TDS Meter Digital Water Quality Tester, TDS, Temperature & Conductivity Meter 3 in 1, 0-4999 ppm, EC Meter, Digital Water Hardness Testers for Drinking Water, PPM Meter for Hydroponics Aquarium

There is no cardboard packaging. There is no instruction manual in English. There is a general description in Chinese. It is not possible to use without the instruction manual.Sent it back.

This should last longer than water test strips, it's more accurate, and has other uses. I bought this to get a more accurate measurement of how hard our water is. I have an expensive home espresso machine, and these machines often die from internal scale buildup from the minerals in our water. If the water is too soft, the espresso is bad; too hard and the machine needs descaling and won't last long. There's quite a lively discussion on what a good hardness range is, but I've settled on the 90-150 range that is often recommended. I have some pool test strips that read my water at perhaps 150ppm, since the color is somewhere between the 100ppm color and the 250ppm color. It's quite a guess. I have a supposedly more accurate set of strips that reads in 50ppm increments, but those strips read 0ppm? It takes 30 seconds to get a read from these strips, but the Hofun meter was instant and read 120ppm. I read that you can tell if your water filter needs changing if the tap water and filtered water have similar ppm readout. I was overdue to replace my expensive Multipure filter, and hate to waste money changing it too often. Straight tap water reads 121ppm. After changing my filter, the filtered water reads 111ppm. I retested the filtered water a few times over the past few days, and it ranged from 110-112ppm. The meter comes with a snazzy little case, instructions, and is quick and easy to use. It also came with two spare batteries. I'm quite happy with this purchase.

I don't have any way to know if this thing is reading accurately. That being said, it seems right everywhere I've tested it. When you run it on tap water, you get some high reading. Run it on filtered tap water, you get a lower reading. I ran it on bottled water, had nearly no dissolved solids in it. I ran it on an under-sink filter, it had near bottled-water levels of TDS. The reading is fast, easy to read, cheap... Feels a little chinese/plasticky. But based on my measurements, I believe it's decently accurate. It's worth getting for those curious minds out there who want to see if their water filter is doing its job, or if the bottled water is any better than tap water. (Surprise, it is!)

Easy to use but the display is not very bright. Lights in and he room drowns out the display which makes it hard to read. Other than that, the product works perfect

The meter reads instantaneously. My tap water was 244ppm, bottled spring water was 154 ppm (which is average for spring water), and my filtered water from reverse osmosis filter was 54ppm! According to the pamphlet provided, pure drinking water is 40ppm or under. My filtered water has added mineral for taste, which is probably why it reads a bit higher. Based on the numbers, the reading seems very accurate. The meter is super easy to use; just remove the cap, turn it on, and stick the prod in the water. The back light is also a nice feature so you can see the number very clearly. It came with a carrier and the meter already has a battery in it, and it also came with not 1, but 2 extra batteries!! For the price, it’s a total deal. Very happy with the purchase and I’ll be using if often for sure and even take it with me when traveling.

Right out of the box this device seemed to be getting the job done. I opened the package, red the instructions, and was testing in minutes. I first tested freshly distilled water to find 5ppm of contamination. I attribute the low number to the reuse of the nutrient bucket. That number seemed right. Now to mix a new batch of nutrients, I measured out what I would expect to be 600ppm and added it to my water. This TDS meter showed 587ppm (from a 5 just moments before). I really didn't know what to expect, as I've never used a TDS meter, but this tool was easy to use and seems accurate enough for my needs. I'm very happy to have made this purchase.