This is my review of the Apera PH60 ph meter and EC20 EC meter.
The PH 60 has been serving me flawlessly for at least 3 years now, I can't actually recall how long. It has been spectacular, I am now on my second sensor as of this year. The old one was still dead accurate, but was just getting too slow for my patience. This meter has literally never needed recalibration the entire time I owned it other than to a minor degree when I replaced the sensor. I keep the probe immersed in 3m KCL in the meter cap (you can mix your own for a miniscule fraction of the ready made stuff).
The EC20 is new to me after going through two cheapies, both of which failed after inadvertent dippings. So far, the unit seems dead accurate, and has been a treat to use. Not two days after I received this meter, I managed to drop it in the nutes. I rinsed it off, and it doesn't seem to have noticed a thing. Being submersible is a very handy thing with these meters, and by far the largest advantage of this EC meter over the cheapies.
Unlike pH meters, the electronics and probes of EC/PPM meters are simple, so many of the cheapies are more than accurate enough, but only until they take a bath. I would have saved money and hassle by going for this in the first place rather than the two cheapies, even though the cheapies were accurate until getting wet.
The pros of both meters:
1. Reasonably priced for the quality you get.
2. Replaceable sensor (PH 60) for not much more than the cost of a much cheaper meter.
3. Submersible. As in when, not if, you drop either in the nutes, it will not care a bit. Trust me, sooner or later it will happen. The battery caps actually have o rings.
4. They use AAA batteries which last and last, unlike many which go through coin batteries far more quickly.
The cons:
The only detail some growers may not like is that the EC meter does not read in PPM, to which I suggest that you might want to get with the EC program - there is less potential ambiguity when dealing with other growers or interpreting labels. For sure peeps, if you are new at this mischief just start with EC and stay there.
If you need meters, these will do the job very well, and for a long time, I recommend them highly.
