Review: My Sutro Smart Pool Monitor
a review of the new My Sutro pool monitor
My Sutro Pool Water Monitor
We have had our stock tank pool for three summers now. And for the first two years, I used a pHin water monitor to keep the pool balanced and in good shape. However, pHin was aquired by another company which discontinued the service, so I had to recycle my pHin and look for an alternative. Of course, I could have turned to manual pool testing kits. But I love the convenience of an automatic monitor and an app that tells me what to do. Enter: My Sutro. My Sutro is a pool water monitor that uses a different technology, but it is a great alternative to the pHin — and has some advantages, too.
Disclosure: My Sutro sent me their product, but all ideas and opinions are my own.
This post contains affiliate links. AKN
My Sutro claims to be: “The world's leading water testing device. The easiest way to actually measure your pool chemistry and keep your pool and spa crystal clear.” And that is an interesting difference. Each Sutro monitor utilizes a cartridge to conduct testing. This cartridge of reagents is housed in the monitor and must be changed out about once per month. My Sutro is actually testing the water using the reagents inside the cartridge.
And I have seen the difference!
How does My Sutro work?
In the past, I used far more chlorine and other chemicals. With My Sutro, my stock tank pool is cleaner, clearer, and more comfortable with far less intervention. According to My Sutro, this is because their device is taking actual measurements rather than using a method of extrapolation called ORP (the tech used by pHin and other monitors). This testing means, however, that the device is somewhat larger and requires monthly maintenance. That’s not terrible, and frankly, the improved functionality makes such things feel trivial.
Each day I open the app and check the report on our water quality. The app also tells me what, when, and how much to add to adjust the water. It also tells me the water temperature and provides weekly and monthly reports so I can see trends as they develop. The app is easy to set up, it stores the exact products that I use, and you can adjust the notifications and their frequency. It makes maintaining my pool very simple and straightforward, frankly. And I don’t have to worry about it.
My Sutro at work in our stock tank pool
My Sutro works with chlorine, salt water, mineral sanitizers, and bromide pools. I may switch from chlorine next summer, and that’s not a problem with My Sutro either.
But here’s the best part: you only have to pay for the months that you’ll be using My Sutro. Once you purchase the device, there is a monthly fee. But if you live in a place where you can’t swim year-round like I do, you only pay when your pool is open. That means I won’t be paying for the 7-8 months of the year when we have our pool shut down. That saves a lot of money over time!
Having used My Sutro for several months now, I am truly pleased with how it works and with the resulting clean water and sparkling pool. It’s an investment for a stock tank pool, but I think it is a worthy one. And I look forward to years of clean water to come!
Want to know more?
Click the link to learn more!
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Looking for a pool monitor to keep your pool clean? I've been using the My Sutro pool chemistry monitor for a few months, and here is my review. A pool monitoring system will help you figure out why your pool is cloudy and fix it quicly. It's one of the best pool monitoring systems, and I'll tell you why and what it costs, too. Also: how to keep a pool clean, how to keep a stock tank pool clean
Barebones: Must Have Gardening Tools
Beautiful gardening tools crafted for generations of use
Beautiful Garden Tools that also Work Hard
My New Favorite Gardening Tool is…
You ask, and I answer! One of the most frequent questions I get about my One Room Challenge Greenhouse is: what gardening tools are your favorites?
I have the answer: my tools from Barebones Living. These garden tools are gorgeous — and tough! When I opened the box that they sent me, I was shocked! Usually pretty garden tools are pretty terrible. These are amazeballs! The handles are walnut with copper trim. The tools are steel and feel like they were hand-forged. They are comfortably heavy. The gloves are buttery.
My sister asked me a few weeks ago what to get my mom for her birthday; I immediately sent her to Barebones Living. Yes, they sent me a box full of their tools, but I have zero reservations about recommending them. They are beautiful — and more importantly, they are really functional.
The Garden Scoop from Barebones Living
The garden scoop is my personal favorite! I didn’t even know I needed a soil scoop, but it does the job so much better than a trowel. Who knew!
Next on my list to get: their shears and scissors which look substantial. And the Harvesting and Gathering bag for carrying all these beautiful tools around in the garden!
Lanterns: Solve Gardening in the Dark
It’s hard to get it all done! With so many balls in the air, nighttime has to be a productive time, but until recently I couldn’t do any gardening after dark, because I don’t have electricity in the Greenhouse.
Enter Barebones Living. Barebones sent me some of their fabulous lanterns to use in the Greenhouse, and now I can garden after hours — or just escape with a glass of wine. Either way!
The larger Forest Lantern recharges with a USB, and the smaller Edison Mini Lanterns run either off of a USB charger or batteries. They have a LONG battery life, too. I put cup hooks under the shelves in the greenhouse, so I can hang the lanterns where I need them, and move them depending on where I am working. I love being able to go out there at night! Barebones has other outdoor lighting solutions, too — all with a vintage look and high-quality feel. They are great for all kinds of outdoor activities.
Whether you are looking for garden tools for yourself or a lovely gift for someone you love, I genuinely recommend Barebones Living. The quality of their products is impressive, and they represent a rare kind of craftsmanship. I suspect my Barebones tools will be used for decades.
Note: If you purchase something through a link posted on this site, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting Mid Modern Mama!
The One Room Challenge Begins!
Exciting news! The Fall 2020 One Room Challenge has begun! Check out all of the details!
You can get all the details on the One Room Challenge and my projects here:
I hope you will stop by!
XOXO
A
Review: pHin Water Monitor
Is the pHin Water Monitor right for your pool? Here’s what we think!
When we lived in Los Angeles, we had an in-ground pool. It was an older pool, very deep, and super fun! We also had a pool service who came and did all of the maintenance, balancing, and cleaning. They came once per week and took care of everything.
However, with our stock tank pool, we decided that maintenance would be our own responsibility. And to help in that, we purchased a pHin Water Monitor. The pHin is marketed as a simple way to keep spas and pools balanced and clean. And it is.
Update: pHin is no longer available
We have replaced ours with the Sutro water monitor. Check out my updated review below:
My Sutro
I replaced my pHin with My Sutro. Here’s my review:
Once you download the pHin app to your phone, the app guides you through setting up your pHin. It comes with a set of test strips to test for water hardness and a few other water quality issues. These are the only tests you need to do. The pHin does the rest while floating in the water. The pHin floats in the pool, taking measurements and monitoring the water 24/7. After a recent rain storm, for example, it notified me to add some fast-acting chlorine as the rainwater had diluted the pool a bit. I take great pleasure in seeing “Perfectly Balanced” on the app — like getting an A+ in Pool Maintenance, I guess.
I get an A+ in pool maintenance!
I particularly appreciate pHin’s notification feature. Every few days I get a notification with complete instructions for how to adjust the chemicals in the pool. I don’t have to remember to use test strips each day to check in on the water. We certainly do daily maintenance, but testing isn’t part of that equation.
Another great feature of the pHin: the shopping list. I scanned the UPC code for each of the products we use to keep our pool clean and balanced. pHin keeps track of them and when it is time to reorder, I can send my order to a local store which will have it ready for pick up. Very handy now that browsing at any store is a terrible idea. pHin also offers a subscription service for pool chemicals. For our tiny pool, it doesn’t pencil, but if you have a full-sized pool, getting all of your supplies by mail may make a lot of sense. I wish they had a lower-priced spa option.
These graphs help track the water temperature and sanitizer levels amongst other pool measurements to track trends over time.
This is part of a series about building our own stock tank pool. Click the link:
Finally, I love the graphs that pHin produces charting statistics like temperature changes over time. Our stock tank pool fluctuates a lot over 24 hour periods because our nights are so much cooler than our days. Seeing this we may decide to insulate our pool at some point to help keep a more consistent temperature. But that’s a future project!
All in all, I am delighted that we purchased the pHin! It has made learning to care for our stock tank pool easier, and I feel much more confident that we are keeping it safe for our family.
Note: pHin did not sponsor this post.
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Family Game Night
Recommendations for Family Game Night including all of our favorite games
Happy quarantine! I hope you all are well and are staying healthy.
I have lost track of the days and the weeks. I just know we have a few weeks of school left and then we will be entering a summer unlike any we have ever encountered. Yowza! But we will get through it together.
One of our new favorite parts of quarantine is Family Game Night — even on school nights! After dinner we all play a game, and I’ve collected a list of our favorite games together to share with you! I hope they give you some ideas for family fun together!
It’s almost time for gardening here in Colorado. In fact, this weekend I’m getting my annual dividend of compost from our compost service — fresh compost delivered! Hooray! I’m so ready to dig in the dirt — but I have some weeding to do before that comes. Phew! That’s my project for the next few days. And then I’m going to put in veggies and flowers in our raised beds. We also need to freshen up the Dinosaur Garden! I’m excited to get that cleaned up so Bambino can play there again.
I hope you are wearing a mask. Remember: my mask protects you; your mask protects me. If you need to make a mask, here are my recommendations. I finally got a few rolls of shop towels, and I’m happy to report that they make easy filters in these masks.
Be well! Stay safe! And stay home!
XOXO
Angela
The Thoughtful Giving Guide is Here!
The list of the most thoughtful and useful Christmsa gifts for everyone on your list is now available!
I have been searching all year for unique, useful, and thoughtful gifts, and they are now collected together into one place. The 2019 Thoughtful Giving Guide is here! Enjoy!
Budget-friendly gift suggestions for everyone on your list! Lists include:
My Favorite Gifts | Gifts Under $15 | Gifts for Mid Modern Lovers | Gifts for Children | Books to Give Gifts to Make | Wines to Give | Bubbles for the New Year
Review: How to Train Your Dragon 3
As much as this film is about death-defying, dragon-borne ariels and fighting a bad guy with a decided Putin world view and accent, it is deeply rooted in Hiccup’s relationships, the cornerstone of the trilogy.
All images courtesy of Dreamworks and NBCUniversal
A Post-#MeToo Protagonist for All of Us
In our family we celebrate great stories about friendship, love, tenderness, and intimacy. Female protagonists are common in such stories — Anne Shirley, Laura Ingalls, Ramona Quimby, the Dashwood sisters, the Marsh girls.
Male protagonists in such stories are rare. But then there’s Hiccup and the motley band of Vikings in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
Hiccup is cast as the unlikely hero in this trilogy of movies, loosely based on Cressida Cowell’s series of books. He is quiet. He is small. He has no interest in becoming like his Nordic chieftain father, an omnipresent theme in the first two movies. But in this third installation, those duties fall squarely on his shoulders, and he must figure out how to lead his friends and fellow Vikings and to save the dragons they all love so much. And as much as this film is about death-defying, dragon-borne ariels and fighting a bad guy with a decided Putin world view and accent, it is deeply rooted in Hiccup’s relationships, the cornerstone of the trilogy.
And here’s the thing about Hiccup — he is the hero our boys need to see. He is the antidote to the toxic vision of masculinity presented by so much of the entertainment industry. He loves deeply. He is confused. He is sensitive and soft and shy and not a natural leader and those things don’t just magically disappear when he becomes the “hero.” He tenderly cares for dragons AND enjoys a rollicking ride through the sky on the back of Toothless, the sweetest-looking dragon ever.
He is a good friend, not in the superficial joshing, ribbing, teasing way, but when Toothless can’t fly alone with a new-found potential mate, Hiccup fixes Toothless’ tail, intuitively addressing the needs of his friend who can’t ask for such things. Not only does Hiccup see that Toothless may need a mate, but he also sees why that would be important.
Yes, Hiccup is surrounded by other young-adult Vikings who are less noble and more gross than he is. There are plenty of potty jokes for the elementary-school crowd. And there is some teasing about love and marriage — but never about the bond between friends or Vikings or dragons. And this is a subtle but important difference. In Berk, friendships are cherished, sacred.
And then there is Astrid.
First, let me note that this movie brilliantly dispenses with the silly, awkward courtship rituals of so many animated movies — the ones where either the male looks a buffoon or the female swoons or rejects him and then gives in. The first two movies both had a bit of that. But in this third installment that notion of romance is replaced instead by several charming sequences neatly drawn from Planet Earth 2 as Toothless and his mate preen and prance looking oh so much like Wilson’s bird of paradise — a fact not lost on Bambino who loves the entire Planet Earth series. The mating ritual is at once silly and sweet — and carefully observed by Hiccup from afar with a scientist’s curiosity and a friend’s loving help.
Back to the humans… having removed the awkward silliness of human courtship, that animal-documentary device lends a seriousness to the relationship between Astrid and Hiccup which is rare in children’s movies. Astrid isn’t just a love-interest. She isn’t just a friend. She is a partner, and without giving away too much, the unequivocal message comes from Hiccup’s bad-ass mother, Valka, who notes that Hiccup and Astrid must partner and work together — to lead. This isn’t a “girls can’t do it without boys” message — it is about the strength of partnerships and teamwork. Astrid and Hiccup. Together.
But perhaps the most powerful vision of masculinity comes in the snapshots of fatherhood — flashbacks between Hiccup and his now-deceased dad — and a vision from the future as well. Visions of tenderness, warmth, love, and compassion. The picture of fatherhood in this film is not of a son unable to live up to his dad. It is of the warmth and love between father and son, a passing down of tradition without threat or fear. Tears shed. Hands held. Deep hugs. And a father at once shielding his children — and awakening a tenderness in them. This is a change from the last two movies, and I think this installation is better for it.
I hope none of this is unintentional. I hope it marks a new chapter in movie-making. After all, America Ferrera, the voice of Astrid in this series, is one of the leaders of the TIME’S UP movement. And with little fanfare TJ Miller was replaced following several recent scandals. Hollywood has a lot of work to do. But there is a deep sensitivity in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World which gives me hope. I pray we see more protagonists like Hiccup for our child — and yours.
We are picky about the movies we welcome into our home — and even more so about the movies we see at a theater. But How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was storytelling worth our time and our money.
PS: Now curious about the mating rituals of Wilson’s bird of paradise? Here you go…
Thanks a Thousand
I have a whole new section of my website devoted to gratitude this year where I have a guide to writing thank you notes, a review of Thanks a Thousand, and much more!
About fifteen years ago I had the world’s most boring job. There were days when I had nothing to do. Nothing. So I stocked my office with stationery and started most Mondays writing letters and thank you notes.
I left the job, but I kept those habits. This week my first task each day is to write a few thank you notes for the gifts and hospitality I received over the holidays — all of which I wrote down in The Nice List.
My word for 2019 is gratitude and writing thank you notes is one of my gratitude practices. I am not always perfect about doing it, but I feel so much better when I have. Not out of guilt but because it is good to meditate on your blessings and the gifts of time or talent that your receive from others.
So this is my thank you note to each of you! Thank you for supporting me in this new venture. Thank you for buying copies of The Nice List — and for telling me how you have used it! Thank you for being good friends and cheerleaders! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
On one of the opening spreads in my 2019 planner, I wrote this quote: “It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” Brother David Steindl-Rost made that observation, and I encountered a version of that quote in AJ Jacobs’ latest book — Thanks a Thousand — where Jacobs sets out to thank everyone who made his cup of coffee possible.
I have a whole new section of my website devoted to gratitude this year where I have a guide to writing thank you notes, a review of Thanks a Thousand, and much more!
I would be most thankful if you would drop by and check it out! 😉
XOXO
Angela
a review of the new My Sutro pool monitor