What solar meter do you use?

[JaySparks]

are those cheap smartphone meters inaccurate by a lot?

 

[Tom]

are those cheap smartphone meters inaccurate by a lot?

From everything I have seen, the Solarmeter is the way to go for reliability and low price. The 6.5 model is the standard.

 

[Shaif]

Its $249 from the company. They have never gone on sale (that I have seen). But it's a good investment. Will last years.

 

[Markw84]

The smart phone versions, and the cards and the cheap UV meters all work on a very general "intensity based" basis. They do not actually account for the amount of UV in the wavelength we are concerned with for D3 production. They can actually give very misleading results. I would not trust anything but a solarmeter 6.5. I believe Zoo Med is also marketing a Solarmeter 6.5 rebranded, but it is the same price. Not sure if it is the 6.5 or 6.2 they rebranded, so I would be cautious there. Of course there are scientific meters available that do a good job, but they are in the $1000's price wise.

 

[leigti]

I use the solar meter 6.5 and it works well for me.