There are quite a few manufacturers that make quality meters & you are right to think you get what you pay for with the cheapies , whatever model you chose multi meters are not the best choice , if the meter goes down now you've lost ph & ppm at the same time , the smart move is to buy a seperate ph meter & a ppm meter , it's also good to have a back up ph meter , i personally use 2 different type metering systems , for ppm i use a probe type from bluelab which uses dual calibration points , for ph i use a hanna pen type meter thats a cross between a probe & a pen called "The Grocheck", its like a hockey puck with a led window in the middle & a solid probe attached to the meter thats about 12 inches long & it's my all time favorite meter , it uses a single point calibration thats extremely fast to calibrate using any ph calibration value you have , you can set it with 4 , 7 or 10 , it's also accurate ,
The Bluelabs are good but way over priced , my bluelab EC/PPM probe cost $200 & my Hanna " Grocheck" cost $99 & is the longest lasting meter in my aresenal of meters , i had shit luck with all 3 meters i own from Milwuakee & will never buy their meters again , Hanna meters have been the most durable meters i own & are also the fastest to calibrate , you should be able to get a pair of hanna meters for under $200 in any grow shop , you want to buy from a shop that takes warranty exchanges where you leave the broken one & they deal with the manufacturer after replacing your meter , buying from the internet can leave you without a meter .
The biggest issues are allways have back up meters , clean the probes often , store properly & buy quality from a real store you can drive to in a pinch .
has onyone tried these? and are they any good?