Caliber III vs. Radio shack DIGITAL hygrometer

E

Ermo

Chestbeating Pack Leader
I'm going to buy a didital Hygrom. to monitor some "real" cigars I just got in. I use the beads, and I'v heard you don't even need a hygro with beads, but I dont agree with that. I also need it for the temp during the summer.

I'd like some people to post what DIGITAL hygro's they have and have had. A brief description or model number and a good or bad will suffice. Some people will disagree, so I will tally it up in about one week and see which hygro comes out on top. If you have another brand, make sure you include the manufacturer and i'll consider it.

I had:
Wally world 7$ precise temp digital temp./hygro -- returned it today, 10% off as you can read in that thread

I'm relying on the beads for a few days until I get some solid advice on what to get.

Floydp-nice call on the pb207, your opinion counts double if you help me on this one.

Wanna plug your own hygro, be my guest.

Thank You,
Eric
 
ebn- I would try the Wally one again. I have 2 and one of them reads dead on, the other is 6% off, but the temps on both read the same (which is accurate). For the price, you really can't beat it, and if something goes wrong, you can always return it.
 
ebn2002 said:
I'm going to buy a didital Hygrom. to monitor some "real" cigars I just got in. I use the beads, and I'v heard you don't even need a hygro with beads, but I dont agree with that. I also need it for the temp during the summer.

I'd like some people to post what DIGITAL hygro's they have and have had. A brief description or model number and a good or bad will suffice. Some people will disagree, so I will tally it up in about one week and see which hygro comes out on top. If you have another brand, make sure you include the manufacturer and i'll consider it.

I had:
Wally world 7$ precise temp digital temp./hygro -- returned it today, 10% off as you can read in that thread

I'm relying on the beads for a few days until I get some solid advice on what to get.

Floydp-nice call on the pb207, your opinion counts double if you help me on this one.

Wanna plug your own hygro, be my guest.

Thank You,
Eric
Click to expand...

I use the western caliber III, however, I have a glass top humidor, so I just place it on the top shelf and can read it through the glass. The temperature seems to be pretty accurate and it comes calibrated for RH (it does not recommend that you perform a salt test on the instrument). So far no real complaints, in the beginning I had a little trouble with the high/low feature not being accurate (reporting extremely high or low temps when they did not occur), but the last couple of days it seems to be behaving a little better. Someone recommended changing the battery and when I posted the problem, most people had not seen it with their instruments. I actually went out and bought a second one today for new (second) humidor.

I've thought about getting one of the wireless ones from radioshack, I think it would be pretty cool to have a sensor in the lower compartment so I can know the RH down there without having to open my humi and move my digital III. I have found the RH can vary in different parts of my humi, not that it matters much, but it does. I know if I didn't have a glass top humidor, I would definitely buy one of these so I didn't have to open it to see the RH/temp. I would be interested in knowing what people think of the wireless radioshack one as well, I'm glad you made this post.
 
I have both the Caliber III and a Radio Shack. They both work very well. The Caliber III reads 3% low on the humidity, but the temp is spot on. My personal preference is the Radio Shack. This is an older model, so I can't speak for their current offerings. The reason for my Radio Shack preference is the response time. It measures accuratly, but at a slower rate of change than the CIII. This helps me to not become so anal about minute by minute fluctuations of humidity, which means little to the cigar, when my cooler cycles.

Larry
 
larryinlc said:
I have both the Caliber III and a Radio Shack. They both work very well.
Click to expand...
Likewise. I have both. And both are -2. Actually, I have two of the Shack sensors and both are -2. If you are using a cooler or large cab, you can't beat the remote capability of a Shack wireless unit. Very convenient, supports up to three sensors, large format display and helps keep your storage environment stable since you don't have to obsessively open it to check your RH.

But your mileage will vary if you buy enough of either of these. I've had calibers that have been off significantly and some folks have had Shack sensors that are less than accurate.

As to my personal experience, I'd recommend both. Be advised that the Shack sensors are a little too large for a desktop as they are about the size of a garage door opener.

Do a CS search on radio shack for some recent reviews.
 
James -white97jimmy

You must have bought the two good ones from our local wal-mart (damn you!!). Mine was off 10% with a salt test and a Heartfelt beads test. I just dont want to save 20$ by buying a cheap hygro to humidify $500 of cigars. I just want the best, a small difference in price is worth it for accuracy.

P.S. I returned it today.
 
Eric, I started with a Western Cal III, but changed to this wireless sensor arrangement by Oregon Scientific.

RMR602A_rg.jpg


The Western I had was spot-on accurate, but reacted far too quickly to RH changes, as the other LLG's have noted, which makes managing RH kind of like checking to see if the light in the refrigerator goes off when you shut the door. You gotta be real quick.

The benefit of a wireless setup is that you can monitor three humidors at all times, and know the temp and RH without opening up the box. As noted, not all digital hygrometers are always set precisely. They can be off by as much as +/- 5%, but that's far more accurate than an analog. Doing a salt test will remove all doubt. Of the three sensors I have, two are -3% and one is -1%, but doing the math in my head is well worth not having to chase down three locations. One other benefit is that if you get them on sale, the wireless units wind up being the same price, or often less, than three of the Western units.

Funny thing, where the Cal III reacted too quickly, the wireless sensors tended to react too slowly. See my website for a simple and fun project that can help remedy that, so that the wireless units react a bit more quickly.

Wireless Sensor Fix

Hope this helps!
 
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It's my understanding that wireless sensors send updated information to the base unit only every 30 or 40 seconds? Am I wrong about this?

Larry
 
Brilliant!!

I will modify any hygro I end up buying using that link. Thank you for the detailed instructions.

As far as wireless, I have a single humidor with a glass top, 150 capacity,(that is full as of my devil site shipment today, need a 500, any suggestions?) I may go the wireless route.

I have slipped WAY down the slope in the last month, as you can tell!
 
larryinlc said:
It's my understanding that wireless sensors send updated information to the base unit only every 30 or 40 seconds? Am I wrong about this?

Larry
Click to expand...
Larry, that sounds about right. I haven't found it to be a disadvantage at all.
 
ebn2002 said:
Brilliant!!

I will modify any hygro I end up buying using that link. Thank you for the detailed instructions.

As far as wireless, I have a single humidor with a glass top, 150 capacity,(that is full as of my devil site shipment today, need a 500, any suggestions?) I may go the wireless route.

I have slipped WAY down the slope in the last month, as you can tell!
Click to expand...
ebn, please be advised that the wireless sensors will take up quite a bit of space in a desktop. They certainly aren't going to work well in a top tray and they will occupy precious real estate in the bottom cavity -- especially if you use humidification that also occupies space in the compartment of your humidor. Make sure you take that into consideration. These units are great. But they are better suited to coolers and cabinets than they are to desktops.
 
hoyohio said:
ebn, please be advised that the wireless sensors will take up quite a bit of space in a desktop. They certainly aren't going to work well in a top tray and they will occupy precious real estate in the bottom cavity...
Click to expand...
I just went to Home Depot and got some self-stick Velcro fasteners and put my sensor in the lid. Gets it out of the way, and it's pretty much the the same depth as my humidification element that I keep my beads in which is also mounted in the lid.
 
Hammerhead said:
I just went to Home Depot and got some self-stick Velcro fasteners and put my sensor in the lid. Gets it out of the way, and it's pretty much the the same depth as my humidification element that I keep my beads in which is also mounted in the lid.
Click to expand...
Well there you go.

I can't acommodate anything on the top lid. My captives have their face up to the glass :D
 
I have the RS/Oregon Scientific wireless unit, and it tested -1.
I have it in the chiller, and it does an excellent job.
I also have one of the old RS units, small size and it also tested -1.
I am happy with them, they work well and are accurate enough that I don't worry too much. Radio Shack is everywhere, so pretty easy to get them.
 
yeah, I have both as well. I have one caliber three and two of the radio shack wireless sensors. For one of my humidors, I tested the Caliber III and a RS and they were both very consistent with each other. I salt tested all of them, put a piece of tape with the correction on it and they've been spot on most of the time. My CIII is actually +4 while the RS are -2 and +3. They all seem to work well.
 
I thought you weren't suppose to salt test the Western caliber III, do you really need to do this? The package insert says you void the warranty if you salt test the machine (not that I care about the warranty). Do most people salt test their caliber III?

I am using activator solution to start since I have only had my humidor about two weeks and with it empty the caliber reads 70%, as I put more sticks in it deeps to 65% and gradually goes back to 70%. Is it worth salt testing? When I seasoned my humidor, using the boveda seasoning packets (yeh yeh I know, there are cheaper ways to season a humidor), after 7-8 days, the gauge was between 70-73%.

I'm getting a second caliber III for my second humi, I suppose if they read the same I should be fine.
 
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