Ph meter probe always store wet?

I picked a $25 ph meter a while back and never really found the time to calibrate. In preparing for this season I finally opened her up. I bought it on Amazon because it said nothing in the description about storing in water while not using like majority of other similar meters. Figured one less thing to worry about.
I'm thinking though it's just a cheaper version that simply just doesn't specify, yet I should still store in water. Do all of these types of ph meter probes need to be kept saturated?

Never store in water. Only storage solution or pH 4 buffer in a pinch.

ibglowin said:

Never store in water. Only storage solution or pH 4 buffer in a pinch.

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And yes it needs to be stored wet. All the cost of a pH meter is the probe. The rest is just electronic conversion stuff. Sorry, but a $25 pH meter is just too good to be true. If you are going to use it to make decisions, it needs to be accurate to at least .01 if not .02. Nod just read out, but be accurate.

The market is flooded with those cheaper ph meters. If you searched for ph meter on Amazon you'll see 80% are $12-$25. But from my experience they are a pain. At least mine. Calibrating goes as instructed easily. But then testing any sample the thing never stabilizes. And continues rising or dropping one one-hundredth at a time and never stopping.

I don't know. I spent over $80 on a pHep 5 and that thing never took a stable reading for me. I've been using a $15 meter from Amazon for a year and a half now and that thing locks on and is always within .01 or .02 of my calibration solutions. I have no complaints, other than I wish I'd bought the cheap one first.

What is so weird is that I purchased mine back in Oct of 2010 and its still going strong and rock steady. YMMV as they say!

Boatboy24 said:

I don't know. I spent over $80 on a pHep 5 and that thing never took a stable reading for me. I've been using a $15 meter from Amazon for a year and a half now and that thing locks on and is always within .01 or .02 of my calibration solutions. I have no complaints, other than I wish I'd bought the cheap one first.

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I used to store my PH56 in spring water without issues.
I am now using storage solution but it creates a freaking icing cake around the cap.

Geek: Mine forms a salt cake around the cap also.

That means there is evaporation leakage. Maybe a layer or two of teflon tape would help with the seal for better longevity.

Cheers!
-jb

The one I purchased (online) came brand new with that residue. I assumed it was a form of protection when shipping, and not from solution drying out. But now I'm questioning if it was jeopardized from the jump

That would be salt and is quite normal to be found on the probe tip if the storage solution has dried out. Just rinse the tip in distilled water to dissolve and then calibrate and make your measurements

I like the Teflon tape idea!!!