Imcamping86
Well-Known Member
As title says . Wondering if you guys tried any of the cheaper Amazon meters ? Doesn’t need to be perfect but I’d like something that works . Thanks in advance .
Any “okay”Amazon light meters ?
- Thread starter Imcamping86
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Doug Dawson
Well-Known Member
Good question. I got the free lux app and put it on 2 phones and both gave very different results so I bought a meter off Amazon. It produced a 3rd different reading so I sent it back not knowing where flaw is. I figured at least 2 of 3 would be close. Looking forward to seeing what folks have to say.
NanoGadget
Well-Known Member
This one has worked great for me. My brother is a professional photographer and I've checked it against his (very expensive) light meter and it was very accurate.
NanoGadget
Well-Known Member
Did any of them cap out at 37,000 ish? My galaxy s7 used to work well as a semi accurate meter with an app, but my new phone's sensor seems only to read up to 37000 lux and I've seen others mention this as well.
Imcamping86
Well-Known Member
I’ve used an app called Korona but I don’t trust it lol
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
I use this one off Google play. I don't know how accurate it is, but it's worked for me so far.
Imcamping86
Well-Known Member
Cool thanks for the input. I’ll put it on the list. Does it read par ? Cause I’ve read that lux isn’t a good source for plants ?
Doug Dawson
Well-Known Member
Honestly don`t remember the numbers. I used an Galaxy S5, S8 and a BTMeter BT-881D. Looking at your link I had the same meter. One of them could have been accurate but with 3 very different readings I had no idea which one to trust so I went back to ignoring the readings and just watching the plants.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
Lol.. I've been through the same. Your plants will tell you when they're getting too much.
NanoGadget
Well-Known Member
It does not read par. You aren't going to find a par meter for less than a couple hundred dollars. There are many handy lux to par conversions out there depending on what kind of light you use. What kind if light are you running?
NanoGadget
Well-Known Member
Well like I said, I tested mine against a properly calibrated professional light meter and it was within .1%. I mostly use it to try and find that perfect balance between intensity and spread.
Imcamping86
Well-Known Member
I have 4 ts1000 Mars hydro lights . The app has a ppfd setting and right now at 71” at 55% power it’s reading 400 ppfd.
Imcamping86
Well-Known Member
Lux reading was like 18k
Doug Dawson
Well-Known Member
It could very well have been accurate, it could have been both phones that were off. I actually figured that was the issue but didn't seem worth taking the chance.
NanoGadget
Well-Known Member
Assuming whatever you are using for a meter is accurate, and assuming the conversion is correct, 400 ppfd is good for healthy plants in veg.
Doug Dawson
Well-Known Member
I really do think that some folks over complicate growing a weed. I think growers would be so much better off learning how to read how their plants react to light and adjusting accordingly. I am a detail oriented guy that researches things to death, even bought a meter but when I got multiple readings I decided not to go down that rabbit hole. Let`s say you get your settings perfect with your meter and feel you have it all figured out so on your next grow you use the same settings and it goes south on you. Turns out not only do you need to adjust from strain to strain but also pheno to pheno of the same strain. Now if you want to go down this road the more power to you, I am not here to tell people what to do, just give advice but I do feel there are better ways to do this without buying more tech.
madvillian420
Well-Known Member
I use this one and its good enough for me, id definitely trust it more than my damn phone lol. You can stare at your plants till youre blue in the face and they wont tell you where the hot spots are or if your light should be in a different spot
PizzaMan5000
Well-Known Member
I just like being able to test lights and know.
Like for instance veg goes great point blank with t5's, at like 800-1100 par. It's nice to be able to use that as a benchmark when using HPS or led for instance.
Like I wanna say 12" from my blurple is the same as point blank against a t5. At least according to the par meter. But that might be 24" from a 1000w hps.
Doug Dawson
Well-Known Member
You can also stare at your meter until you are blue in the face and it won't show you how to grow your plants properly. By all means do as you see fit, I am not trying to convince you otherwise. I am just seeing a whole new group of growers staring at their screens or magic nutes while ignoring their plants. They over analyze every little detail and end up horrible at growing and it's usually the newbies. Anyway as I say, do what you like. The data a meter can provide can be useful in the right hands.
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
I’ve been wondering about that too. Growing since 1964 or 1965 and never had one.