Handheld TDS, EC/Salinity, pH combo Meters

[Ghosty]

Do you guys think this would be a decent handheld combo TDS/Salinity meter? Price is good, and the seller is a MASC vendor.

http://www.airwaterice.com/product/HMCOM100/COM100---Waterproof-EC-TDS-Temp-Meter-Combo.html

What do you guys recommend/use? Any specifics I should look out for? Right now I just have the simple CoraLife hydrometer to get by, eventually will spring for a refractometer.

 

[freedominco]

So with this meter you use EC to measure salinity ? or this unit just tells if you have stray current in your tank ?

I use a cheap hand held tds meter from amazon and a refractometer from a group buy, I highly recomend getting rid of the swing arm they are not reliable.

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[MartinsReef]

I have that same one. I got it with a trade. It Does not measure TDS in salt water the salt makes it read 00.0 and it does not read salinity unless you have electrical current in the water. It will be good for RO TDS and tank temp but thats about it.

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[Ghosty]

Thanks for the heads up Martin! I knew the TDS was only for freshwater, but I didn't know the Salinity meter isn't useful? I thought that if the EC shows 51, that's equal to around 1.025 salinity. Like in this chart:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php

How about this Milwaukee meter that measures TDS, EC, & pH?:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...nkCode=as2&redirect=true&tag=wordstoeatintern

 

[Dbarnes]

I have that same one. I got it with a trade. It Does not measure TDS in salt water the salt makes it read 00.0 and it does not read salinity unless you have electrical current in the water. It will be good for RO TDS and tank temp but thats about it.

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Tds meters are not made for salt... the total dissolved solids in parts per million in salt could changes by thousands in a matter of minutes. But if i were you i would go with the cheap ones for tds, mine was 25.00 and is awesome. I use the float style refractormeter because i believe they are most accurate. As soon as some one makes an accurate one that stays in the water similar to a temp probe i will be all over that. Electrical current should accurately convert to show u a more familiar reading.

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[Ghosty]

Another one mentioned on some reef sites. HM Digital, Com-100, TDS/EC/Temp, for $60:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...111&subref=AA&CAWELAID=1345850478&cagpspn=pla

 

[Cake_Boss]

For Hanna things, I like shopping heavydutysupplies.com

 

[Ghosty]

Yeah, although the HM Digital COM-100 looks good and is lower cost, I've seen a few reviews where they get outta whack soon. It's hard to tell if that's the usual or an exception out of thousands. With Hanna on the other hand, it's difficult to find bad reviews, and lot of people saying they work fine for years. Milwaukee also had it's share of bad reviews, going flaky within months.

Ok, unfortunately there are lots of bad Hanna reviews too, since they've changed their manufacturing, possibly:

http://www.amazon.com/Hanna-Instrum...?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0