PH gauge recommendation ?

Can someone recommend a decent, but cheap PH gauge? (under $50 would be nice)

I have a rapitest analog style ph meter, but I do not trust it.

I read that digital ph meters need calibration, special treatment with chemicals for storage, cleaning, etc. is that true?

I am hoping for something simple and easy, just stick it in and get a reading.

Ideally that will work with soil??

Since am a first time grower and need accurate results, I went with test tablets instead of the meter. Sure it takes up your time (like 5 minutes) to complete the test but if your looking for something reliable and cheap that's the way to go. Plus its way better than the meter because in this test kit your able to do your PH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium all at once. And it's really easy to use.. just poor the soil in the test tube add water, shake and get results. I would recommend doing the test atleast once every two weeks.

I bought my soil test kit at lowe's for about 15 dollars. It's called "The Soil Master accurate and easy" not the meter but the tablets.

Happy Growing!

I went to eseasongear.com and purchased a Milwaukee PH600 meter w/ 4.0 & 7.0 calibration solution along w/ some electrode cleaning solution for right under $34.00. You can also get them off ebay for $22 just the meter from the same company. So far Ive had this meter for 2 months and since I use it a lot I usually have to calibrate it about once a week, but it never seems like its more than .2-.6ph off. I read up on this meter on the net and different forms before I bought it to see what people had to say about them and it seemed like it was a lot of mixed reviews. Id say theres prob. more praising it for working and being so cheap then the people that said it was junk. But no matter what your looking for eseasongear.com has alot of other meters to, I have a nice Hana meter that I almost got, but it would of pushed my total to $44.00 and at the time I didnt have the money, but so far for a $22 meter its worked great. Id also advise picking up a liquid ph test kit so you can check your meter w/ something. Also dont forget to pick up you calibration solution and if you get a Milwaukee brand meter dont waste your $ on storage solution. I talked to a tech guy at the company and he said the package doesnt tell you this, but when there brand new you have to break the electrode in by letting your meter sit in reg. tap water for 3hrs. Then when your done using the meter let it sit in a cup of tap water the whole time its not in use. DONT LET IT DRY OUT. I found that out the hard way. He said the tap water is better than the storage solution. Go figure

I get mine from eseasongear (off Ebay), too. I use the Milwaukee PH51...50 something dollars shipped. The probes are warrenteed for a year and, if you take good care of them, they last just a little longer than that. A new probe costs almost as much as a whole new unit, so I just buy a new one every August and never get in a bind. As for storing in water, I did that the first time I had one and got 6-7 months out of the probe. With the storage solution I get more than a year. I've been using this model since 2004 and this is just my experience. I once wasted extra money on the model that adjusts for temperature variations....the difference in the value is so slight that it doesn't matter. And that model read out a lot slower, too.