Newty said:

If you're growing in quailty soil, then skipping on the ph pen is a smart move. Why spend the money if there isn't an issue.
If you do come across an issue, it probably won't be ph related.

I honestly wouldn't waste the money on the cheap $50 one you posted.
I do a lot of searching for reviews elsewhere before I purchase anything. You can't trust a lot of good reviews on Amazon, they give people products for free or pay them to write positive reviews so I have a hard time trusting them.

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Beachbumm said:

First one lasted a couple years before the bulb went bad, the second one had a mechanical issue I can't remember exactly what it was now, but it was covered under warranty, but when I contacted Apera it became such a task to get them to honor their warranty that I gave up. I use aquarium drops now, if I ever bought another meter it would be a blue lab

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BackwoodsCultivation said:

I think you're supposed to replace the probe after a set amount a time though, no?

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mstrpkl said:

Looks like the general consesus here is that i dont necessarily need to test the soil unless i notice problems lol so i might just hold off on buying a tester, although i think that one i posted in the beginning of the thread is ginna be what i go with when i do get one, just to test it out. At 1/3 of the price of the others, i think its worth it for someone to test it out at least. If anyone gets it and finds out it works well, please post that info here for us to see it

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m8ty said:

View attachment 2295600
These are fine to get started and after a while when you figure things out you won't even use the PH pen anyway

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mstrpkl said:

But dont buy it from amazon. I bought it from amazon and it doesnt come with the fuckin calibration liquids

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d0p3x said:

You will need either need to make a calibration solution using packets or get a premade solution. Pre made is easier, if you’re using the packets which I think are cheaper you just need to dissolve them in 250 ml of distilled water.

I’ve found for calibration (after messing mine up and recalibrating it) that doing the 3 levels of calibration work good for the first time and afterwards to keep it in calibration you most likely only need to calibrate to one solution.

I would think it comes with at least the packets to calibrate the ph pen because they don’t come calibrated from the factory. I could also be wrong but I believe mine came with some and I had to buy more after messing it up haha but I have a different one. The one you have should work fine though.

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mstrpkl said:

That black and green one is actually exactly what i have haha the ph pen came with the solution! But sadly the TDS pen did not :/ il probably have to buy some solution online

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d0p3x said:

The TDS meter supposedly comes calibrated already and is less likely to fall out of calibration. But if you want to test it you can most like just use your tap water as a benchmark because it should theoretically contain a relatively similar PPM over time assuming they don’t change their filtration processes.

They work pretty well. Other than user error I haven’t had any real issues with any VIVOSUN product.

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