Happy to help! LMK if you want me to send copies of any source documents.
My water source is Seattle-area local tap, which is very soft. I asked the water district and they said it is pretty consistent across the seasons, so I have lived with just one Ward Labs test.
This is how I have put the test results into BW, which as far as I can tell I have done correctly (Had to use the SO4-S conversion for example.)
https://i.imgur.com/IQGXcwg.png
I always add minerals appropriate to style, usually using the built-in presets like "Yellow Balanced."
My meter is a Hach Pocket Pro + which I calibrate on brew day before measuring my samples. Samples are drawn at 15 minutes into the mash.
I have only spot checked a few past brews in v5.3, but a good example is my recent brew of JZ's Czech pilsner. There was nothing funny going on like lots of mash steps, it was a straightforward brew day with 2 grains, 1 sacc rest and a mashout.
I set up v4.2 with a little phosphoric acid to hit a mash pH of 5.4. My actual result was 5.34, which I thought was great. (My typical error is a higher measured pH, no idea why this one was lower.)
I put the same grain bill, acid etc into v5.3, and it predicted pH of 5.21.
I am a no-sparge EBIAB brewer, so the mash looked like this:
Grist weight 12.8 lb
Total water 9.68 gal
Ratio 3.04 qt/lb (most of my ~1.05ish brews are in this ballpark)
In the Grain Input screen, v4.2 and v5.2 agreed completely on the color predictions. Here's an image of that screen from v4.2:
https://i.imgur.com/Sh5czVF.png
I did have the "Pilsen" mineral target set, but ignored those values in favor of Czech pils advice culled from various forum threads, which was basically "add a little calcium and don't worry about the rest of it." I only added CaCl2, and my ion values in the mash were calculated to be: Ca: 19.8 / Mg: 0 / Na: 8 / SO4: 3 / Cl: 30
The CaCl2 and acid were added before heating the water.
And lastly, here is a side by side shot of the Water Adjustment tab from each version. Everything should be identical except the pH prediction... but it's always possible I have made a mistake.
https://i.imgur.com/q4DC7jV.png