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Are the cheapo ph/tds meters worth it?

S

SoEx

Member
I'm doing my first hydro grow and I need to buy a ph meter as well as an EC/PPM meter.

I was thinking of going the uber-cheapo route and getting a Hanna Primo TDS meter (0-1999 ppm) & a Hanna Checker 1 ph meter. Both together are about $60ish or so, which is within my budget.

Is there a big disadvantage with going with the cheap stuff? Does anyone have any experience/know if these two will suffice?
 
Mr. Bongjangles

Mr. Bongjangles

Head Brewer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
The disadvantage with less expensive meters, in my opinion, is that you'll need to check them against a calibration solution pretty regularly to ensure they remain accurate.

I use the inexpensive Sunleaves pen-style ph & tds meters (30-40 usd each) and have found them to be pretty good. I need to adjust the calibration every 2 months or so, although I check every couple of weeks to be safe. I've dropped them into water multiple times and after drying out they have come back to life without fail. I can recommend them, though I suspect the Hanna ones you mentioned would be fine as well.

Good luck with your Hydro grow!
 
H

hurricane

Member
I've used the Hm digital TDS4 pen before with good results. Adjusting is simple too with a solution whose TDS you know, and a small screwdriver. Also nice is that this model comes with a water temp sensor.

As for ph, i always used the dripper in a vial before, but for this round i ordered a digital meter. I actualy lost my old TDS so ordered an hm TDS3 and hannah checker1 ph meter from sunstoneherbals.com for $50 shipped, a slight savings. the tds4 can be had for a few more dollars but i already have a temp sensor for that. Havn't found many bad reviews of the cheap ph pens, just that they need normal recalibration. For something i use once a day i dont figure a once a month calibration is too bad.

I also ordered a little .9999 silver wire from them. Saw a post here before about making feminized seeds with coloidal silver(easier than it sounds), and figured having a little arround if i want to try would be nice. I've no clue if their silver price is fair though, just that the meters were cheap :)

Hurricane
 
Outlaw Grower

Outlaw Grower

Member
i've spent well over $400 on cheapo meters and finally spent $150 on a milwaukee sm802 2 years ago. best investment i've made yet... all the others would be out of wack in a matter of weeks.... in the past 2 years i've checked the sm802 with calibration soloution and never had to adjust it once... it was spot on right out of the box and still is. measures ph, ppm, ec all in one
 
E

eLiguL

SoEx said:
I'm doing my first hydro grow and I need to buy a ph meter as well as an EC/PPM meter.

I was thinking of going the uber-cheapo route and getting a Hanna Primo TDS meter (0-1999 ppm) & a Hanna Checker 1 ph meter. Both together are about $60ish or so, which is within my budget.

Is there a big disadvantage with going with the cheap stuff? Does anyone have any experience/know if these two will suffice?
Click to expand...

I see you have come full circle now. PH/EC meters are essential if your going to do hydro. I personally have the cheapo ones from ebay and they are doing just fine (i spent a total of $50 for both my meters). Spend the extra $10 on calibration fluid just to have piece of mind when you think something is wrong.

Just a word of caution, if your gonna go with a EC meter make sure its in ms/cm and NOT us/cm. The meters that are in us/cm usually only go to 1999EC and you need up to 3200EC.
 
P

PharmaCan

Active member
Veteran
I've got Milwaukee meters now and I'm very happy with them.

The first meters I bought were the Hanna cheapies. The pH meter lasted about four months. I tried replacing the probe but the meter was all over charts compared to reality. The Hanna TDS meter was a different story. A friend wanted to verify the readings of his TDS meter, so I loaned him mine. With the Hanna meter, you push the button down briefly to turn the meter on, and hold it down for it to go into calibration mode. My friend got this confused and put the meter into calibration mode before dipping it into his nute solution. Apparently the ppm of his nute solution was so far off from the proper calibration solution ppm, that it wigged out the chip in the meter 'cuz it hasn't worked since. Weird, eh?

Anyhoo, from my experience, Hannas are crap. You should check out other brands. Starting a grow can be expensive, but pH and ppm are the basics of hydro and your meters really aren't a good place to try to scrimp.

PC :smoker:
 
CanadianGrower

CanadianGrower

Member
I would also have to recommend the cheap ebay ones, there not cheap as in poor quality just good prices since those hydro shops love to make more that %100 profit off alot of their products. The dip stick ec, tds meter i got is unreal I love it only 40 bucks shiped to my door, local hydro shop over 200!!!!
 
C

chimei

Member
My experience with the cheap ebay pocket hanna PH meter has been it takes like 40 seconds to settle on a PH reading. (Although the reading is acurate)

My other PH meter that I bought it to replace takes like 5 seconds for an acurate reading. I don't recall the model numbers but the cheap hanna from ebay was like 25 dollars and my other PH meter is a hanna also but was like 70.00 if I recall.

I don't like waiting to see if the PH reading is going to change.

Is that normal for the cheap Ebay hanna to take so long to stabalize on a reading? It is the pocket hanna meter.

I also don't like the hana cheap ebay meter because its probe is so short.
 
CanadianGrower

CanadianGrower

Member
chimei said:
My experience with the cheap ebay pocket hanna PH meter has been it takes like 40 seconds to settle on a PH reading. (Although the reading is acurate)
My other PH meter that I bought it to replace takes like 5 seconds for an acurate reading. I don't recall the model numbers but the cheap hanna from ebay was like 25 dollars and my other PH meter is a hanna also but was like 70.00 if I recall.
I don't like waiting to see if the PH reading is going to change.
Is that normal for the cheap Ebay hanna to take so long to stabalize on a reading? It is the pocket hanna meter.
I also don't like the hana cheap ebay meter because its probe is so short.
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I noticed its not a instant reading it jumps around .1-.2 for 5-10 seconds before accurate reading, not usre why. 40 seconds is so long i think your was defective or something, I guess it all depends on your budget and size off your grow.
 
JohnnyToke

JohnnyToke

Member
my first ph and tds pens were the hanna primo's. they were ok but took a while to get readings etc so I surfed the popular online auction and purchased the waterproof oakton ph and tds pen. they are quicker and more accurate for readings.

regards,
JT
 
G

Guest

my tds meter was a a tds/temp combo and cost $15 from sunstoneherbals.com

my pH meter was a cheap hanna pen meter off ebay for about $15-20 with shipping.

Both are still working great. I calibrated my pH meter a few weeks ago after about 6 months of use and it was only off by about .5, which i don't consider bad at all.

both my meters are working great still after 6+ months of use.

On the other hand, i've read about $150-200 combo meters crapping out after a month of use.
 
NiteTiger

NiteTiger

Tiger, Tiger, burning bright...
Veteran
My PH meter is a no-brand from eBay that came pre-calibrated. Didn't have to re-calibrate it for over a year. I've had to recalibrate a few times recently, but I think that has more to do with me needing to clean it real good.

Hell, even if it is going out, who cares? It cost me $25, and has been working great for over a year. I think the math works in my favor :D
 
S

SoEx

Member
NiteTiger said:
My PH meter is a no-brand from eBay that came pre-calibrated. Didn't have to re-calibrate it for over a year. I've had to recalibrate a few times recently, but I think that has more to do with me needing to clean it real good.

Hell, even if it is going out, who cares? It cost me $25, and has been working great for over a year. I think the math works in my favor :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

I went the el-cheapo route. I am fine with calibrating something I'm going to be using almost daily, and the PH pen and TDS meters I ordered were very cheap.
 
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