Walmart $5 Digital Hydrometer

Bruzee said:
I'm a little behind on this thread, but, I just purchased a Wal Mart hygrometer. It is no longer $5, but instead $6.97. But works great, and after two salt tests, appears to be right on. (Or VERY close)
:tu
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I found them yesterday. You're right they aren't 5 bucks anymore. Still, at that price I bought 2.

They don't agree with each other. They are off by 3 with each other. Scarry thing is they are off by 10 from my humidor.
 
beauregard said:
I found them yesterday. You're right they aren't 5 bucks anymore. Still, at that price I bought 2.

They don't agree with each other. They are off by 3 with each other. Scarry thing is they are off by 10 from my humidor.
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They aren't much of a value, are they?
I had three and two were off by 9 points and one was off 13 points.
Another thing is that the scale of screwedupedness changed depending on the ambient.
When I salt tested they'd be off by x points, then when placed in a 63%RH they'd be off by a totally different scheme of random numbers and there was no sense of reason to them.
I was literally better off picking a number out of a hat.
Here's what I consider the final word on Wally thermometer/hygrometers:
They are useless.

A good calibratible hygrometer is 20 bucks. 25 bucks shipped.
Most guys keep at least 100 bucks worth of sticks on hand at all times.
Many keep thousands worth of sticks.
A $25.00 insurance policy is pretty cheap.
It really doesn't make sense to try to control humidity with a guessing tool. It's painful, damaging and counterproductive.
If you all can't find a decent hygrometer, I have 20 or so calibratible Hygroset II's. 20 bucks shipped. PM me if I can help. :tu
 
I salt tested them and one was off by 1% the other by 4%.

I thought that was pretty good.

I set all my analog hygrometers too.

Now, I've got to figure out how to get moisture out... apparently I'm set at 72. My cigars smoke fine but I guess that's a little too high.

Of course, here in the Deep South I'm really just fighting the Air Conditioner. The humidity outside is probably 90%. It's been about 100 degrees for a solid week. Going outside is like getting in a hottub.
 
I've always purchased the Acurite 12$ ones with the probe. I use them for multiple reptile enclosures and popped a new battery in one and salt tested it to be +1 off. They are alittle bigger then the smaller 5$ unit though.
 
Son of a B! I recently spent several hours trying to fimprove the seal on one of my humidors because the of Wally cheapos. Before going into my humi, both Wally's salt-tested at about 3% low. Well, one of them dropped to high 50's a few weeks ago, the other always seems to be low 60's.

Salt-test them again, and they read 64% and 70%. Enough nonsense! I bought 2 of the hygroset II's (from shilala) which salt-tested at 74% and 71%. Adjusted them, salt-tested them again, and put them in the humis. They are both reading a perfect (for me) 67%. Nice!

Moral of the story? Toss the Wally World pieces of garbage.
 
My two Walmart cheapos are off by 4%. I can live with that.

The following LaCrosse Hygrometer I picked up on Woot.com about a year ago, for $5.00 apiece. They are fantastic. All 4 of them function perfectly. They are too big for desk top humidors, but they are nice and flat and are perfect for cooladors and cabinets.

http://www.giftngadget.com/ws-9410u-thermo-hygrometer.html





The following two look like they have potential, but I have no experience with either one. The one from Harbor freight I saw in-store the other day. Their tools are mediocre at best, so I wouldn't be surprised if their hygrometer is sub-par. The one from Target looks like it has potential


http://www.target.com/Holmes-Digita...8?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k:hygrometer&page=1

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96417


FWIW,


BillyBarue
 
hygro.jpg

I bought The "Acurite" Hygro/Thermometer and did the salt test. It was spot on. It's pulling coolerdor duty now.
 
Maybe I am missing something there, but why go cheap on your hygrometer? It's the most important thing in your humidor, for the cost of buying a couple Walmart cheapies and seeing which works you could have just bought a good one to start with.
 
Brad said:
Maybe I am missing something there, but why go cheap on your hygrometer? It's the most important thing in your humidor, for the cost of buying a couple Walmart cheapies and seeing which works you could have just bought a good one to start with.
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Well brad, i always thought cigars were the most important part of a humidor

Or the humidification

But i'd put a hygrometer right in there at third.
 
I have several of the Wal-Mart hygros. They're fairly close (+/- 2 or 3%) but I also have a Diamond Crown that I use to check them periodically. I just factor in the difference.
 
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