VARIFY Water Hardness Test Kit - Water Testing Kit for Home, Drinking, Well, Spa, Swimming Pool, Softener, Dishwasher & More - Hard Water Test Strips for Calcium, Magnesium etc

Why I reached for this kit

I wanted a quick, low-effort way to check how hard my water is without dragging out a full liquid titration kit. The Varify kit promised “dip, wait a few seconds, match the color,” and that’s exactly the workflow I was after for routine checks on taps, a water softener, and a couple of appliances. After a few weeks of casual use around the house, I have a good sense of where this kit excels and where it’s simply “good enough.”

What you get and how it’s built

Varify packs 150 total hardness test strips rated for 0–425 ppm (0–25 grains per gallon). The range is appropriate for anything from very soft water up through very hard municipal or well supplies. The color scale is printed large on the bottle with both ppm and gpg markings, and that dual labeling matters—softeners and many plumbing specs reference gpg, while most water quality literature uses ppm.

The strips arrive in a primary bottle plus two individually sealed pouches. That’s a smart design choice for shelf life: you can keep most of your stock sealed until you need it, rather than exposing all 150 to humidity at once. The bottle includes a desiccant packet and has a clear, oversized color chart that runs from red tones (soft) through greens and deeper shades (hard). It’s simple and readable at arm’s length.

Packaging is compact and minimal. It’s friendly to the conscience and the drawer, though the instructions are printed small and can arrive a bit curled. Nothing fatal—just plan on flattening the quick-start guide or referencing the steps on the label.

Using the Varify kit

The workflow is straightforward:

1. Run the tap for a few seconds and collect a small sample in a clean glass.
2. Dip a strip for a second or two, remove it, and shake off excess.
3. Wait per the instructions (I got the most consistent results reading at about 30 seconds).
4. Match the pad color to the chart.

It’s the epitome of practical. Each test takes well under a minute, and because you get 150 strips, it’s easy to check multiple locations—pre-softener, post-softener, an outside spigot, your dishwasher line, even pool or spa water if you just want a quick read.

For my softener, I used the kit to verify incoming hardness at a hose bib before the unit, then again at the kitchen sink after the unit. The difference was immediately obvious. I also checked hot versus cold taps in a bathroom to confirm how much blending was happening; the hot side (softened) tracked toward the low end of the scale while the cold ran moderately hard. That sort of quick snapshot is exactly why strips are handy.

Accuracy and consistency

For a colorimetric strip, the Varify kit produced stable readings. Repeating tests on the same sample produced the same color group every time, with minor shade variation that’s typical for strips. The key is timing and lighting:

• Read at the recommended time, not immediately and not minutes later. Letting the pad continue to develop can darken it and skew the result.
• Use neutral, bright light. Warm kitchen lighting can make mid-scale colors look more similar than they are. Daylight or a cool LED helps.

Expecting lab-grade resolution from a single-pad strip is unrealistic; what you can expect is reliable placement within a sensible band on the 0–425 ppm scale. For softener tuning and everyday monitoring, that’s sufficient. If you need hard numbers to a digit, a liquid EDTA titration kit will outclass any color strip.

One note for pool and spa users: this kit measures total hardness (calcium plus magnesium), while pool chemistry typically references calcium hardness specifically. The reading still tells you whether hardness is trending high or low, but it’s not a direct replacement for a calcium-only test when you’re balancing water to protect plaster or equipment.

Interpreting the results

The chart covers:

• 0–3 gpg (0–50 ppm): soft
• 3–7 gpg (50–120 ppm): moderately hard
• 7–10 gpg (120–170 ppm): hard
• 10–25 gpg (170–425 ppm): very hard

In practice, seeing your cold kitchen tap at, say, 8 gpg versus your post-softener line at 0–1 gpg tells you the softener’s doing its job. If your dishwasher inlet reads higher than expected, you may be tied to an unsoftened branch or need to adjust regeneration timing. For well owners, watching seasonal shifts is easy with a strip—test monthly and you’ll spot trends before scale becomes a problem.

Durability and shelf life

The FreshSeal approach—one bottle plus two sealed pouches—works. I kept the bottle on a utility shelf for a few weeks and didn’t notice any drift in results from the first to the last strip, which suggests the desiccant and cap seal are doing their job. The extra pouches mean you don’t have to open all 150 at once, preserving accuracy over time. One thing I’d like to see is clearer labeling around expiry and “use within X months of opening” guidance for the pouches. It’s addressed, but the small print invites second-guessing.

Limitations and trade-offs

• Total hardness only. You don’t get separate readings for calcium and magnesium, nor a breakdown of carbonate vs. non-carbonate hardness. For most homeowners, total hardness is the number you actually act on—still, specialists will want more detailed tests.
• Color matching at mid-scale can be subjective. The chart is large and clear, but adjacent shades around the moderate-hard region can look similar under warm light. Bright, neutral light fixes most of this.
• Strips aren’t ideal for precise documentation. If you need high-confidence, repeatable numeric values (for compliance reports or advanced troubleshooting), a drop-count titration like Hach 5-B is the better tool.

These are inherent to the strip format, not flaws unique to this kit. Within those boundaries, the Varify kit performs as expected.

Alternatives worth considering

• Liquid titration hardness kits: Slower, more steps, but deliver precise gpg/ppm values with less subjectivity. Best for tuning softeners or diagnosing borderline cases.
• TDS meters: Quick and digital, but TDS is not hardness. Useful for RO system monitoring, not for hardness-specific decisions.
• Pool/spa calcium hardness tests: If you’re maintaining a pool, you’ll still want a calcium-specific test for balanced water per LSI/CYA targets.

For general home monitoring and softener verification, strips remain the fastest tool.

Tips for best results

• Rinse the glass with the sample water first.
• Dip for one second, remove, and flick once to shed excess water.
• Read at a consistent time (I use 30 seconds).
• Compare under daylight or a cool white LED.
• Don’t touch the test pad with your fingers.
• Reseal the bottle promptly and keep it dry; save the extra pouches for later.
• Test multiple points: before and after a softener, hot versus cold, and at appliance inlets.

A note on design and ethos

It’s a small thing, but including both ppm and gpg on the chart saves mental math and mistakes when you’re configuring a softener. I also appreciate the minimal packaging and the brand’s tie-in to clean water initiatives—each kit helps fund a year of clean water for someone in the Central African Republic. It doesn’t change the kit’s function, but it’s a thoughtful alignment for a product squarely aimed at household water stewardship.

The bottom line

The Varify kit is a fast, low-friction way to keep tabs on water hardness. It’s accurate enough for real-world decisions—checking a softener’s performance, spotting hard water at a fixture, or identifying which lines feed an appliance—and the 150-strip count encourages frequent use without rationing. The FreshSeal pouches meaningfully extend shelf life, and the large, dual-scale chart makes interpretation straightforward.

I would recommend this tool to homeowners, renters, and light-duty facility managers who need quick, reliable hardness checks without lab gear. If you require precise, legally defensible measurements or calcium-specific data for pool chemistry, pair it with a titration kit. For everyone else, this is the kind of simple, inexpensive tool that earns a permanent spot in the utility drawer by doing one job well and doing it fast.