Is the Blue Lab Truncheon worth the $96?

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jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I'm having some trouble with the cheap tds / ppm meters giving inaccurate readings and ordered a truncheon on the recommendation of a friend. I'm told the truncheon gives more accurate readings in both EC and 500 scale PPM. Is it worth the nearly $100 I spent on this thing or am I just burning my money?
 
2

2com

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
I'm having some trouble with the cheap tds / ppm meters giving inaccurate readings and ordered a truncheon on the recommendation of a friend. I'm told the truncheon gives more accurate readings in both EC and 500 scale PPM. Is it worth the nearly $100 I spent on this thing or am I just burning my money?
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Truncheon is solid, reliable and accurate. No calibration. Good investment. 10 years easy, as @rustyshaclkferd said.
 
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jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the positive feedback! I feel confident I made the right choice now. I got the blue lab ph meter with remote replaceable probe a year or so ago and I love it. I made nearly $1k worth of upgrades to my little garden this cycle, and this truncheon meter is what I'm excited about most.

Off topic, but the second most exciting upgrade I made was the Hurricane 16" Super 8 wall mount oscillating fan. I have 2 coming from amazon on Monday, and can't wait to get them mounted. Long term reliability seems questionable though. I'll play with them for 30 days and if I feel even the slightest cunt hair of concern regarding quality or performance I will return them and never look back.
 
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Serverchris

Well-Known Member
Look at the Air King 9012 commercial grade fans. They just oscillate not the figure 8 but I've have multiple ones that are already over 5 years old and still running fine.
 
70's natureboy

70's natureboy

Well-Known Member
At least you didn't get ripped off buying a Control Wizard Digistick. It's half the price but doesn't work and no warranty. Blue Lab all the way!

I got my Digiturd from thehydrosource.com. They don't stand behind the crap they sell either. It's hard to beat Amazon's service, love 'em or hate 'em.
 
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jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I will say the Blue Lab is quite nice. It's about as accurate as the $14 tds meters on amazon. The real value is in it's longevity and reliability. It also doubles as a nice stir stick :)
 
Stick_man

Stick_man

Active Member
Love my one soild investment never let me down. Went and got the blue lab pH pen as well another good invest
 
fragileassassin

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
I went all in and got the bluelab guardian combo meter.
It was not cheap, but its been rock solid for 2 years now and still hasn't drifted out of calibration at all.
I really like bluelab products after my experience with this one and will likely buy another when this shits out.
 
K

ktmracer51

Well-Known Member
Recently started a grow again after about 8-9 yrs off. Put some new batteries in it and fired right up. Calibration still good. So been a solid investment.
 
larrypizzimp93

larrypizzimp93

Well-Known Member
Had my bluelab gaurdian for 5 years and still going good. Just calibrated ph for first time 2 months ago and the ph was still accurate without calibrating
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
The Truncheon is a very reliable tool with a very long life span. Considering some meters out there can't outlast a set of batteries and the truncheon keeps going for years and years, I would say it's an excellent value.
 
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father nature

Well-Known Member
I've had my Trungean sitting in the basement for 10 years. I bought it used on Ebay all the way back then. I just started using it again. I bought the 2.7 EC test kit. It was reading a dot low even after cleaning so I just adjust my figure

It does seem to bounce around with the numbers sometimes which makes me a little nervous as far as accuracy. Other times its stable. I take a reading 3 times to confirm accuracy.

I'm using MG for my soil grow and I actually need MORE than the recommended scoop which was surprising considering everyone always says how hot/strong it is.
Without the pen I would have been underfeeding them. So I'm happy
 
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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
I bought mine in 2002 and it still works great. It's a nice stir stick too (probably not recommended but it's still working 18 years later).
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
father nature said:
It does seem to bounce around with the numbers sometimes which makes me a little nervous as far as accuracy
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When it steadily bounces between two numbers it means the reading is between those, so if it's between 800 and 900 then it's saying 850. Also you want to let it sit in the solution long enough to temperature compensate.
 
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