the Hasa Liquid Feeder every month or two, I don’t have any additional work to maintain my pool.

First off I am pretty tech savvy and set up new tech devices all the time. It took me several hours to get this setup and connected. I would follow all the steps to a T and it would just sit there spinning. Finally I got it setup and in the water. A week goes by and there is a error with my cartridge and they had to send me a new one. I get the new one in and since it's been out of the water for a week while I waited on the new cartridge. It disconnected and wouldn't re-connect. So I spent over an hour on the phone with support trying to get it to connect and eventually they said you must have a bad base. So they send me a new base. I had to set it up a second time and it took several hours again. The next issue is that me cartridge ran out of tests and their subscription system didn't ship my next cartridge yet. Once again contacted support to send the cartridge. That took over a 10 days. This was right when it was getting hot so my chlorine was getting eaten up and since I'm new to pools I didn't know this. Now my pool is green and I have to dump over $100 in chemicals in the pool to get it back clear. I'm back clear and the new cartridge shows up and I get it in the pool and now 2 days in I get a message. Your device has detected and anomaly contact support. I email support for them to tell me they need to replace my whole system. But they wouldn't ship the new one to me until I returned the old one. Even offering to put a credit card on file if it didn't get returned. So I box up the device and all the components send it back and then wait to get a new device. I didn't want to wait so I purchased a new one from amazon and got it the next day. I thought Since I've setup it twice before that could get it quicker this time. Nope! It took me 3 hours to get it connected. I finally do and get it in the water and all seems fine until today I realized my chlorine has been exactly between 3.2 and 3.4 for 2 weeks. I take my water to get tested at the pool store and there is 0.17ppm chlorine in the pool. So again I am contacting support to figure out the problem. I did get a shipment notification that my new cartridge was on the way so maybe that will fix it but who knows. I'm over trying to get it to work at this point. The next time it messes up I'm going to send it back and try to get my money back. The thing is I wanted it to work so badly, because it does have potential but there were too many hardware and software issues for me to recommend it to anyone.It also doesn't test for CYA or phosphates so yout alkalinity is high in the surto app but at the store they adjust the alkalinity based on your CYA level, so it's more accurate. If they can get the kinks worked out and start testing CYA and Phosphates then it will probably be a good solution.I have changed my review from 2 stars to 1 star because they said they had a bad batch of cartridges and claimed it was taken care of. We. February 24 I get another bad cartridge.Update 2024 season:Nothing has improved. Cartridges are still bad. I'm having to replace them every other one. They did send me a backup with the last replacement but that took 10 days. Also it seems like more than half of the 5 star reviews are fake, the wording just sounds like an advertisement. "If you're having trouble you can contact the helpful support" kind of stuff.I've asked for my money back every ticket. Please don't waste your time or money.

As a new pool owner I asked a lot of people who owned pools and do pool service how to maintain my own pool I have never before maintain a pool I was hesitant to buy a Sutro but I did purchase , A lot of information on how to maintain my pool I just did not know how to put it together after purchasing the Sutro I was still hesitant if I was getting good Readings in my pool and if I was doing it right. manually I took a test every day of my pool and wrote it down on a piece of paper, Two days out of the week I took a water test to Leslie‘s pool and I wrote it down on a piece of paper and compared it with the Sutro the Sutro and Leslie’s pool water test were spot on, with recommendations I was able to figure out how much acid and how much chlorine to put in my pool I have maintain my pool for almost a year now and all the numbers do very well I just wanna say I’m very confident in maintaining my own pool I highly recommend this product to anyone I have reached out to the support team of Sutro and I just have to say they are fantastic.I have never before written a review to any product I just thought anyone who gets a pool without much experience in pool maintenance I have been successful so far this year That is why I gave this product five stars I can maintain a pool and I probably couldn’t do it without the Sutro.