Moisture Meter Selection

[collinb]

What's the preferred moisture meter around here?

Should I spend $150, $70, or $15-$20? There's a wide range of prices. Is the quality difference significant?

[difalkner]

I guess it depends on your needs.  For me, I just needed to know that the wood isn't in the 20's and that it's nearer 10% or less.  So I bought a pinless model General for about $30 at one of the big box stores.  Turns out it's pretty accurate when compared to a friend's $100+ meter and super easy to use.

David

[thatCharlieDude]

33 minutes ago, difalkner said:

I guess it depends on your needs.  For me, I just needed to know that the wood isn't in the 20's and that it's nearer 10% or less.  So I bought a pinless model General for about $30 at one of the big box stores.  Turns out it's pretty accurate when compared to a friend's $100+ meter and super easy to use.

David

This is what I did. 

[Mick S]

I agree with David. For my purposes it's better to know the relative content than the absolute. I would get one that lets you measure a sample or samples of a particular species that's been in your shop and that you know is stable and compare that one to the wood you're bringing into your shop. When the two match, or come pretty lose to matching then it's ready to use.  If the meter reads 8.25% and it's actually 8.65%, who cares as long as it's stable to work in your shop environment.

Take the sample(s) with you when you go wood shopping and compare the MC of both to have an idea of what you're buying.

[Isaac]

I agree with others. For professional use in my work, we all have either Delmhorst pin meters or moisture encounter pin-less meters, both are top quality and easy to use, but expensive. For general use, I suspect a cheaper meter will suffice.

[collinb]

Thanks all for the insights.

This coupled with review research leads me to order the Stihl.