Hey there OG. So had some yellowing leaves and though I would pick up a new PH meter. I went with the PH60 by Apera. This unit came in a kit so it has 3 calibration liquids as well as storage liquid and a case. I did a quick out of the box calibration and than a test on some PH 7 solution. The meter is of by a PH of 0.02 which is pretty accurate as far as I am concerned. I will put this through it’s paces and update down the road a bit to see how it holds up but right now I am feeling this kit was a good purchase.
I looked at the Blue Labs as well but this kit got me. I like that it has a replaceable probe, case, calibration solution and storage solution. Reading stabilized in seconds. Time will tell how well it works but so far I like it.
I have the PH20, but when that eventually goes bad I will be upgrading to the 60. As for the 20 it’s been an awesome PH pen so far and when calibrating it it’s only ever been off by .2 at the most.
But the 60 with the replaceable probe makes it a must have when I have to upgrade.
Like a few others have said, the replaceable tip and 3-point calibration were what made me try it out.
3-point calibration isn’t a necessity by any means, but it definitely seems to speed up measurement…tons faster than my Blue labs meter ever was. It’s nice to have calibration points both higher than my highest expected measurement and lower than my lowest expected measurement.
I have the same model. I got it after a big scare using a cheap pen. Awesome pen so far, absolutely no complaints. I’m sure you know already, but make sure you store it in the probe solution. It makes a big difference to the calibration and life of the probe
The cap has a line that your supposed to fill it up to. It just covers the probe but you have to store the case at the right orientation or the solution doesn’t cover the probe
So here is a pic of the manual. When I got it there were a few drops of moisture in the cap but the probe was not submerged. If you are using it daily or weekly it says that’s all you need. I assume to keep the RH high in the sealed cap. If not using it for longer periods it says to fill with storage solution to the fill line.
from my version of the owners manual:
it says “the probe spear must always be stored int the storage solution”
it also says after long term storage (>1month) you can soak the spear overnight in the solution" to regain accuracy
and then it also says that you can store the probe with a few drops of 4 ph in the probe cap to keep it in the active state.
all that said i have been keeping it with the few drops in the cap. never had an issue with calibration and ive had it for a good minute now
and sorry, buying a meter that must be stored at all times in a solution would be a really crappy experience and i would have taken it back immediately
Yup, makes sense. Definitely follow the manufacturers instructions. I had some problems at the start cos I didn’t take storage seriously and it came uncalibrated. Now I follow this part this part on the support page.
For Apera’s other regular glass bulb pH electrodes (like the ones for PH700, PH60 and PH20), users can store the probe in the storage solution to keep its sensitivity, which is a highly recommended good practice.
