Soil moisture meters - trust them?

[z3ntatonic]

I have a 3-way ph/light/wet meter I picked up, because like a lot of other new growers, I often over-water.

Are these things accurate? The results are surprising...sometimes the top 2 inches are dry as a fart in the desert, but the meter tells me it's pretty moist.

Do any of you guys go by these when watering, or is the pot weight your go-to?

 

[HydoDan]

I can't lift my pots so I use a meter.. No problems..

 

[curious2garden]

I have a 3-way ph/light/wet meter I picked up, because like a lot of other new growers, I often over-water.

Are these things accurate? The results are surprising...sometimes the top 2 inches are dry as a fart in the desert, but the meter tells me it's pretty moist.

Do any of you guys go by these when watering, or is the pot weight your go-to?

I bought one for a Kaffir Lime I had in soil. I still overwatered even when it said bone dry. I had to move my lime to Coco

 

[mudballs]

you could make up two identical jars with batches of your soil, add a measured volume of water to one jar, take a measurement. rinse off the tester prongs, add same amount of water to second jar, test second jar. if reading is identical you can at least trust the device.

 

[quirk]

While my go to is weight, I find them to be very functional when I check the middle and bottom third of my pots.
Since I ignore the pH and light functions, I've gone to the single probe.