Wood, Wires, and Widgets

After harvesting a maple tree for firewood and carving logs, I decided I was overdue for a moisture meters. But which one to buy?

Fortunately I discovered a YouTube review by John at Woodridge Creek, in which he performs an independent, unbiased, and very methodical shoot-out of four moisture meters – two pinless and two pinned types. My takeaway from that review: instead of declaring a clear winner, John simply shows what you are getting for your money.

After watching his review, I purchased this pinless meter on Amazon, and so far I have no regrets – other than waiting too long to buy one!

This is not a paid endorsement. I will point out that Amazon flagged this item as “frequently returned.” I can think of several reasons why this might be the case:

• Some customers might be using the meter improperly. For example, if you hold it incorrectly, you’ll actually wind up measuring the moisture in your fingertips.
• Some customers might not understand that moisture sensing can be affected by irregularities in the surface being sensed, or that moisture content can actually vary from one location to another on the same surface.
• Perhaps some customers aren’t actually dissatisfied with their purchase. I can easily believe that there are people who are not woodworkers or professionals, suspect they have wood rot in their walls, buy a meter, use it one time, and then return it.
• I notice that some negative reviews include pictures which clearly show that the item customers are complaining about isn’t actually the item for sale.

In fairness, I will admit that I have only had my meter for a few days. I have purchased other products that seemed really terrific for the first few days, and then died a month or two later. So I reserve the right to change my mind.

For now, however, I am quite satisfied with this purchase.