Cheap ph pens suck, in general ph probes need cared for properly with kci storage solution and ph calibrating solutions to keep them accurate it’s a pia and added expense, with 20 bucks a test kit is your best option imo.
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You will spend $20, twenty times the budget ph meters are ok for a month tops. Spend the money, buy quality.
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Until I can get a good meter have a cheap one would I be better off just to get calibration powders and just calibrate mine once a month. Using ff trio and ffof so I do need wait and buy quality gotcha.
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Its already been said, strips/drops. Buy a decent meter when you can afford it.
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This is a decent meter. As a couple have mentioned you will also need to get some storage solution and calibration solutions.
Well, I said my conclusions on other thread:
For the precision of the strips, you could buy a “chinese” pH meter. That if calibrated will give you a little more precision that the strips.
For my grow I have a chinese meter (8$ more or less, two decimals precision) and a Hanna HI98128 (around 150€ here) (The one with two decimals). The Hanna is used to check the invitro media, but also put sometimes besides the chinese one to check the grow nutrients pH, and guess what? The difference between one and the other is 0,2 pH at most. So, for me the chinesse one is better than the strips. But keep in mind that, expensive or cheap, you have to calibrate it from time to time.
I don’t know if all chinese pH meters have the same quality, but I’m happy with mine.
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I have to agree with some of the others. $20 is not a budget that will get you anything I would trust. I would go with drops. I stopped buying the cheap PH pens and went with an Apera PH60. The cheap ones tend to be kind of all over the place, rarely stay calibrated, and can take a long time to stabilize. I am sure there could be decent $20 ones out there, but none of the cheap ones I purchased lasted very longing or worked very well. The fact that my Apera seems to stay calibrated and stabilizes the reading in just a few seconds made it well worth the investment to me.
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I just got the same. I like it a lot and it was reasonably priced
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Asking for speed, this model has two decimal digits or one?
Because the Hanna I have is as slow as the chinese one to reach stable value (slooow). I had others with only one decimal digit and they are faster.
Happy growings!!
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It has 2 and is accurate to +/- 0.01. I have been very pleased with it. I was using a Dr. Meter ph100 but it would take so long to stabilize I gave up on it and bought my Apera. I also like that you can replace the probe.
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Oh man…when it comes to pH meters I’ve learned buying a 20$ pH meter is going to cost me more in the long run than just outright buying a more expensive one that’s going to last and be more reliable.
That said the yellow or blue cheap ones on Amazon, will work, for a while anyway.
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Good to know.
All that I have used with two digits are damn slow, but the professional primelab colorimeter that we have, and can check for almost anything with the apropiate reactives, is also sloow… aprox 2 minutes in total to give result (and was EXPENSIVE).
Will keep name for a next buy recommendation for my work.
Thanks.
Happy growings.!!
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This is $30 but they work great, unless youre growing in soil and even then not checking ph is completely ridiculous imo
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Guess no one paid attention, this is the organic section.
This is the cheapest usable ph meter I’ve owned:
The most expensive meter I’ve owned was over $500 and worked no better than this one.
Notice it’s actually a soil probe. No point in getting a meter if you can’t test the soil. Hold on… yup this is the organic subforum not the hydro.
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Spend it on a quality cheeseburger and watch your soil improve.
Im pretty sure the OP isn’t looking for a soil PH meter for under $20.
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So you check the PH of the water you use on your organic grow with a solid tester? Also the Apera PH60 I mentioned can use 4 different replacement probes so can be used on soil as well.
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For the ignorant,
You can use a liquid “hydro” tester to test the ph of soil.
This is an established garden practice so watch out, I know how much some of you hate science…
Take a soil sample
Place it in a glass, recommend at least 8oz
Add DISTILLED water
You need to add water until it is EXACTLY level with the soil. No dry spots but no water sitting above the soil.
You will now be able to insert your probe into the soil and obtain accurate ph measurements… with a $20 meter… 
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Ah the good old slurry test. Tried and true for a long time. I still like that I can get 4 interchangeable probes for my meter 
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Even the nice pens require calibration and sitting in the correct solution and a ton of headaches. I’m back to strips and will be long as I’m a small
hobbyist.
The strips were like $5/million on amazon.
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