Greybeard
2500 Club Member
First part of a two part review. I haven't received the results yet, I'll post back when I do.
I've used Triton's ICP service several times. Not unhappy with it, but at $50, I thought I'd see if some of the other services would suit me. So... With included USPS return shipping, the marine aquarium kit from ICP-Analysis.com is $29.95. Save $20 over Triton. Bought the kit from their website, arrived in what, 3 days, I think. Acceptable delivery, anyway.
Opened the outside envelope, you get a 15ml sample tube, a zip lock bag, a shipping label, and a little registration card with a QR code on it, place for you to fill out your contact info. Open their website, add a source (aquarium), then add a test. Gotta scan a QR code. The code isn't written in a human readable font... and there's no place to type it in. Hm. No camera or scanner on my computer... Dead end.
Ok, so there's a link to an Android app. Ugh, don't really want another app on my phone, but OK. Do some searching, it's not there. A little more digging, can't install the Android app on my phone because the app version is too old for my current gen Pixel. Great. Another dead end.
Ok, so there's a link to an IPhone app. Yeah, I got one of those too... it's a business phone, but it'll work, I suppose. At least I can find the app. Log in, photograph the QR code, and hey, seems to work. Doesn't really tell me it worked, but when I go to the web page, I can see a new test there.
Instructions are sketchy, two of three methods of reading the QR code didn't work for me... Why couldn't they simply write the code in a human readable font, and let you type it in? It's just a few letters and numbers. Please note: I'm a software engineer. If I have so much trouble making their software work, the average Joe is simply not going to get there.
At this point, I'm not impressed. Rather pay the extra dub and keep it simple.
I'll check back in when I get my results. Off to the post office
I've used Triton's ICP service several times. Not unhappy with it, but at $50, I thought I'd see if some of the other services would suit me. So... With included USPS return shipping, the marine aquarium kit from ICP-Analysis.com is $29.95. Save $20 over Triton. Bought the kit from their website, arrived in what, 3 days, I think. Acceptable delivery, anyway.
Opened the outside envelope, you get a 15ml sample tube, a zip lock bag, a shipping label, and a little registration card with a QR code on it, place for you to fill out your contact info. Open their website, add a source (aquarium), then add a test. Gotta scan a QR code. The code isn't written in a human readable font... and there's no place to type it in. Hm. No camera or scanner on my computer... Dead end.
Ok, so there's a link to an Android app. Ugh, don't really want another app on my phone, but OK. Do some searching, it's not there. A little more digging, can't install the Android app on my phone because the app version is too old for my current gen Pixel. Great. Another dead end.
Ok, so there's a link to an IPhone app. Yeah, I got one of those too... it's a business phone, but it'll work, I suppose. At least I can find the app. Log in, photograph the QR code, and hey, seems to work. Doesn't really tell me it worked, but when I go to the web page, I can see a new test there.
Instructions are sketchy, two of three methods of reading the QR code didn't work for me... Why couldn't they simply write the code in a human readable font, and let you type it in? It's just a few letters and numbers. Please note: I'm a software engineer. If I have so much trouble making their software work, the average Joe is simply not going to get there.
At this point, I'm not impressed. Rather pay the extra dub and keep it simple.
I'll check back in when I get my results. Off to the post office
