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Your cart is empty.Product Description
When do I need to calibrate?
1.When starting up before use, there is no way to return to zero or zero reading is flashing, then the meter needs to be calibrated;
2.When temperature/humidity changes are large, calibration is required.
Performance Characteristics
* Measurement through HF electromagnetic sensing
* 10 different timber density at option
* Automatic temperature compensation
* Setting of upper limit of moisture content ratio, prompting of overrunning
* Ultra-large LCD ensuring clear readings
* Automatic prompting of low voltage
Wood Density & Grade Selection
Mad Tinker
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2024
Impossible to calibrate using the enclosed instructions. Works fine after digging up an old video
katminder008
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2024
Enormous help to have when I'm cutting wood for the winter. Helps me know what is read and what needs to set for a while. Compares well with the feel and sound of the wood, as well as how it burns. Tried cheaper meters and they quit on me. This one gets the job done reliably.
cko
Reviewed in Australia on August 17, 2023
Product are ok
proto57
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2023
I read many reviews on Amazon and elsewhere about this and other moisture meters, of all costs and types, before choosing this one. The only major bad review on this one seemed to be that it would go out of calibration, and that it was hard to re-calibrate. I disagree on both counts: While calibration does involve removing a battery, and holding a button while re-inserting it, I didn't find that all that difficult to do.Also, I don't find that it goes out of calibration all that much. I've used this several dozen times so far, and it only went out of calibration once! (you know it did when it blinks "0.0"). I suspect... not positive yet... but I suspect that the reason it may go out is because people turn it on while against the wood. I always start it in the air, away from anything solid.I also like that this unit has a density setting for different types of wood. I don't have another meter, or any other way to check the accuracy, but I suspect it is very good because the readings make sense: For instance, freshly cut wood being between 25% and 30% moisture, and furniture in my house being between 3% and 8%. And my stacked and seasoned firewood... cherry... comes in at about 15%. Not ideal, but what I would expect as I have seasoned it only about 6 months.But besides believing this is empirically accurate, I know it is consistent. And consistency is most important in these devices. For instance, I cut slabs with my chainsaw mill, and after a couple of months outside, moved them inside for final drying. The way to know they fully stabilized to the conditions in my house is to have a smaller sample of the same wood which will dry much faster than the slabs, and when IT has stabilized I know the goal for the slabs, which lag behind due to their mass.So consistency matters in this case, more than the ultimate figure. But I know this is consistent, because if I test a sample, then others, and move back to the original, it gives the same results.One tip: use a portion of your wood that is as smooth as possible. Rough surfaces, such as caused by the chainsaw, or splitting, mean there is air in your "sample", and affects the reading. So plane an area to test first, if possible.I highly recommend this device, for the quality, accuracy, and price.
Customer
Reviewed in Canada on October 1, 2022
This is a fantastic addition to my wood turning arsenalI can take a skim cut off of a piece of my wood turning and see if it will warp.so i can make a decision to rough turn it and let it dry or finish turn it that is if the moisture content is low.It removes the chance of scraping the turning project.Saves time and effort and money.Thanks
Hi There!
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2019
Be sure you calibrate it for the environment that you use it in. The manual also suggests that you leave it sit for 10 minutes in the environment that it's going to be used in, so it matches the temperature.I used this to test for moisture in some Motorhomes that I was looking at purchasing. This $60 investment can help you make an informed decision on what you're looking to buy. I tested it in an area that I knew was wet and I tested it in an area that I knew was dry. It worked perfect after it was calibrated. It clearly showed were moisture was present, and as you check different areas of the wall, you can see where the moisture starts.Great device, accurate. I recommend it.
TBO
Reviewed in Canada on May 24, 2019
I bought this moisture meter prior to installing a hardwood floor, although I had wanted one for a while for general woodworking. While I don't have any other moisture meters to compare with, it seems to give reasonable values.The calibration seems to get lost sometimes, even without taking out the battery. In these cases the readings will be down in the 0.5% - 1% range (when I would expect it to be closer to 10% for these particular items). Recalibrating it seems to do the job. I have not used it enough to see what causes this loss of calibration, hopefully I can figure it out with time.
Peter, Ontario
Reviewed in Canada on January 26, 2019
My original review (below) is now on hold, as the vendor is sending a replacement meter. They reached out to me following my original review, so they get points for customer service! I will update my review once I have the opportunity to use the replacement.Updated (latest) review: The replacement meter functioned perfectly and is in good agreement with my pin-type meter. Overall rating revised to 5 stars!Original review: "Requires an extremely smooth (planed) surface to get a reading on wood. Even then, a slab I planed last week showed ~30% moisture content, but a week later showed zero, which seems unlikely. I can't get any reading at all on indoor furniture so despite the listed specs suspect it's range is limited to higher moisture contents."
nibbles
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2018
Well first it's really great for a few days, dead on balls accurate and everything makes sense. Then you do something awful one morning and it starts acting crazy. How after 4 days of consistent results is the thing suddenly telling me my 20% wood is 44%, no wait 45% moisture content. Wait what did *I* do. I just came out here and turned it on. I mean I haven't even finished this coffee. Well guess what, I placed it down 2 inches closer to the middle of the board than I ever had.You can place three meters side by side on a 2x8 of GRN lumber, and they could tell you very different readings.You can place the same meter in those three locations and consistently see those readings showing the MC varies across the width of a board.And it can vary quite a lot.So let's examine placing one meter in those three locations, then repeating that at 1 foot intervals along the entire length of the board. Note the values on my phone. That tells me what's really going on inside the wood, and you might be shocked. One side of the face of my 2x8 was at 14%, the middle of the face was 44%, and the other side of the same face was 17.5%. So much for my board being under 20% and ready for oil.Enough can't be said for this tool. Though I don't have a reference to verify it against, I feel the accuracy is there as you test along a board. What I mean is you may have a slight absolute error, but the values at one spot *compared* to another are repeatable and true. The density chart in the directions were great and are best photographed to be at the ready on your phone.The adjusting to surrounding temps is where I get the most absolute error. You can watch the values change as it adjusts from being cool to warm for instance. What the directions don't make clear is where the meter should reach thermal equilibrium. For example if you open the case cover, leave the meter inside the case somewhat and place the case on the wood for 10min, the meter will not read the same as if you had taken the meter and placed it on the wood directly for 10 minutes. In my opinion, because it's the wood I'm testing, that's where I need to place the meter directly for about a half hour.
Alan G.
Reviewed in Canada on October 14, 2018
I bought this to test my hardwood floor planks when I was installing them. It told me very believable numbers which compared within 1% of a friend's professional pin style moisture meter. It is very repeatable and pretty stable readings that don't bounce all over the place. And the good calibration (temperature and wood density) ensures a pretty good accuracy. So for a modest price you get a pretty accurate and very easy to use meter.When I was trying to decide which of the many meters to buy, I did a Google search as follows:"md918 moisture meter review"I found a comparison of 3 pinless moisture meters on YouTube that compares Wagner MMC 205 (professional and expensive), General Tools MMD5NP (similar price to this one), and Dr. Meter MD918. The video on YouTube is called "Moisture Meter Accuracy Test - Wagner vs General vs Dr. Meter". It is definitely worth doing a search and watching it because you will be shocked how poorly the General Tools one does, and that is probably one of the meters you are considering. The reviewer's findings were quite representative of what I found also. I can't provide a link because it would break the Amazon review guidelines.My conclusion is that if you want a moisture meter in this price range then this is definitely the one you want over any other brand. And if you want something reliably more accurate then I think you are going to have to pay at least 5x the price of this one.
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