XLUX Soil pH Tester, 200 Strips, 4.5-9.0 for Garden Indoor Outdoor Plants

Easy to use and useful for checking soil before adding plants to borders.

1. Use warm water, and after mixing, place in fridge. This speeds up the process, but even so, ignore the laughable "wait 30 to 60 minutes" as stated in the instructions: my mixes usually take 48 hours to separate. 2. Use one strip with the water alone: this reading can be used to fine-tune the soil strip reading. For example my water gave 6.5 (0.5 acidic), soil 7.2, so the corrected reading is 7.7. You only have to do the water test once: the result isn't going to change. 3. There are two pads per strip. Usually the resulting colour pair can't be exactly matched to those printed on the container, so match each pad separately and take the average. For example my pads were 6.25 and 6.75, averaging to 6.5

Very good tester that can tell what to put where

Bit of a faff on to check ph . Have since purchased a batter operated ph meter which is more convenient

just as described

Does what it says on the box

At last! This test kit works, as opposed to an earlier tried zinc-aluminium single rod electronic tester and a generic litmus paper. The kit includes accessories allowing to collect up to 3 samples of soil, and then complete testing in the comfort of your home or shed. The test requires some deionised, distilled, rain, or at worst bottled water. If the sample is too muddy, it could be difficult to read the colour. I this case use a coffee paper filter or paper towel to filter out the sediment. There is no data stamp on the indicator containers, but they are properly sealed. If one would last a couple of months, the next might survive until the next season.

Awful product. Don't know if my PH test strips were old, but readings not even close...

It worked

Die vielen Stäbchen halten ewig und alles funktioniert wie erwartet.

I selected this particular kit for a couple of reasons. First, the pH range is ideal for many uses. Soil testing is one such use. The pH range is 4.5 to 9.0. For soil testing, as with other uses, if the pH is outside of this range you really only need to know that it is much too acidic or much too alkaline. As such, the narrow range is better because you get better resolution and accuracy within the range that matters. The second reason is that the strips have two color blocks. To my way of thinking this is ideal. A single color block is okay but two color blocks are better for more accurate comparison. I don't think you need more than two, and if there are more than two, this is likely to be confusing. I was able to accurately read pH within this range with error less than +/- .25 pH. For soil testing and for many other purposes, this is as much accuracy as you need. Note that ultimately, the only part of this kit that is essential is the strips. You can use any small jar with a lid, and you can order more of the pipettes on Amazon from various sellers, in any quantity. It is nevertheless handy to have the three plastic containers and the six pipettes. To get these conveniences in addition to the 200 text strips, for $14, is just icing on the cake. Bottom line, skip the silly electronic meter, because it isn't going to work nearly as well. In order to get consistent, reasonably accurate measurements from the meter, you are going to have to collect soil samples and put it in a jar with neutral water, the same as with these strips. You will not get useful measurements by just sticking the probe in the ground. And since you are going to have to take samples and put them in jars along with neutral water regardless, why not go the route that is more accurate and less costly? Those meters just don't make sense. They don't work as well, and they cost more money. By the way, you need to prepare a container of neutral water to add to the soil that you put in the small jars. You do that using the strips to learn the pH of your tap water. No reason to buy distilled water, and distilled water might not be neutral anyway. If your tap water is acidic (pH below 7.0) add a little bit of baking soda, starting with a very small pinch. If your tap water is basic (alkaline), you can use vinegar or diluted lemon juice. You can also use some of that stuff they sell at the grocery store that is sold as lemonade, in a dry powder form that you add to water. (Every one of those products that I've ever tasted did not taste anything like lemonade to me, but it is acidic, and it you happen to have any it that you didn't use because of the terrible taste of the stuff, you can use it to prepare neutral water if your tap water is alkaline.)

Item as described and works same.

I have just used it to test PH levels in 2 garden plots so don't have a lot to compare it too. However the results from one plot was slightly different than the other, so I think it works as expected. For those needing an exact reading, this test may not be specific enough.