EcO from iopool vs Waterguru - smart water sensor comparative

December 16, 2022

EcO from iopool vs WaterGuru, the in-depth comparative! Discover what you can expect from each of these smart water sensors in our article.

⚠️ Disclaimer - This document is subject to change. If you notice an error or wish to make a clarification, we invite you to send us an email at hello@iopool.com. Do you have one of these connected analyzers? Give us your opinion on it in the comments!

Water analysis

WaterGuru sensor analyses free chlorine in water when EcO monitors the disinfection capacity. In our opinion, disinfection capacity is a better indicator of water safety than free chlorine.

WaterGuru and EcO both monitor the pH and the temperature of your water.

Features

Both of them provide monitoring and treatment recommendation.

EcO from iopool also purpose:

automatic scan of manual test strips (beta);
sharing access to the app to your neighbor, and your family when you're on vacation;
graphs of your water parameters;
weather prevision;
advice you on the optimal filtration time for your pool;
customization of thresholds (temperature);
notifications about water quality;
in-app shop;
public API for domotic integration;
compatible with Alexa and soon with Google Home Assistant.

Price

EcO - 249$

EcO + Connect - 299$

WaterGuru - 295$

Additional costs

Each smart water monitor has an additional cost for battery/sensor replacement or calibration. EcO and WaterGuru aren’t exceptions. Good to know: both are subscriptions free so you don’t need to pay any additional fee to benefit from all the smart monitor and app features.

EcO

EcO needs to be replaced every 2 years (at a preferential cost of $109 including a 2 years warranty extension).

WaterGuru

WaterGuru C batteries (standard) need to be replaced every 6 months. The WaterGuru pack includes 4 batteries so you don’t need to rebuy new ones for 2 years.

You also need to replace Cassettes approximately every 2 months (so 6/year…). The WaterGuru pack seems to include only one cassette so you will quickly need to purchase other ones.

3 cassettes pack - 49.95$ (16.65$ / cassette)
1 cassette pack - 19.95$
4 packs C battery “Energizer MAX Energizer” - +/- 10$

Total cost after 2 years

So the total cost after 2 years of use is:

EcO - 249$ + 109$ = 358$
EcO + Connect - 299$ + 109$ = 408$
WaterGuru
- if you buy cassette individually : 295$ + 219.45$ (11 cassettes ((6/year*2) - 1) cassette include with the pack) = 514.45$
- if you buy 4 * 3 cassettes pack : 295$ + 183.15$ (11 cassettes ((6/year*2) - 1) cassette include with the pack) = 478.15$

Compatibility with pool and spa

WaterGuru is only available for the pool.

EcO is available for pool and spa.

Compatibility with the type of treatment

WaterGuru is compatible with chlorine and salt-treated pools.

EcO is fully compatible with chlorine, bromine, and active oxygen. EcO also exist in a salt-compatible version now.

Warranty

WaterGuru is under warranty for 1 year only while EcO has a 2 years warranty.

Connexion type

WaterGuru and EcO both use BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). So you can establish a connexion if you’re close enough to your pool.

If you want to be able to access your pool data from everywhere, EcO needs an (official) gateway or one old smartphone to make the bridge between your sensor and your home WiFi.

For WaterGuru, it depends of the distance between your pool and your router:

short distance, you don’t need anything additional;
long distance, you need a wifi extender.

Application

iopool has, for now, a better average app rating than WaterGuru, on IOS and Android. Good to know: you can also use the iopool app without a smart monitor by using regular test strips. More info here: https://help.iopool.com/en/articles/5985907-how-to-use-iopool-app-with-your-test-strips.

Android

iopool Android app is reviewed 4.0 based on 255 reviews (29 June 2022).

WaterGuru app is reviewed only 2.5 based on 65 reviews on the app store (29 June 22).

IOS

iopool app is reviewed 4.4 based on 4 ratings in the USA (29 June 2022). It’s not a lot but the rating in the EU (where iopool was launched first) has an average rating of 4.3 based on 73 reviews (29 June 2022).