F it, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a $25 ph and TDS combo meter. I can't afford the Apera combo at $150. But if I like this and then after a while it stops working, I'll upgrade. I just want to see how much I actually use it.
Went with this one -
Amazon product
If you look at the design of all of the ones in the $25-$50 range, that one, the vivosun, and a bunch of others, you'll notice they all have the exact same case design, button layout, screen layout, etc. just different colors and stickers. I guarantee all of them are coming off the same factory line.