Bond 9629 3-Way Garden Soil Meter (Moisture, Light, pH)

This meter worked right out of the box. All three meters were working with no problems although the light meter only moved a few notches when held right next to an 80 watt light bulb. The intensity of the light measured depends a lot on what angle light hits the sensor in front. You would probably want to lay the meter flat on the ground when measuring light but I'm not sure how accurate it is anyway. The pH meter starts at 8 and goes down into the more acidic range. I'm very happy considering the product was only 10 bucks.

As some other reviewers have mentioned, the item that showed up at my doorstep has 2 prongs, not 1 as pictured. This means you need to apply a little more force to get it into drier or clayey soil, but for me it's no big deal.I can't comment on the pH or light meter, as I don't use those features.So far it's been accurate and responsive, and for less than $9 much cheaper than other moisture meters. On mine, the needle pegs all the way to the right when I put it in a glass of tap water.

Tells you when to water and at my age I forget when the last time was so I used to drown my plants out of love. Now I wait till they want a drink.

The soil meter actually has two prongs, not like the picture. They seem to be pretty flimsy in and of themselves and by their attachment to the green reader; I'm afraid they'll fall out sooner than later unfortunately. I can't comment on the ph or light meters, but the moisture meter seems to be accurate.I have since found a few moisture meters at nurseries and they are cheaper, and are of better quality.

My yard has a variety of issues growing things, especially due to clay soils, so I decided to take a small, proactive step towards rectifying the issue with a pH meter. I ended up regretting my decision. None of the meter's features worked. I wet the test sample of soil to a slurry-like consistency, stuck in the probes, flicked the switch to moisture...and nothing. This meter apparently only works on ocean-sized amounts of water, since it told me it was bone dry. I read that sometimes the probes lose their conductivity, so I used a little steel wool to shine 'em up....a quick flicker from the meter this time, but it went right back to dry. Flicked to pH...apparently my whole yard is severely alkaline. Who would've thunk. I decided maybe it would have a passing use as a light meter...so I used the middle setting, and held it a few inches away from an incandescent bulb...which apparently produces no light at all, according to my defective friend. Zero out of three? I think I'll pass on crap like this. Money's too hard to come by. Not to mention the thing looks tacky. The "three in one" function label in front of the light meter was off center and poorly printed.