Wasn’t meant to belittle you or take away from your experience
I wish the $50 soil meter you bought and tried had worked for you.
It works fine for me. Guess you got a defective one.
The $10 probe I bought and used in the beginning didn’t work for me at the time for soil Ph readings as I didn’t understand how to properly use it. Now that I have both and checked them against each other the $10 one works too just not as accurate as the more expensive one.
I primarily use that one for quick moisture readings deeper into the soil. I use the other one for my soil Ph measurements. It isn’t as fast to get the readings from a liquid Ph meter from run off but given the 5 - 10 minutes the final reading is accurate in my experience.
Unfortunately I find some here post things based on hearsay because others posted that they don’t work and carry on that as fact when it is not always the case. I don’t post for gain or any other reason than to help people make their own informed decisions based on my actual experience using the item. Unfortunately those $10 meters do not come with adequate instruction for best practice using them and that’s why people tend to give up on them and come to their own conclusions rightfully so that they don’t work.
If your not watering to run off growing and want to monitor Ph using a quality soil Ph probe is the way you can monitor it.
I should have worded things differently in my post replying to yours but I can’t change that now. It’s frustrating to read over and over that they don’t work when they do and those growing using certain methods could benefit from using a quality soil Ph meter.
Peace out
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I think for someone starting out a better investment is a digital PH pen of decent quality: I like the Apera but did not start out with one. Those el cheapo soil probe 3-way meters sold for under $10 are extremely limited in their use at best and misleading at worst (whether operator headspace or defective equipment). The digital PH pen can be used to determine soil PH as well as the primary use of maintaining correct input PH on nutes and water.
More expensive soil probes work fine but for most of us the inexpensive liquid meter is probably a better call.
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I went cheap and kicked my self for it I had to re buy and am still re purchasing things if quality … probes… X… ph reagent …very vauge but works but still need a good pen I will have for a long haul this isn’t a weekend hobby for my anymore I need a reading to be legit … I had a rapid test soil ph probe and boy was that thing a POS… if I put pressure on the slurry with my fingers …and then spun the meter is the only way I could get the numbers to change lol and the numbers it went to were waaaay off compared to my reagent tests which are accurate but vauge… you have an idea if your way to high way to low or pretty close so it helps but it’s still not what I want and I’ll get it I’m just budget farmer …cant wait to build this room for this guy ut will give me access to all the goodies I cant afford my self
Yea I also have that one and it’s collecting dust.
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I def can use the info on how to do a run off or slurry test. I bought the apera meter PH20 tester. My soil pH is 7.0 in my solo cup. Transplanting as soon as my pH up and down arrives on Friday so I can pH my water first.
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I made the same misake and bought a probe first and it stays steady 6.5 no matter where I stuck it. It was a POS for sure. I got the apera PHJ20 and it works great
Guess maybe I am using the probe wrong then…thanks
Old fashioned litmus ph strips work well too!! 
You have it taken care of?
Yes I figured it out. I got a better soil/water tester. My plants are going strong! I have had a lot of help from people here and especially Hellraiser!