Ph meter recommendations?

[31drew31]

With all due respect I beg to differ. Ok, granted...the real cheap yellow ones are crap. They only measure to one decimal. But spending 40 - 60 or more dollars is way to much for what one needs to measure the pH of their nutrient sollution.
Take a look on Ali for this type of pH meter and use the remaining money to buy some beans
It has a replaceable probe end which you can buy separately. Also buy callibration liquid or those little bags of callibration powder (pH 4.01 & 6.86)
because a pH meter (yes also an expensive one) needs to be callibrated once a month when used every three days. If you use it more often then I suggest you callibrate more often. When using the powder to make your own only use distilled water and weigh it on a small scale in stead of using a measuring cup. 250ml pure water weighs exactly 250gr. Mass over Volume

Regards

Since you quoted me rather than just replying to OP I feel like I should reply back. Certainly there are cheaper good alternatives out there than what I linked. That said, there is a big difference on shipping time ordering from China (2-4 weeks pre covid) or Canada aka Amazon Prime (1-5 days). Also remember those prices I showed are CAD and comes with case, all 3 calibration solutions, storage solution AND includes 4x AAA batteries. I don't know the value of all of this but its easily $30 CAD.

The PH pen you linked looks fine, but literally only comes with the pen itself and a couple testing powders and costs $28 USD which is $40 CAD. Add in 4x AAA batteries, calibration solution to last you multiple years, storage solution and case, you'll quickly be approaching the total price of the pen kit I linked. On top of that, you don't actually know when you will receive your pen as its coming from China during a pandemic. For my money, Ill take paying an extra $20-$30 in favor of receiving my purchase quickly and with a brand name I know thats been in the game as long as Ive been alive

 

[Bob's Auto's]

@31drew31 I'm new here and I'm sorry if I offended you by quoting your post. That's not why I did it...

I saw you recommending someone who's obviously new to the game to buy an expensive device, which is definitely a quality piece of work. I don't want to argue about that at all. I just wanted to give this person an alternative and tell you I don't agree with your statement that only expensive is good enough. I sincerely hope this is allowed here... If not I apologize

I've been doing Hydro for over ten years now and I also started with an expensive (Hanna (don't know the type no more)) probe that cost me around 75$ (70€). I also remember the day I dropped that probe on the ground... That was an expensive lesson to learn you should always tie the little wristband you get with those probes in stead of leaving it inside the box it came with. The next probe I bought was a cheap yellow one from Ali or Ebay (around 8$) and those were crap. Like I said before, only accurate to one decimal and as you might know the last decimal on the screen is not to be trusted because you don't know if it's closer to the high side or the low. ie, a measurement of 5.5 could be 5.59 or 5.51 which is almost a difference of being ten times more/less acidic then the other. So I always recommend people to get one that has an accuracy of two decimals (ie, 5.55) then at least you know it is 5.54 or 5.56...
But you don't need to pay high prices to get that sort of accuracy. The probe I shared costs less then 25$ (USD) and that is including 2x three bags of calibration powder (4.01, 6.86 & 9.18) which you do need to mix in distilled water by your self, maybe not for everyone a simple task, but if you can mix nutrients in a tank I think you'll manage fine. It is waterproof (IP65) so if you dunk it to deep in the pool (pun intended ) it doesn't matter and it comes with free shipping. Ok, China is on the other side of the planet and there is this thing called Covid-19 that's ravishing mankind so shipping takes some time, but that's something you accept when ordering from over there...

Again, no hard feelings towards you or other people who want to buy a known brand from a local source. To each his own.

Regards

 

[St. Tom]

Thanks for the input everyone. Helpful insights as usual

Bluelab are top of the game for canna meters but some great input from the other folks here I'd just avoid the cheap yellow ones

 

[4d-Rock]

Hey, stumbled upon this thread so thought I'd give my thoughts on this.

I used the cheap yellow ones when I first started and everyone is right, they are pretty bad. Not accurate and drift off calibration all the time. I couldn't rely on it so I went with a Root Farm drop style testing. It got me in the range but still not accurate.

I finally bit the bullet just over a year ago and bought an Apera PH60 for about $110CDN and it has been great. Pretty quick and accurate testing and doesn't drift out of calibration much at all. I try to calibrate every month or two and even when I do that, it isn't off by much more than 0.05-0.10,

Recently, I've been trying to decide on which soil ph probe to get but there are also very cheap crappy ones (green ones you see everywhere), or very expensive good ones (Blue Lab). In my searches I found that a side benefit to the PH60 is that it is compatible with different probes as mentioned by someone else above. So I just purchased the soil ph Probe for the PH60 ($160CDN) and it just shipped. We'll see how it turns out but I'm excited to add it to my toolbox and work it into my grows.