I feel compelled to chime in here. I own a Trident and have stopped testing for ALK, Ca, and Mg. I'll probably still run a manual test every three months or so. For my part, I think the Trident introduces impartiality into the test. You're eliminating observational bias, and I haven't seen the sample data, but I'd bet an amount of money significant to me that the Trident is more accurate and precise than any rando tester out there. I trust it, it works well, and it makes my life easier. In reading through this thread, it looks like there is a ton of paranoia out there