Best PH EC tester?
- Thread starter Cigarz
- Start date
jonnynobody
Well-Known Member
I personally don't prefer an all in one. I own a blue lab PH meter with remote probe that's been discontinued which I love, and a Milwaukee MW102 that I also love. The BL was $140 when I bought it. A touch overpriced, but a solid unit. The MW102 is on Amazon for about $120 last I checked. It has a temperature probe that adjusts the PH reading according to the temperature of the solution which is something not found on most meters. If BL still offered the PH meter I have for $140 I'd recommend it, but it's no longer on the market. I would recommend the MW102 all day long. Solid unit. Great reliability. And it displays the PH as such: 5.88 versus 5.9. The unit does not round up or down. You can see tenths and hundredths of a point to see which way the PH is leaning. I prefer the hone forest tds meter on Amazon for EC / tds. It's cheap and very reliable. I buy 2 once per year for under $30. Love them!
Cigarz
Active Member
Is that cheap EC/TDS accurate? Im just new to all this... dont wanna spend uneeded money but wanna buy what I need.
jonnynobody
Well-Known Member
It is very reliable. You do not have to spend a large sum of money on a tds meter. Please do not. It is a waste of money. I have a $110 blue lab truncheon I never use. It's cumbersome and large. I prefer and use my hone forest digital units every single day twice per day. The truncheon just hangs on the hook. I only own it because I thought it would be better. It's the nicest $100 useless item I have dangling from my basement ceiling on a hook. That much I can tell you
I only use it to verify if one of my tds meters is failing. I then use the truncheon to verify one way or the other. Blue lab is not the best. That is false. The leap probes are vastly overpriced, and so are most of their products. Are they junk? Not at all. They work. They're just overpriced equipment and they do no better job than any other high quality PH meter available. It is what it is. Blue lab only displays a resolution of .1 rather than .11. You can't tell which way the PH is leaning. This frustrates me about my BL unit, but I accept it. I get more data off of my MW102, and their replacement probes are more reliable not to mention much cheaper.
Blue lab is just good gear that's sold to the cannabis garden industry at a premium. It's nothing special
Cigarz
Active Member
So I must ask if a $100 EC tester is a waste why spend so much on aPH tester?It is very reliable. You do not have to spend a large sum of money on a tds meter. Please do not. It is a waste of money. I have a $110 blue lab truncheon I never use. It's cumbersome and large. I prefer and use my hone forest digital units every single day twice per day. The truncheon just hangs on the hook. I only own it because I thought it would be better. It's the nicest $100 useless item I have dangling from my basement ceiling on a hook. That much I can tell you
Blue lab is not the best. That is false. The leap probes are vastly overpriced, and so are most of their products. Are they junk? Not at all. They work. They're just overpriced equipment and they do no better job than any other high quality PH meter available. It is what it is. Blue lab only displays a resolution of .1 rather than .11. You can't tell which way the PH is leaning. This frustrates me about my BL unit, but I accept it. I get more data off of my MW102, and their replacement probes are more reliable not to mention much cheaper.
Blue lab is just good gear that's sold to the cannabis garden industry at a premium. It's nothing special
jonnynobody
Well-Known Member
One word: reliability.
Cheap PH meters are highly unreliable. Due to the nature of the technology the costs to manufacture a PH meter are considerably higher than the costs to manufacture a TDS meter. They're completely different animals. You'll find plenty of $15 PH meters on amazon and ebay. Used 'em when I started growing. They're about the lowest quality product money can buy. Will it work? Yeah, sorta. What's your definition of working? Calibrating the unit every time you use it because it's poorly engineered? Replacing the unit every 3 months because of the poor engineering / low cost that went into manufacturing it? Wondering if the displayed value is actually correct? If features like that are what you consider "working", then yeah sure. It works. Some technology simply costs more to manufacture and others cost less. It's cheap to make a good quality tds meter. If someone else is charging you an arm and a leg you're just getting fucked. It's costly to manufacture PH meters. If you buy a cheap one you're just getting fucked. See how that works? You're welcome
Cigarz
Active Member
ok I picked them up... what ppm and ec and whatnot am i looking for any guides on this?One word: reliability.
Cheap PH meters are highly unreliable. Due to the nature of the technology the costs to manufacture a PH meter are considerably higher than the costs to manufacture a TDS meter. They're completely different animals. You'll find plenty of $15 PH meters on amazon and ebay. Used 'em when I started growing. They're about the lowest quality product money can buy. Will it work? Yeah, sorta. What's your definition of working? Calibrating the unit every time you use it because it's poorly engineered? Replacing the unit every 3 months because of the poor engineering / low cost that went into manufacturing it? Wondering if the displayed value is actually correct? If features like that are what you consider "working", then yeah sure. It works. Some technology simply costs more to manufacture and others cost less. It's cheap to make a good quality tds meter. If someone else is charging you an arm and a leg you're just getting fucked. It's costly to manufacture PH meters. If you buy a cheap one you're just getting fucked. See how that works? You're welcome
jonnynobody
Well-Known Member
Depends on what medium you're growing in. Soil is 6.3-6.5 PH for water in solution. Hydro is 5.8 PH. EC is the same for both. 1.6
If soil you only apply fertilizer to your water solution once every 3 water in cycles. Water, water, feed, water, water, feed. You'll fry the plants if you apply more often. Always 1.6 EC when fertilizer is applied. Some growers go as low as 1.3 EC. I recommend avoiding coco as a medium. I prefer #4 chunky perlite. Mother earth brand. 1.5 Cu. ft. for about $40. I run water to waste hydro. Easy.
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
A little late here but cheap EC meters are generally reliable and accurate.
They're very simple devices. I've noticed a negligible difference between my $12 EC meter and my $100 Apera EC meter.
pH meters are a different story and you do truly get what you pay for. A $12 pH meter is next to useless.
They're very simple devices. I've noticed a negligible difference between my $12 EC meter and my $100 Apera EC meter.
pH meters are a different story and you do truly get what you pay for. A $12 pH meter is next to useless.
Cigarz
Active Member
What ec if no fertilizer?
ZenWolf
Well-Known Member
I've had good luck with Milwaukee meters as well. I have a Milwaukee MC122 Pro pH controller and pump on the way that I'm excited about getting set up. It displays only to a tenth but that fine for me since I don't ever adjust anything based off a hundreths... and once I have the controller set up, won't be worried about anything other than it staying within a 0.6 range of a setpoint.
For portable/pen meters, their PRO line looks pretty decent with ATC, replaceable probes and waterproof: https://milwaukeeinstruments.com/products/pro-testers/ ...and just in the $60 range to boot.
Cigarz
Active Member
Whata bout this:
milwaukeeinstruments.com
Versus the bluelab. Saw alot of bad reviews on the bluelab. And milwakee has replaceable tip and cheaper solutions... any comments? im torn between the milwakee or this:
Milwaukee PH56 PRO Waterproof 2-in-1 pH/Temp Tester with Replaceable Probe
Milwaukee is your best source for pH, TDS, ORP testers, meters, monitors and controllers. Upgrade to Milwaukee for affordable, high performance digital measurement.
milwaukeeinstruments.com
Versus the bluelab. Saw alot of bad reviews on the bluelab. And milwakee has replaceable tip and cheaper solutions... any comments? im torn between the milwakee or this:
DCcan
Well-Known Member
The bluelab just gets more people who don't know how to store a probe, throw it out and rant at the internet when it fails....Whata bout this:
Milwaukee PH56 PRO Waterproof 2-in-1 pH/Temp Tester with Replaceable Probe
Milwaukee is your best source for pH, TDS, ORP testers, meters, monitors and controllers. Upgrade to Milwaukee for affordable, high performance digital measurement.
Versus the bluelab. Saw alot of bad reviews on the bluelab. And milwakee has replaceable tip and cheaper solutions... any comments? im torn between the milwakee or this:
The milwaukee has a $23 replaceable probe, which is the only part that needs service.
Bluelab grew corporate fat on not offering replaceable probes, looks like they are continuing down that road.
Last edited:
ZenWolf
Well-Known Member
I've already stated I'm biased towards Milwaukee. But you probably won't be able to beat that price with those features on a pH pen type tester.
By the way, you can save even a bit more money by shopping around a little bit for calibration solutions (4 pH and 7 pH) as well as KCl storage solution. Brand name doesn't really matter for those.
By the way, you can save even a bit more money by shopping around a little bit for calibration solutions (4 pH and 7 pH) as well as KCl storage solution. Brand name doesn't really matter for those.
DCcan
Well-Known Member
The storage solution comes in different strengths, 4M KCl and 3M KCI are most common, some use 1M KCI.
Any solution will work, but using the recommended strength will give you the fastest reading, more accurate over time.
You can use 4.0 PH calibration solution for storage, if you have nothing else available for a couple days.
Any solution will work, but using the recommended strength will give you the fastest reading, more accurate over time.
You can use 4.0 PH calibration solution for storage, if you have nothing else available for a couple days.
Last edited:
I've had a Milwaukee MW102 a few years and it looks quite good to me, double junction replaceable probe, .01 resolution and .05 accuracy, waterproof to IP67......Whata bout this:
Milwaukee PH56 PRO Waterproof 2-in-1 pH/Temp Tester with Replaceable Probe
Milwaukee is your best source for pH, TDS, ORP testers, meters, monitors and controllers. Upgrade to Milwaukee for affordable, high performance digital measurement.
But yesterday you said you picked up meters?
Last edited:
Cigarz
Active Member
No I cancelled... Was going to get bluelabs on amazon for $90 but everyone said how crappy they were in like the first 20 reviews... Milwaukee seems to have good reviews on their site.
One Amazon buyer says the storage cap doesn't seal and there's talk of issues. On the other hand, my MW102 has been flawless but there are plenty of bad reviews on amason, but many of those people are clueless.
Anyway, I think the Apera PH60 is worth a look, it's been out longer and people here are happy with it.