It's time for me to buy a Tri-Meter...just can't decide

Here's the units I'm looking at:

Hanna 9813-6
Milwaukee SM802
Bluelab Combo Meter

The Hanna appears to be selling for $180, the Milwaukee is going for about $140, and the cheapest I found the Bluelab for is around $230.

For those who use these meters, can you relay your experiences? What makes the Bluelab more expensive? I want to buy this item once and want to make sure I'm getting a reliable unit that will last a good long time.

Any other units I should be considering?

Thanks for your time.

Subtlechaos said:

Speedyseedz has a good one on the market, I saw. He's selling his for 32 bucks. It's claiming to be 60-100Xs magnified.

Here's the link...

http://www.speedyseedz.com/index.php/miscellaneous/420-science/420-scope/420-scope.html

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WTF?

Anyways, not trying to threadjack, but I was planning on picking up a couple of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tri-Meter-pH-PPM-Temp-Hydroponic-Water-Combo-3-in-1-NEW_W0QQitemZ230415546726QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a5d63966

Can anyone vouch for it?

Also, aren't these meters basically all the same, and paying more is simply paying for name-brand recognition?

Would love to be corrected if there are indeed material differences between them.

Bob Smith said:

WTF?

Anyways, not trying to threadjack, but I was planning on picking up a couple of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tri-Meter-pH-PPM-Temp-Hydroponic-Water-Combo-3-in-1-NEW_W0QQitemZ230415546726QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a5d63966

Can anyone vouch for it?

Also, aren't these meters basically all the same, and paying more is simply paying for name-brand recognition?

Would love to be corrected if there are indeed material differences between them.

Click to expand...

tri meters are ok, but if it breaks then your fucked, you lost all your meters in one go, if you have 3 seperate meters and one breaks, you don't have to replace them all.

Well I'll still have my individual pH and EC/TDS meters as backups, but would be nice to walk into the grow show and instantly know how the rez(s) are doing without having to bend over and do one component per reservoir at a time.

I'm kinda lazy.

Bob Smith said:

Well I'll still have my individual pH and EC/TDS meters as backups, but would be nice to walk into the grow show and instantly know how the rez(s) are doing without having to bend over and do one component per reservoir at a time.

I'm kinda lazy.

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blue labs then

Any specific reason, other then it's the most expensive?

People say Vortex fans are the only way to go, but my Valueline inlines are kicking ass and taking names for 1/3 of the price.

Bob Smith said:

Any specific reason, other then it's the most expensive?

People say Vortex fans are the only way to go, but my Valueline inlines are kicking ass and taking names for 1/3 of the price.

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i've bought other top companies brand of meters before, and they have been very accurate for a good length of time, but bluelabs are reliable and they have good warranty too,

speedyseedz said:

i've bought other top companies brand of meters before, and they have been very accurate for a good length of time, but bluelabs are reliable and they have good warranty too,

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So basically they're all "about" the same, but Bluelabs just have a better warranty?

To me that's a moot point, because I'm not the kind of guy to register my product or use a warranty (credit card, real name, etc. - you get the point).

Now we're getting somewhere - thanks for your input.

Bob Smith said:

So basically they're all "about" the same, but Bluelabs just have a better warranty?

To me that's a moot point, because I'm not the kind of guy to register my product or use a warranty (credit card, real name, etc. - you get the point).

Now we're getting somewhere - thanks for your input.

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if it messes up, bluelab will replace it on warranty with a new one, and it lasts for 5 years,

well my 20 dollar ppm pen works fine no matter what I do to it. My 20 dollar ph pen does not work worth a damn. I have been on these forums for a year or so and the two I see most are the blle tri meter panel that stays in your res and before that came out everyone who wazs cool used the truncheon wand.

tea tree said:

well my 20 dollar ppm pen works fine no matter what I do to it. My 20 dollar ph pen does not work worth a damn. I have been on these forums for a year or so and the two I see most are the blle tri meter panel that stays in your res and before that came out everyone who wazs cool used the truncheon wand.

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i still use a bluelab truncheon

Is there any distinct advantage or disadvantage in having two separate probes versus a single probe? The Hanna and Milwaukee units have a single probe, but the Bluelab unit has separate probes for pH and conductivity/temp. Is the advantage that you can, perhaps, replace the pH probe alone at a lower cost should it fail? I'm currently leaning toward the Bluelab unit for the warranty but I'm curious about the probes.

gcvt420 said:

Is there any distinct advantage or disadvantage in having two separate probes versus a single probe? The Hanna and Milwaukee units have a single probe, but the Bluelab unit has separate probes for pH and conductivity/temp. Is the advantage that you can, perhaps, replace the pH probe alone at a lower cost should it fail? I'm currently leaning toward the Bluelab unit for the warranty but I'm curious about the probes.

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you can change the probes on the blue lab

Hach, YSI, Oakton or Thermo Orion. 99% of the time any of those brands bought used on Ebay is 10 times the buy of buying a new Hanna, Milwaukee or Blue line. 90% of what they sell is just second rate hobby gear. If you drop the most Hach, YSI, Oakton or Thermo Orion into a water reservoir you merely pick it up and shake off the water and go on. If you drop those you mention into a reservoir you generally need to just throw them away. The resolution of the cheaper ones are worse as is their accuracy. Their resell value is almost zip.

If you have the money buy analyzers or controllers not hand held meters. Hand held meters just do too little for what they cost if they are quality meters. I have boxes of laboratory meters and such. I have some alledged laboratory grade Hannas they are trash in comparison to Thermo Orions, Hach or YSI they are a few steps below a good oakton. They are about equivalent to the bottom of the line basic Oaktons.

If your interested in an industrila grade controller that handles monitoring and the controlling of nutrient pH and Conductivity give me a PM. I also have many laboratory grade pH meters and conductivity meters.

I have the nutra-dip tri meter. Works pretty good, although it is very tempermental. If you don't clean the probes often, (every 2-3 weeks, it fudges it up and reads kind of screwy. But I just leave the probes in the rez, every time I open the door to the room, the info is right there. No guessing. Definitely worth the investment

Bob Smith said:

WTF?

Anyways, not trying to threadjack, but I was planning on picking up a couple of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tri-Meter-pH-PPM-Temp-Hydroponic-Water-Combo-3-in-1-NEW_W0QQitemZ230415546726QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a5d63966

Can anyone vouch for it?

Also, aren't these meters basically all the same, and paying more is simply paying for name-brand recognition?

Would love to be corrected if there are indeed material differences between them.

Click to expand...

I bought one of these; they're cheap Chinese knock-offs of the Nutra-dip. They work just as well after the initial calibration. I got mine brand new for less than $100 in Los Angeles.

I have a bluelab, trimeter and Hanna 98130. I should have bought the 98130 and a Hanna 991404. Why? Well my local hydro store was arguing with me as they push the bluelab and trimeter. Infact they didnt even realise they had the hanna i was looking for in the glass case. The Hanna calls for Hanna calibration and storage solutions. Which I had to order in as no one had any. However the trimeters are heading towards craigslist asap as they have knobs to calibrate so technically you are calibrating the slope of ph4 - 7. Also only one knob for ppm calibration which if you want to be accurate you should use two calibration solutions with different ppm. At any rate the Hanna recognizes the Hanna solution (I tested this when I read it in the Hanna instructions with the grotek calibration solution) you hold the button on the hanna until it says ok. the hanna also displays 'cal' on the screen until you need to calibrate it.... i have also tested this and its rock solid when dipped in two different ph calibration, and two different ppm.... The trimeters on the other hand always display different, bounce around all day long and when testing do not display a handy clock on the screen forcing you to leave the probe in the res until its got a proper read. At any rate I'll sell you a trimeter happily, so will a buddy of mine who dropped his off in case I wanted it.

Oh and i've dropped my handheld hanna into the res many times.... still ticking away

Thanks for all the advice. I picked up the Bluelab unit earlier this afternoon.