Refractometer

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Mike27

New Bee
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Messages
7
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0
Location
Portsmouth
Hive Type
Langstroth
Number of Hives
8
I want to purchase a refractometer, do any members here use one or know which one to purchase, I have looked at Amazon and there are several, but I am unsure which one to purchase as they all have different uses.
Also the variation in cost is quite significant, I just want to measure the water content of the honey to make sure its not going to ferment.
As I understand it if three quarters of the comb is capped its ok to extract.

Thank you for any help

Mike
 
Try fleebay I bought one from china £12.50 two years ago and it arrived 3 days later :eek: talk about fast.

Very good quality and has been very useful.
 
I bought one on ebay too. Delivered from somewhere foreign but does the job.
 
There is a thread on here about this with supplier names and costs etc.
I don't have time to find it right now.
 
Over 80 quid at Th*rne before postage. Mine was half the price of their's, several years ago, but was still expensive compared to epay now.

They (the 'weely cheep cheep' ones) may not give an absolute result but results are comparable; so even if a bit wrong it is not the end of the world.

Regards, RAB
 
I bought a cheap one from fleabay and checked it against some capped honey and it came out at exactly 18%.
Like RAB says, it may not be totally accurate but it`s comparable & you can`t complain for £12.00

Darren.
 
Over 80 quid at Th*rne before postage. Mine was half the price of their's, several years ago, but was still expensive compared to epay now.

They (the 'weely cheep cheep' ones) may not give an absolute result but results are comparable; so even if a bit wrong it is not the end of the world.

Regards, RAB


Someone at my bee club had some clibration fluid for his and I tested mine and was totaly accurate.

So I'm totally happy with my £12.50 version.

As others have said it dosent have to be mega accurate anyway.
 
Calibration fluid - you mean some olive oil (or something similar)?

I might simply make my own range from my honey, if I was so worried about it (which I am not). It is a minor task when an assay balance is available for use.

Anyway, anything near 'iffy' can be blended, moisture reduced, returned to the hive (before extraction) as comb or fed back to the bees, eaten, or simply sold on quickly (arghh!).

Lots of good ways around these little problems (and a few 'not so good' too).

Go for the cheap one every time, (well, in this case, but not for all purchases).

Regards, RAB
 
An update on the Cheap Ebay China sourced refracs. Mine was £12.50 (as per Onge posting). Not advertised as such but for info mine has a calibration adjuster. Checked with sunflower and did not require adjustment when bought (or this year when I checked again). Been going 2 years and does the job.
 
There you are - item location is Hong Kong.

If cost including carriage exceeds a certain value there is about tenner for collection of import duty plus the import duty and VAT. May well be OK at that amount, but you need to check to make sure, or you may have a surprise additional cost to pay before delivery. Sometimes gets through free of customs interception, even if a bit over the limit. Just depends on your luck on the day.

Regards, RAB
 
I didnt pay duty on mine as it was marked as gifts.
 
I've got a refractometer for my fish tanks (I keep marine fish). Does anyone know of a conversion to use this for my honey (if I had any:svengo:)
 
"Unsolicited gift" is the term that I was advised to put on the outside of stuff I sent to UK from Hong Kong - and it worked every time to my knowledge. The "unsolicited" element is the most important.
 
Thanks for all the replies, will check out the sites
Mike
 
An update on the Cheap Ebay China sourced refracs. Mine was £12.50 (as per Onge posting). Not advertised as such but for info mine has a calibration adjuster. Checked with sunflower and did not require adjustment when bought (or this year when I checked again). Been going 2 years and does the job.

Ordered mine last night from Hong Kong £12.50 + £5 ish P&P
Thanks for info everyone, I wasn't prepared to pay the UK over inflated prices for some thing that would only be used 2-3 times a year.
 

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