Sutro Monitor vs Eco, Who’s the Best Water Smart Analyzer?

July 27, 2022

You're looking for a pool monitor but you don't know which one you should buy? Do you consider Sutro monitor? Or maybe are you a pHin user who looks after one alternative? In both cases, you should discover why EcO from iopool should also get your attention. We compare Sutro and ourselves in this guide. Let's go!

⚠️ Disclaimer – This document is currently a draft and is subject to change. Some of the information contained in it needs to be verified. 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

EcO monitors the disinfection capacity, temperature, and pH of your pool water.

Sutro monitors free chlorine (and bromine for spas), temperature, pH, and alkalinity. The alkalinity sensor is a great feature, but as we are going to see it later, it also comes with a big price increase.

As you've already understood: EcO and Sutro don't use the same "main" sensor. We use one ORP sensor cause, in our opinion, disinfection capacity is a better indicator of water safety than free chlorine.

Sutro provides 3 analyses a day. EcO makes a measure every 15 minutes.

Subscription or not?

100% features of the EcO smart water monitor come without any subscription.

It's not the same thing for Sutro.

The cost of the monthly Sutro "standard" subscription is 29$ per month and is up to 39$ per month in the premium version.

We will see what's included in each of them later in this article.

Good to know: the Sutro subscription includes the price of the replacement cartridge (you need to change them each month).

Price

EcO - 249$

EcO + Connect - 299$

Sutro - 499$ (+ monthly subscription from 29$ to 39$ a month)

Price including additional costs after 2 years

EcO has a 2-year lifetime before needs to be replaced at the cost of 99$ (with a new 2 years extension warranty).

After 2 years, EcO costs:

EcO: 249$ + 109$ = 358$
EcO with connect: 299$ + 109$ = 408$

Sutro needs a replacement cartridge each month, but they're included with the subscription app fee. A rechargeable battery is also provided.

After 2 years, Sutro costs:

standard: 499$ + 696$ (24*29$) = 1195$
premium: 499$ + 936$ (24*39$) = 1435$

Features

Both of them provide monitoring and treatment recommendation.

Feature	EcO smart water monitor	Sutro smart water monitor
Customer support	Integrated in-app and free customers support by chat that can help you with your pool (or spa) issue	Standard: integrated in-app and free customers support by chat that can help you with your pool (or spa) issue Premium: in the front line a CPO
Automatic scan of test strips	Yes (but still in beta version)	No
Sharing access to the app	Yes	Doesn't seems to (if you have a Sutro, tell us in the comment section but we don't find anything about it on their website right now!)
Weather prediction	Yes	No
Advice you on the optimal filtration time for your pool	Yes	No
In-app shop	Yes	No
Public API	Yes (see this)	No
Graphs of your water parameters	Yes	Premium only
Alexa Integration	Yes	No
Google Home Integration	No (but coming soon, Mehdy is working on it!)	Yes

Compatibility with pool and spa

EcO and Sutro are both available for pool and spa.

Warranty

EcO benefits from a 2 years warranty instead of only one for Sutro.

Connexion type

EcO uses BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) by default. So you can establish a connexion and access to your data if you’re close enough to your pool. But, if you want to access your data from everywhere it's possible. You can use our official gateway (included in the EcO Premium pack) or an old phone to reach the WiFi of your house to send the data to the cloud. Thank's to our open API, geeks and IoT enthusiast can also integrate EcO in their domotic system.

Sutro monitor can connect only using Wifi using a hub included in the pack.