The link shows a picture of this meter. It's thicker and beefier than what it looks like in the picture. The caliper of the probe is 0.39 inch. When it came out of the box I was a bit shocked at how beefy it is. But the probe was as easy to insert as the 0.18 caliper probe of my Rapist.

The quality of the readings is vastly better with the new meter. The Rapist seldom works and the Accurate 8 always gave a reading I could believe.

First day of use but good so far. I didn't want a whimmpy lab meter. This thing can be jammed in a full 12 inches.

Here is a link that might be useful: Accurate 8 meter

Looks nice. Have you compared the results to any lab results? I'm sure it is pretty accurate, but all I hear from everyone is not to trust readings from meters that cannot be calibrated. I don't own such a meter, so I can't say one way or another.

I use a PH meter that I use for wine making. I take a soil sample and make a slurry with distilled water, then let it settle and measure the pH of the liquid on top of the sediment. Seems to give great results, but it is time consuming and a lot more labor intensive than your probe. I like your method a lot more if the accuracy can be verified. Can you take readings from calibration solutions or does it need to be in soil?

backyardener:

The instructions say don't immerse in liquid, so that's out. I don't need great accuracy. Just need a ballpark figure. This seems to do that very well. Just back from a friends place who has potted blueberries that were doing great but were going down hill fast last fall. The meter pegged out on the low side, ~pH 2. I'm guessing he added sulfur several times and forgot. So I recommended flushing with well water twice a week until pH gets up to 4.

I have more friends I'm visiting tomorrow. They've got blues that I'm thinking are too high in pH. Tomorrow I'll know and won't need to guess.

I'm really pleased with my purchase right now even though I think the moisture reading is probably pretty worthless.

How many inches you has to dip the meter into the soil. The stick seems too long. Most small plants roots run about 4 inches on the surface. My trees roots run on the surface too I can see them. I guess they are running after water there is more water on the surface from the rain. I am looking to buy one of those meters. It is getting to be very costly hubby. I just spent $400 on heating Pads and Surround sprayer and $500 on rotary tiller.

Unrelated question the spray you have from last season is it still good. I have two bottles of Sevin and Bonide I used only a quarter of it last season just wondering I am looking for ways to safe money.

I found it for 58 at growsmarthydroponics comes with a moisture meter.

The add at growsmarthydrponics is kind of confusing. The picture shows both the Accurate 7 and 8. The 7 is very short and the 8 is the 12 inch probe. That is a good price just be sure what you are getting. I didn't check the shipping there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Accurate 7 and 8 meters

foolish:

You need to get the tip about 2 inches into the soil to get a reading. The whole 12 inches doesn't need to be in the soil. Blueberries will root at least 12 inches deep so it's nice to have some leeway on depth. Mostly I check about six inches deep. I think that's probably a good representative depth.

Shipping from growsmart to my zip about $5 for a total of ~$63. Will pass that on to my buddy. After seeing mine he wants one.

I saw those at the doper oriented hydroponic store in my neighborhood. They are a lot more official and heavy-duty looking than those little things they sell at the regular nurseries. Some of those guys are all business, that's for sure. I opted for an $8 liquid ph kit. They sold it to me in what you would call a "dime bag" Unfortunately I paid for it and a seed heating pad with my credit card, so now I am on the DEA hate list.

Not sure about these garden pH meters, however the ones used in the laboratory have to be calibrated before taking readings. The calibration generates a standard curve with a correlation coefficient which has to be above a certain level to be acceptable. I know that we don't require this level of precision in this application, but I do know that without calibration, even these instruments can be a full unit of pH off. Good luck with your measurements.

In terms of calibrating a pH meter, I use those cheap foil test packets. I use the 4, 7, and 10 pH packets.

To get a really accurate test, I've tested the packets, then tested the unknown, then tested with the packets again. I've found my cheap meter seems to stay calibrated very well.

My buddy bought an Accurate 8 meter to test aside mine. When inserted into the same hole at various pH levels the two meters were within 0.2 pH units. Of course both could be wrong but the readings make sense relative to plant responses.

Recently I tried blood meal for the first time on some potted blueberries. About a week later I took pH readings just to monitor things. At first I thought the meter was off because readings were high. But now I think the blood meal raised pH. After switching back to ammonium sulfate the pH is now back to the 4.5-5 I want.

So I'm still pleased and think the meter has already paid for itself.

Great post. I've been looking for a decent, easy to use ph meter for a while. This may be the ticket.

I bought one of these after reading your post many years ago and this thing is really great until you forget to take it out of the pot and let it sit in it overnight. Anyone know if this thing will ever work again one the humidity in it dries out a bit? still after 5 hours it is buried on seven and will give no moisture reading when you press the button.

Don't know what to say about stuck meter. It's probably toast.

After several yrs I still use this meter but don't trust it very much. It seems the wetter the soil

the higher it reads.

so fruitnut, you no longer recommend it? I was getting excited by the first few posts.

The cheap moisture meters work really well but the cheap pH meters are a con. So I just ordered this one. Still cheap but 5-6 times more expensive than the cheapies. We'll see.

No I won't recommend.

It seems to be working now. I like it as a sort of quick reference when I'm out buy the blueberries. I have a nice Blue Lab that I use when i am mixing the water and ferts for them.

What do you recommend instead now FruitNut?