Is the Reef Factory Smart Tester Worth £600? An Honest Long-Term Review

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0:00 Intro and disclaimer
0:42 What can it test?
1:32 Problems I've had
2:18 Long-term accuracy report
6:33 Cons and limitations
7:28 Software/app troubles
9:07 Build quality
9:31 Actions - automated phosphate control
10:15 My final thoughts
11:47 Your experiences

[giannisk.]

No intention of buying this but still enjoyable to watch an Alex review

[AlicksSmith]

Awesome review, honest, impartial, and more importantly - reasonable. You make great content, man.

[LyssiaRees]

This video is such HD I feel like I’m being held in Alex’s house while he information dumps on a product at me. The Review was so good I wasn’t even trying to find the door to escape

[simonlockley-evans]

I've had a few reef factory bits of kit, in my experiencel they charge premium prices for tier 2 products and service. Kamoer offer a much more robust product line compared. Also, the amount of times RF equipment loses wifi compared to other manufacturers is in a order of magnitude.

[rudra]

Hold on ...new camera? The quality has gone up!

[damiantosd]

I have a mastertronic and a trident on separate tanks and I think the MT is great value for money considering all the tests it can do. If these were around the price of the trident NP for both units combined it would be a more reasonable price. Found your review really balanced Alex.

[BassMunn]

I'll buy a Hanna checker then - Thanks 😂👍

[theReefED]

Thanks for doing this review

I like a lot of things about Reef Factory and they’re bringing some innovative equipment - but some of these products need some more refinement.

Automated testing isn’t easy and has a lot of moving parts, so I sympathize with the difficulty of what they’re trying to accomplish, but that’s a steep price

If they had a smaller and more reliable Alk/phosphate tester that would be more than enough for my needs!

[lucaspeterssson]

ive heard many have conection problems with reef factory devices, try buy a wifi extender and set it up near the aquarium. this worked for me and now i dont have any problem at all. well, exept a level sensor that decided to selfdestruct.

[cerb]

I bought a smart tester when it came out. I've had some trouble with mine and atm its getting repared at reef factory since the color reader stopped working. But I have replaced the glas twice over the past 12 months and the test results has been dead on with the hanna tester.

[SammyDee]

All these water tester better get dialed soon or im just gonna buy a spintouch duo use two tridents currently....theyre awesome but still requires a decent budget....if spintouch came down in price some and refills i think itd easily become the most prevalent tester we use

[fishstix]

curious to know how this compares to the Trident NP

[rivierareefer]

I have a few reef factory items. Dosing pumps seem fine and reliable. My ph probe constantly drifts and has proved unreliable… seems they innovate some great ideas, styling etc but just lack a bit of reliability in my mind compared to the offerings of similar costs. Agree with your point about the app. Seems it evolves with new products but isn’t updated on older items which does make it seem clunky.

[aquariumaddickuk]

Mixed feelings regarding RF.
I bought a ph meter which has been fine.
Have a doser which is fine albeit flimsy.
The kh keeper plus was a nightmare that would not test despite hours of headscratching on the forums & trying everything so that went back.
Support was very poor.
My beef is thr build quality.
The items all look like they were made by harvey price during an arts & crafts therapy session, which at their price point is an issue.

[jonathanstephens]

Hated mine, had it for about 3 months and it was always way out. I also run the Hanna with the reference fluid and hanna was always spot on. I found the customer service rubbish. The app is horrible. For me was the worst purchase of the year I made. I use a trident and Alkatronic on other tanks so familiar with how these auto testers work, need calibrating etc. Only good thing was the LFS i used (Kraken Corals) were excellent and had the unit straight back. Sorry for negative's but I thought it was crap lol Oh, I also tried the magnesium and it never returned a result, apparently i had dodgy reagents.

[revZ]

The kamoer reef master spa tests everything. Ca, mg, alk, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and iron. Its not out yet in the uk but it looks promising and probably much better value for money than the smart tester .

[bobbyknox]

How are your corals that colourful with 0.2 phosphate. I must be doing something wrong. Ive got a bit of downer on reef factory stuff. My ph monitor wont reconnect at all now after an update. Had it 3 years. Think ill pass on this tester then. Great review 👍

[erich]

The mastertronic has been ups and downs for me. When it works it's marvelous. However calibration has been tedious. Also mechanical items are consumables in the long run like the actuator and now the sensors xy. If they start to need replacing it almost seems like it's smart to get a new one cost wise.

Would like to hear about reef factories customer support if you have experience with it.
Focustronic have been hit/mis for me as in almost every time telling me to replace a mechanical item almost from the start.

[chriswhite]

Im not on my 3rd unit, after months of inconsistent results RF admitted that the cartridges don't work properly and had to change the cartridges in the hope of getting one that works (I believe this is also part of the hold up on release of the new reagents as they are having to design a whole new cartridge), on the 3rd set of cartridges i was finally getting reliable results then the photo sensor died. No apologies for the constant mess arounds with problem solving with them, nothing for the cost of having to return equipment. Conveniently every time I go on holiday it stops working. I was pretty happy with all my other RF kit but honestly this piece of equipment is dissapointing for such a high price point.

[queencityreefs]

I purchased one and at first i loved it. But those errors started popping up in the 2-3 months after hooking it up range. Same with a friend. Identical errors. We both were able to return it for credit. Definitely dont recommend it as of today.