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Originally Posted by michika
I have one and I love it. So much more accurate then the test kits. It can be a pain to calibrate, but its worth it for me.
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In my opinion you really do need to calibrate before each test. The two solutions are endpoints to the scale (1-10 for low range and 10-100 for high range). I find I do not get consistent day to day results without calibrating for every test. The other thing is that it takes a significant amount of time (in the order of a minute) for a reading to stabilize.
So indeed, if you are looking for an instant reading like that of a pH monitor, unfortunately you will be disappointed. Also you can not use the device for continuous monitoring. It is thus an alternative to chemical based test kits, it is not something you could, say, hook up to an aquarium controller for automated trending data points like that of temperature, pH, ORP or whatever.
However having said that, the precision and accuracy you get with a monitor is second to none. It can tell you the difference between, say for example, 6ppm and 8ppm, which you will not get with any other test kit available on the market. I personally highly recommend the monitor over test kits. It can show you subtle changes from day to day and you can see a increase or decrease in a day to day basis as opposed to a more week to week basis.