The Ultimate Guide to Hanna Instruments Soil pH Testers

Hanna Instruments are renowned for manufacturing affordable, accurate, and easy-to-use soil pH testers. There is a perfect Hanna soil pH tester for just about every soil pH measurement need, from basic meters for the keen home gardener to advanced meters designed to meet advanced scientific requirements.Join Instrument Choice Scientists as they take the Hanna soil pH testers through their paces then compare their differentiating features and specifications.

About Hanna Instruments

Since 1978, Hanna Instruments has grown to become a respected worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electro-analytical instrumentation. Hanna is responsible for a range of innovations that have since become benchmarks in the instrumentation industry. Noteworthy innovations to pH meters include; pH electrodes with a built-in temperature sensor and waterproof, portable pH meters.

Why measure soil pH?

pH is the measure of acidity or alkalinity of a substance.Acidic solutions have a lower pH, while basic, alkaline solutions have a higher pH. Depending on the pH value, soils can be either alkaline, acidic, or neutral.

The pH of soils will influence both the availability and uptake of nutrients from the soil to plants. Individual species of plant require differing quantities of nutrients; hence different plant species require different pH levels for optimal growth.

Types of Soil pH Testers by Hanna Instruments

1. GroLine Soil pH Tester 
Product Code: IC-HI981030

The IC-HI981030 GroLine soil pH tester is an application-specific designed pH tester for the quick and easy measurement of soil pH. This meter offers many advanced features packed into a small, budget-friendly handheld unit. 

Key Features:

• On-screen stability indicator: This ensures the highest level of confidence in your results.
• Unique Open Junction with Removable Sleeve: When the readings become slow, simply remove the sleeve for quick cleaning and new electrolyte. Having a clean probe with a fresh reference electrolyte will improve performance and extend the life of the tester.
• Conical Glass Tip: The tapered shaped tip design allows for penetration into soils for direct measurements as well as use with soil slurries.
• PVDF Body: Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is a durable plastic that is resistant to most chemicals and solvents used for disinfection, including chlorine (bleach).

Specifications:

pH Range: 0 to 14.0 pH

pH Accuracy: ±0.2 pH at 25°C

pH Resolution: 0.1 pH

pH Calibration Points: One or two-point calibration

Temperature Compensation: None

Also measures: pH only

2. HALO Wireless Soil pH Meter 
Product Code: IC-HI12922

The HALO Wireless Soil pH Tester has a triple ceramic junction in the outer reference cell, built-in temperature sensor, and a cone-shaped pH sensing tip making it ideal for pH measurements in almost any soil sample. Collected data is easily transmitted directly to your Apple or Android device for further analysis, storage, or sharing.

Key Features:

• Bluetooth: The HALO Wireless Soil pH Tester incorporates Bluetooth Smart technology to send measurements to your smart device wirelessly. pH and temperature readings are updated every second, and the readings are automatically saved to a history file every hour, limited only by the available memory on the device. The Hanna Lab App also alerts you when the device needs calibration or if a preset measurement threshold is exceeded.
• Low-Temperature Glass Formulation: The IC-HI12922 utilises low-temperature glass for fast stabilisation and more accurate results at lower temperatures.
• Triple Ceramic Junction: The triple ceramic junction allows a higher flow rate of electrolyte from the reference cell into the measurement sample. The increased flow provides superior continuity between the reference electrode and the indicating electrode.
• Conical Glass Tip: The cone-shaped tip design allows for penetration into solids, semi-solids, and emulsions. The HI12922 is ideal for the direct measurement of pH in soil and soil slurries.
• Good Laboratory Practice: View the date and time of current calibration, offset, and average slope, along with calibrated buffers, mV values, temperature, and slopes between each buffer within the Hanna Lab App.

Specifications:

pH Range:-2.000 to 16.000 pH

pH Accuracy: ±0.005 pH

pH Resolution: 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 pH

pH Calibration Points: Up to five points with seven standard buffers

Temperature Compensation: Automatic from -5.0 to 100.0 ºC

Also measures: Temperature, mV

3. Direct Soil pH Measurement Kit 
Product Code: HI99121

The HI99121 meter features a large multi-level LCD screen that displays both pH and temperature readings simultaneously. The screen also has indicators for calibration status and measurement stability, as well as on-screen tutorial messages. The HI99121 has many advanced features, typically found in more expensive portable instrumentation, for example, automatic calibration, buffer recognition, and temperature compensation.

Key Features:

• Specialised soil pH electrode: This electrode has a triple ceramic junction in the outer reference cell, and a cone-shaped pH sensing tip made with low-temperature glass. The electrode features an integrated amplifier and built-in temperature sensor for automatic temperature compensated pH readings.
• Interface: The HI99121 features an easy to navigate multi-level LCD screen, simplified two-button operation, and on-screen tutorial messages.
• BEPS (Battery Error Prevention System): This system alerts the user if low battery power could adversely affect readings.
• Rugged: This soil pH tester is the ideal balance between being a compact, heavy-duty, and waterproof meter.

Specifications:

pH Range:-2.00 to 16.00 pH

pH Accuracy: At 20°C ±0.02 pH

pH Resolution:0.01 pH

pH Calibration Points: Automatic one or two-point calibration with two sets of memorised buffers (Standard 4.01, 7.01, 10.01 or NIST 4.01, 6.86, 9.18)

Temperature Compensation: Automatic, -5 to 105 C

Also measures: Temperature

4. GroLine Professional Portable Soil pH Meter 
Product Code: IC-HI98168

Robust, feature-packed, and engineered for direct insertion in soils; the IC-HI98168 brings simplicity and versatility to soil pH measuring in settings such as in laboratories, education, and agricultural purposes.

Key Features:

• Increased Traceability: Ensure that your data is trustworthy with GLP data. Information is accessible by a fixed dedicated key and includes the date, time, pH calibration buffers, offset, and slope.
• Versatile Data Logging: The HI98168 has a log-on-demand feature that allows you to store up to 100 readings. The AutoEnd button can be used during measurement to hold the first stable reading on display automatically.
• Superior Field Usability: The IP67 rated body will withstand the knocks, drops, and spills of real life, ensuring top performance in any environment.
• Electrode Features: The electrode features a Triple Ceramic Junction. The junction allows the electrolyte to flow at a high rate from inside of the probe to the outside. A higher flow rate increases the accuracy of measurements of soil with low moisture. The cone-shaped electrode tip allows for penetration into soil and soil slurries. The electrode has a glass body that is; easy to clean, chemically resistant, and quick to reach thermal equilibrium for fast and stable measurements.
• CAL check: CAL check alerts you to potential problems during calibration, including when to clean the electrode or in the event of possible buffer contamination.
• GLP: Collected GLP data includes the date, time, pH calibration buffers, offset, and slope. This data is stored together with the logged data for traceability purposes.

Specifications:

pH Range:-2.0 to 20.0 pH; -2.00 to 20.00 pH; -2.000 to 20.000 pH

pH Accuracy:At 25°C ± 0.002 pH

pH Resolution: 0.1 pH; 0.01 pH; 0.001 pH

pH Calibration Points:Up to five point calibration, seven standard buffers available (1.68, 4.01, 6.86, 7.01, 9.18, 10.01, 12.45) and five custom buffers

Temperature Compensation: Manual or automatic from -20.0 to 120.0 C

Also measures: Temperature, mV

Conclusion

Whether you are after a basic pH tester for the home garden, a professional data logging meter, or something in between, the four varieties of pH tester by Hanna Instruments cover a range of features and specifications guaranteed to suit almost any application.

View all soil pH testers available at Instrument Choice here.

Don't see a soil pH tester to suit your needs in this list? Want more information on any of the meters listed above? Speak with an Instrument Choice Scientist! We're here to help! Call 1300 737 871 or email [email protected].