Features:

  • Plastic
  • Tests for bacteria, lead, pesticides, nitrates/nitrites, and chlorine
  • Checks the hardness and pH of your water
  • Kit includes everything necessary to test drinking water
  • No mailing in samples or waiting for laboratory reports
  • Tests to EPA standards for drinking water
Used kits to easily test water for a science project

This worked great for us. We bought 3 of these kits since we tested 3 different types of water samples for the science fair project (we compared what was in our tap water, bottled water and water from the beach by our home). We were curious to see if there was really a big difference between our tap water and bottled water and also what we were swimming in. If you need a science fair project, these kits make for a great project (and easy project since all the tests are in these kits but you need 1 kit per type of water you are sampling so if you are testing water from more than 1 place, you'll need more than 1 kit) that earned an A here as well as providing some helpful information about your water from pH to hardness to bacteria among other things. I read the information on the page here about what was inside and what test information it offered so there weren't any surprises about what tests were inside or what kind of results they offered. Everything was in all the boxes that was supposed to be (we ordered all these 3 tests in May 2013). The tests were easy to use (my 10 year old did most of the testing and she easily understood the directions) and gave easy to read results and easy to understand information. I was happy with the purchase. We got what we ordered and it worked well for us. This was my daughter's project but even I learned somethings about our water. Our bottled and tap water aren't much different at all according to these test results but it did show that our beach water here in New Jersey is pretty disgusting with the bacteria (we took all the tests in May 2013). Hopefully they've worked on it since then.

Maybe Saved My Life

Maybe saved my life! I was getting diarrhea every day for a month. Every day. I use cream or milk in my coffee. I thought maybe I was lactose intolerant but not sure. 1) So I ordered this drinking water test and it tested POSITIVE for bacteria (yellow vial). 2) After the positive test for bacteria, I started boiling all my water. I have used only boiled water for the last month. And I have had like ZERO diarrhea. I mean I have had cereal with milk, heavy cream in coffee you name it and nothing! Every day healthy bathroom use! Every day. 3) Then a later test was negative (purple vial) so because I tested - now the water is good again! Yeah, it's me. If it was just one or the other (positive test and boil water stopped getting me sick) it could be fluke but because the "stopped getting sick" started exactly when I boiled water, that is pretty clear. I would not have boiled water if I did not get positive test. By the way, if you are not sure about tests and want to test tests, get a couple test kits and test Bottled water or test bad water to see comparisons.

Solid value test kit

All pieces of the test kit were included, nothing missing. The directions are indeed a little involved, but not that hard to follow if you give yourself a few minutes. Step one is to make sure the kit is not old: My 10/2018 purchase had an 08/2019 expiration date, all good. Then just proceed section by section. Read carefully, because some test strips need to sit in water for 10 minutes, some 2 seconds, some just a moment. The bacteria vial test takes the longest, at 48 hours. All tests seemed to work, even the lead test, and our municipal well (ground percolation) tap water is a-ok, if a little on the alkaline side. This drinking water test kit is a solid value, especially compared to the prices of other kits here on Amazon.

An Easy, Quick "First Alert"

I have well water, and I like to test it once a year or so to make sure that nothing has changed. This First Alert test is simple to use and works well as an early warning system. The bacteria test takes 48 hours, but the other tests give you results either immediately or in ten minutes. The kits tests for bacteria, pesticides, nitrate/nitrite, pH levels, lead, chlorine, and water hardness. Because I'm in a newer house, I worry most about bacteria and pesticides since my whole house filter cannot take care of them. As expected, because I have well water, the strips indicated no chlorine, and because my house is newer construction, no lead. My water hardness level indicated that my water softener is doing its job. The only things this kit does not test for are a larger range of bacteria and mold (contamination that can come from an ill-fitting well cap as well as iron.) This test should be seen as indeed a "first alert" since additional, professional testing may be necessary to hone in on problems with greater accuracy. Since samples don't get sent to a lab, user error can skew results, although the directions make it clear what to do. -- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

Good kit, very easy to use.

Quick, most of the strips are nearly instant, the lead and pesticides strip takes 10 mins. The bacteria test takes 48 hours. This one is better than some of the kits that just give you an overall quality rating, this gives you the individual results for each test.

Simple to use, easy to understand

I love having a deep water well. The water is so pure and delicious. City/Municipal water is just too full of chemicals that aren't great for our health. Now, as much as I love my well, I am a nurse and am very aware of germs, bacteria, and such. Because of this, I test my water and I test it often, at least twice yearly. This test is very easy to use. The instructions are clear and simple to follow. Read EVERYTHING before you get started so that you can prepare yourself and have everything you need ready to go. You will need a clean container (I use a clean glass that I rinse a few times so there is no soap residue or anything) with some water in it. You'll use this to dip a couple of the test strips into. Also, go ahead and get a timer ready to go. The tests require certain times for dipping the strips and waiting for them to do their thing. All of the tests give you results within a few minutes EXCEPT for the e.coli/bacteria test. For that test, you fill the test tube with water, give it a good shake to mix the growth medium, and leave it somewhere that it won't be disturbed for 48 hours. If the water remains purple, you're good to good, if it turns yellow, you have a problem. This test allows us to enjoy our well water without worrying about contamination. We paid just under $14 this time for this test, which is quite a bit cheaper than a lot of the other tests available. You just can't beat $14 for peace of mind.

Easy instructions. Seems to be accurate. Quick.

Our water company is getting its water from a new source and we've noticed what seems to be a strong chlorine smell along with white deposits on our pans. We were also told it might be slightly acidic (not good for copper plumbing). We had someone from one of the big water softener companies out to test it but he came up with conflicting results. We looked into sending a sample off to a lab, but that's fairly pricey, takes 2-3 weeks, and usually includes a lot of tests we don't need. Anyway, we decided this was worth a try. We received this kit really quickly. All test components were in the kit (apparently others have had components missing). The instructions are clear and easy to follow. Appropriate vials and a pipette are included. Results were relatively easy to interpret and matched what we had suspected. This has allowed us to identify our specific water problems and narrow down what needs to be done without wasting time (and money) on solving problems we don't have. Even though we were primarily interested in chlorine, hardness, and pH, it was also nice to know that bacteria, lead, pesticides, nitrates, and nitrites are not things we need to worry about.

Thumbs Up!

I have well water at my house and I pay $100 every few years to get it tested. The test is great but expensive. The only problem the test identified was hard water. I bought the First Alert test kit so I could save a bit of money and test more often. The test was easy to use and provided almost instant results except for the bacteria test which took 48 hours. The results with the First Alert kit were consistent with the $100 test and I saved $90. I'll be using the First Alert water test kit going forward.

Results seem legit

I had a new whole house water filtration system installed and wanted to see if there was any difference between my straight well water and the new faucet water that has been filtered, so I bought two of these tests. Let me just say this... I'm now happy with both purchases. The filter and this test kit. Although the results were nearly identical, there was a positive hit with the "potentially harmful bacteria" from the well, but it was a negative result from the new filtered water.

Seems good

I bought this test and the Health Metric drinking water test. I figured two different home tests might be a decent alternative to a pricey lab test. Both tests were very similar, the other one was a little nicer, it had doubles of some tests and a larger version of the bacteria test. All the results were the same with both sets. Easy to follow instructions. I recommend either test. I now know I have very hard water which explains why my water heater isn't doing well. I also feel pretty confident my water is safe other than the extreme hardness of my water.

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