What to trust…
I bought a Hanna salinity checker in March. The Hanna works well, it tracks my old school refractometer nearly perfectly; as long it’s it’s calibrated.
After the first few weeks of use it hold calibration well, usually a month or so. My experience is that in the first 2-3 weeks it has to be calibrated often, after a while it’s good to go. The other “issue” I’ve had is that the checker just doesn’t last long, I don’t know if it the carbon fiber probes, bad luck, or what the problem may be. I’ve replaced the checker under warranty twice in 6 months. The last time I had it replaced was a couple weeks ago.
During the weeks long sales last week I ordered a Milwaukee digital refractometer. It came in today.
I calibrated it and checked the water in my display. 1.031 was the reading.
That surprised me so I recalibrated, this time waitin a full minute to let the Distilled water temp equalize, I did the did the same the calibration check fluid. Checked the tank, again waitin a full minute … 1.029
I checked against my Apex salinity probe, which I never use for anything other than maybe a general trend monitor. The Apex reads 34.6 so “about” 1.026 (I keep my system at 1.026)
I break out the Hanna… 1.025.
I calibrate and use my refractometer … 1.026
I recalibrate and check with the Milwaukee … 1.030
I used the exact same procedure for everything; waithing one full minute before checking the result.
So…
Apex 34.5 (generally unreliable)
Hanna checker 1.025
Refractometer 1.026
Milwaukee 1.030 (1.029 was closest but still out of spec assuming any of the others is accurate)
I’m kinda disappointed actually. The Hanna seem accurate but it life span seems to short and I don’t know how many times Hanna will warranty their product before they just tell me no. Even though they know the issue exists because before I finished describing the problem the tech support guy was telling me how to attempt to “fix” it. It’s obviously a know issue.
The Milwaukee seems to be out of range. I seriously thinking about returning it now.
The old refractometer gives me what looks to be accurate results as long as I calibrate before each use.
So, what would you do?
What’s your experience with the Milwaukee?
I bought a Hanna salinity checker in March. The Hanna works well, it tracks my old school refractometer nearly perfectly; as long it’s it’s calibrated.
After the first few weeks of use it hold calibration well, usually a month or so. My experience is that in the first 2-3 weeks it has to be calibrated often, after a while it’s good to go. The other “issue” I’ve had is that the checker just doesn’t last long, I don’t know if it the carbon fiber probes, bad luck, or what the problem may be. I’ve replaced the checker under warranty twice in 6 months. The last time I had it replaced was a couple weeks ago.
During the weeks long sales last week I ordered a Milwaukee digital refractometer. It came in today.
I calibrated it and checked the water in my display. 1.031 was the reading.
That surprised me so I recalibrated, this time waitin a full minute to let the Distilled water temp equalize, I did the did the same the calibration check fluid. Checked the tank, again waitin a full minute … 1.029
I checked against my Apex salinity probe, which I never use for anything other than maybe a general trend monitor. The Apex reads 34.6 so “about” 1.026 (I keep my system at 1.026)
I break out the Hanna… 1.025.
I calibrate and use my refractometer … 1.026
I recalibrate and check with the Milwaukee … 1.030
I used the exact same procedure for everything; waithing one full minute before checking the result.
So…
Apex 34.5 (generally unreliable)
Hanna checker 1.025
Refractometer 1.026
Milwaukee 1.030 (1.029 was closest but still out of spec assuming any of the others is accurate)
I’m kinda disappointed actually. The Hanna seem accurate but it life span seems to short and I don’t know how many times Hanna will warranty their product before they just tell me no. Even though they know the issue exists because before I finished describing the problem the tech support guy was telling me how to attempt to “fix” it. It’s obviously a know issue.
The Milwaukee seems to be out of range. I seriously thinking about returning it now.
The old refractometer gives me what looks to be accurate results as long as I calibrate before each use.
So, what would you do?
What’s your experience with the Milwaukee?
