3M LeadCheck Swabs, Instant Lead Test, 8-Pack

Used to test items for lead seems to work as intended

Backstory: I work for a friend’s retail company that primarily sells goods for babies/young children, but also sells some general family products. Most of the goods are imported from all over the place. My friend is really particular about where her merchandise comes from and safety compliance. Unfortunately, many countries do not adhere to the same safety standards that we do in the US, and it’s entirely too common to find children’s items from places like China that are tainted with lead. One such item that comes to mind are soft soled baby moccasins. She tried many different suppliers to try and get the best quality for the most affordable price, and all of her 3rd party lead testing showed positive results. Despite many customers begging for them, she now will not sell these popular shoes at all unless she can find a different supplier whose products pass lead testing.Flash forward to now. Knowing this information regarding baby moccasins from China, I purchased some for my child from what I was told was a reputable USA company with US suppliers. I figured they were safe and would have never purchased them knowing they came from anywhere else. Well, after it took a month to receive them, I decided to check the tracking only to see that they did, in fact, ship directly from China under the guise of the supposed “USA company with US products”. I was extremely frustrated to say the least and I was prepared to throw them out at the mere chance they had lead. However, since I did spend good money on them and couldn’t send them back for a refund, I decided I’d try and obtain a lead test so that I could test them at home and see for myself whether they were safe or not before I made the decision to throw them away. To my pleasant surprise, the tests detected no lead on any part of the shoes. Now I have peace of mind that my child can safely wear them and the tests couldn’t have been easier to use.

These work well enough. You will pay $25 at your local hardware store for a 2-pack of the same thing, so this is a good deal.If you suspect the presence of lead paint in your home, do not expect this to be the only thing you buy. This is your initial test.The instructions are pretty clear and straightforward. Break, shake, swab. It can be a little tricky and you will probably waste one of them trying to figure it out but whatever they're cheap compared to the hardware store ones.This kit is to test the presence of EXPOSED lead. If you have lead paint on your wall but it is safely painted over by certified interim controls, or really just you rolling some paint (or a previous tenant/owner), it will most likely not detect this. Although I did not see it in the description, I was able to test several areas of dust and get a result back (positive). I tested and re-tested areas in duplicate to make sure that I was not receiving false-positives and the results were consistent.We suspected lead in a few areas being exposed, namely old wooden window sills. This allowed me to focus our efforts on containing certain areas and it will not help you rest easier at night if you're already freaked out about lead exposed but it will at least tell you that your freak out is justified.Again this is not the last thing you will deal with if you suspect lead and you will need to hire a professional inspector to come through and do an entire wall-to-wall-to-window inspection of your property. But before you fork over $450 (our cost for a 2bd/1ba apartment) for the inspection, at least get some swabs to make sure you've got a definite reason to do so.My only complaint (or tip?) is to not go crazy when breaking the glass vials. It might feel like it's not completely broken, but it is. I actually had one break and start leaking the fluid through the casing so that one went in the trash. They basically work like those plastic glowsticks. You break a glass vial on each end and shake together.

Really helped me find the source of my son's lead poisoning. First, it was fairly easy to use - squeeze the shaft at point A and B hard enough to crack the glass inside and release the chemicals, then squeeze until drops of liquid come out and rub the end around on the surface you want to test. It's not perfect - it can only test the surface of materials, etc. If you need a real test then get a lead abatement contractor or have a company come test with an XRF machine. But for quick home tests and material that may have lead on the surface, this was invaluable. I was able to test several surfaces and even identified one or two objects that the CDC had missed on their sweep of my home looking for my son's lead poisoning. See photos - the various shades of brown and orange are negative swabs, and the pink is positive. One of my positive pictures is from the control test strip, which has a tiny amount of lead (hence the warning on the package). The others were of the source of my son's lead poisoning - from swabbing the stone on our patio / walkway (which the CDC does not routinely test). Turns out some sealants used on walkways can be contaminated with lead (done by a previous owner)! The patio that was not treated tested negative. I'm super happy with this product, and bought a second box to have on hand. The only downside is the price - quite expensive, but I guess all lead check sticks are unfortunately.