This is the same meter we use inhouse, and have used for over 20 years. Please read below before purchasing.

Please understand that this meter is NOT useful for comparing one brand of lamp to another, or giving you fine grained information about the output of a lamp. This units reads everything between 280nm and 320nm as a SINGLE READING, it is not a replacement for a spectrometer. Using this device to compare different UV devices is guaranteed to give you the wrong answer, as it does not measure each band of UVB, it simply measures the whole band. Since 280nm is 100x more energetic than 320nm, it is very easy to see a stronger lamp have lower numbers, if it is shifted towards 280nm. You've been warned.

What it is great for is tracking the output of UVB lamps. Measure your lamps when they are new, then measure periodically so you know the strength of them as they age. All UVB lamps fade over time, so it is good know when the lamp is at 90%, 80% or 70% of original output, so you can adjust your time accordingly. The best way to measure is dead to the lamp, center of the lamp, after it has been on for at least 5 minutes, then always use this method each time you measure, so the relative numbers make sense and are useful.

For cannabis growers using a dozen or more Flower Power or other bulbs, this unit can pay for itself in less than a year because it allows you to get every bit of life out of your UVB lamps, when used properly, without risking using lamps that are too weak.

Please note: the life rating for Solacure lamps is 70% of original strength. This means that we consider a lamp "dead" when the output drops to 69% of the original power. This is a very tough standard, and more stringent than any other maker, but it is the best rule of thumb for serious growers that demand top performance. Because the return on our lamps to 50 /1 to 100/1, it is smart money to stick with our suggested life cycle schedule.