The PS230 vs. the PS232 Complete Swimming Pool Test Kit


PS232 vs PS230
PS23x vs K2006
PS23x vs K2005


The PS230 vs. the PS232

The PS230 is the best (I think!) comprehensive swimming pool field test kit on the market today. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good.

The PS232 will be slightly better, will replace the PS230, and should be shipping around May 1, 2001.

Here are the differences:

Larger box
room for better instruction labels, and the changes below.
Separate test cylinder for the drop-count (DPD-FAS) chlorine test.
I've found that the DPD testing is fouling the test chamber on the main test block, and it can't be easily cleaned. The test cylinder is easier to clean AND cheaper to replace.
Extra CYA test solution.
Actually, this is already part of the PS230, but the bottle has doesn't fit very well.
Serial Number
This number will be keyed to your individual online pool calculator. I'm building this calculator now, but it probably won't be finished before June 1.
No Taylor booklet or nomogram
Although the Taylor book is pretty good, it does cause some confusion, and contains some incorrect and misleading information in it. I've got 90% of the correct info on the website now, and have almost finished an online SI index calculator that replaces (and improves on) the in-box nomogram. Any PS232's shipped prior to completion of the online calculator will ship with the nomogram included.

So . . . should you wait?

If you don't need the kit before May 10th, probably. If you need it now, the changes aren't critical, and you'll be able to upgrade your kit next year when you order refills. I am serializing all PS230's shipped after March 1, 2001, so they will also have access to the calculator when finished!


PS23x vs K2006

The PS23x series kits are based on the Taylor K2006 complete test kit.

Differences include

And, about pricing.

I price shop. I know many of you do, too.

I'd like to say, buy from me, and help support PoolSolutions, but I'm not sure how persuasive that is, and I feel a bit hypocritical, since I don't always behave that way.

On the other hand, I do find the emails telling me that the writer bought a K2006 for much less than a PS230 frustrating . . . since it almost always turns out that they are comparing a pre-tax, pre-shipping price with the $65 final price for the PS230. I received several emails from folks who paid $52 for a K2006, saving them $13 compared to the PS230. Of course, they also paid between $4 & $7 shipping. In 19 states they paid, sales taxes between $2.08 and $4.16. That didn't include the $5 plus shipping plus tax they later paid for 2 stabilizer refill bottles, either! (they didn't know to order at the same time).

The net result: a few of them saved $13 - $4 shipping - $5 refills - $4 shipping, for a net savings of ZERO DOLLARS. And, of course, the rest saved even less!


PS23x vs K2005

The K2005 -- the Taylor "Complete Test Kit" is widely sold, sometimes at as a loss leader at prices as low $30 plus tax. The K2006 -- is rarely sold, and when it is sold, the prices range from $48 plus shipping plus tax, on up.

The K2005 is identical to the K2006 -- same box, same reagents, same book, except for the most important test! In fact, the Taylor booklet included with the K2006, is actually the booklet for the K2005, and contains descriptions that are misleading for K2006 users!

Not sure which you have? It's simple: if you don't have to use a POWDER when you test for chlorine, you do have a K2005, not a K2006.

It's the chlorine test that makes a difference. The chlorine test in the K2005 is moderately accurate over the range from 0.5 - 3.0 ppm, and registers up to 5 ppm. The chlorine test in the K2006 is HIGHLY accurate and covers the range from 0.2 ppm all the way to 50 ppm, while retaining accuracy. And, more than anything else, it's this accurate chlorine test that makes the K2006 valuable.


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Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, holy, and fleet. There is nothing to be done about it, but ignore it, or see. And then you walk fearlessly, eating what you must, growing whenever you can, like the monk on the road who knows precisely how vulnerable he is, who takes no comfort among death-forgetting men, and who carries his vision of vastness and might around in his tunic like a live coal which neither burns nor warms him, but with which he will not part.

annie dillard:ptc:270