Recommend a pH meter?

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gbx

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I like to cheap out on my brewing equipment and bought a cheap pack of pH strips but have learned that they are pretty much useless. I was looking a dealextreme and saw this one:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/0-6-lcd-ph-test-pen-set-3-ag13-42734

has anyone used this one? Its cheap enough but will it work for beer? It looks like the model the local homebrew store sells for $50 but this could just be a knockoff of a better model. Does anyone have another model they would recommend?
 
I have the colorpHast strips (pH 4-7), I have read good things about them and they seem to be fairly acurate (they consistently ready .3 low according to braukaiser.com)
 
I'm less than thrilled with the compact 'all in one' units mentioned above. I find that a unit like the Milwaukee MW 101 is adequate and desirable for brewing use. It has 0.01 pH resolution and does not include automatic temperature compensation (which is not needed). The probe is a standard BNC connector type, so replacement is easy. These meters can be purchased for under $80US.
 
The cheap one like shown above works fine for me. The strips are useless unless you have superb color recognition, which I don't have. All in all I found that most of my beers hit the range with my minor adjustments and I really have no need to check the majority of what I brew anymore.
 
All in all I found that most of my beers hit the range with my minor adjustments and I really have no need to check the majority of what I brew anymore.

I ditto that comment. At my old house, I used my meter frequently while figuring out how my water and brewing practices played out in the mash. Once I dialed everything in, I didn't use the meter that much. I've since moved to a new place and am dealing with a totally different water source. Now the meter is back out and in frequent use. Eventually, it will be shelved again. The fact that I now have the Bru'n Water tool also reduces the need for the meter, but its nice to double check.
 
I'm not sure of a one time setup can really be relied upon. I found yesterday that my tap water ph went from 7.1 to 6.5 which explains why my usual water adjustments were off. I wasted about 1 hr after I had drained the HLT and reheated back to strike temp.

On the ph meter, I've got a Hanna phep5 the one with 0.05 ph accuracy which works great. Money well spent as it made a huge improvement in the taste of my brews. Cost about $80.
 

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