Hanna Pocket Testers: pH, EC, TDS and Soil

A pocket tester is the fastest way to get a number. The sensor sits in the body of the instrument, there is nothing to assemble and nothing to carry, and a reading takes a few seconds. Hanna builds them for pH, ORP, EC, TDS and temperature, with versions shaped for soil, hydroponics and ultrapure water.

Ecotao supplies the Hanna tester range across South Africa from Cape Town, together with the calibration buffers, storage solution and cleaning solution each tester depends on.

  • pH testers
  • EC & TDS testers
  • Soil testers
  • Hydroponics
  • Ultrapure water
  • Buffers & solutions

What a Pocket Tester Is, and When It Is Enough

Hanna pHep, pHep+ and DiST pocket water testers Hanna pocket testers for pH, EC and TDS

A pocket tester combines the sensor, the electronics and the display in one sealed unit the size of a marker pen. There is no separate probe and no cable. You remove the cap, dip the tip in the sample, read the screen and rinse. Calibration is usually a one or two point routine against a buffer sachet, done in under a minute.

The trade-off is resolution and repairability. Most testers read pH to 0.1 or 0.01, where a portable meter with a replaceable electrode will read to 0.01 or 0.001 and let you swap the sensor when it ages. On several Hanna testers the electrode is replaceable, which extends the working life considerably, but a tester is still built for spot checks rather than reportable laboratory work.

That makes a tester the right instrument for the large majority of day to day measurement: checking a nutrient tank before dosing, confirming a soil amendment took effect, or screening a borehole before deciding whether a full analysis is justified. If the number has to stand up in a compliance report, or you need dissolved oxygen, turbidity or a chemical species such as ammonia or chlorine, you are looking at a portable meter or a photometer instead.

0.1 to 0.01 pHtypical tester resolution
1 to 2 pointcalibration routine
Secondstime to a stable reading
Replaceableelectrode on selected models

Hanna Testers We Supply

The models below are the Hanna testers Ecotao holds or orders in regularly for South African customers. If you need a model that is not listed, it is almost certainly available on a short lead time.

Hanna Checker pH tester with red body and black probe stem
Checker pH

Checker pH Tester with 0.1 pH Resolution

The entry point to proper pH measurement, and the instrument that replaces paper strips and colour charts. Reads to 0.1 pH across the full scale with a replaceable electrode, so the body outlasts the sensor.

  • Range 0.00 to 14.00 pH
  • Resolution 0.1 pH
  • Replaceable pH electrode
  • Single point calibration
  • Supplied with buffer sachets

Best for: anyone still using indicator strips who needs a real number without a real budget.

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Hanna Checker Plus pH tester reading 7.00 pH to two decimal places
Checker Plus pH

Checker Plus pH Tester with 0.01 pH Resolution

The same pocket format with a second decimal place. Where 0.1 pH is too coarse to see the change you are trying to control, the Checker Plus resolves to 0.01 pH and calibrates on two points for better accuracy across the range.

  • Range 0.00 to 14.00 pH
  • Resolution 0.01 pH
  • Two point calibration
  • Replaceable pH electrode
  • Automatic temperature compensation

Best for: process and growing work where a 0.05 pH shift matters.

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Hanna GroLine HI981030 soil pH tester with conical probe reading 5.54 pH
HI981030

GroLine Soil pH Tester

Built to go into soil rather than into water. The tester carries a conical, reinforced pH electrode designed to be pushed directly into moist soil or a growing medium, which removes the slurry preparation step a laboratory method requires.

  • Direct soil pH measurement
  • Conical reinforced electrode
  • Resolution 0.01 pH
  • Automatic temperature compensation
  • Waterproof housing

Best for: growers and agronomists checking soil pH in the field, bed by bed.

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Hanna GroLine COMBO HI98131 waterproof pocket tester reading pH 7.00
HI98131

GroLine Hydroponic Waterproof Pocket pH, EC, TDS and Temperature Tester

A waterproof pocket tester that reads four parameters from one dip. Designed around hydroponic and fertigation work, where nutrient strength and pH have to be held together rather than measured one at a time.

  • pH, EC, TDS and temperature
  • Waterproof and floats
  • Replaceable pH electrode
  • Automatic temperature compensation
  • Calibration on pH and EC

Best for: nutrient tanks, recirculating systems and fertigation lines.

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Hanna PWT and UPW pocket conductivity testers in microsiemens per cm
UPW Tester

Ultra Pure Water (UPW) Conductivity Tester

A conductivity tester scaled for water that has almost nothing in it. Reading from 0.000 to 1.999 microsiemens per centimetre, it resolves the very low conductivities that a general purpose EC tester simply reports as zero.

  • Range 0.000 to 1.999 microsiemens per cm
  • Built for ultrapure and deionised water
  • Resolution 0.001 microsiemens per cm
  • Automatic temperature compensation
  • Pocket format

Best for: deionised and reverse osmosis water, laboratory feed water and rinse water checks.

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Choosing Between the Testers

The practical differences come down to resolution, what the probe is shaped to go into, and how many parameters you need from one instrument.

Model Parameters pH resolution Sample type Typical use
Checker pH pH 0.1 pH Liquids General purpose spot checks
Checker Plus pH pH 0.01 pH Liquids Process and growing control
GroLine HI981030 pH 0.01 pH Soil, direct Field soil pH
GroLine HI98131 pH, EC, TDS, temp 0.01 pH Nutrient solution Hydroponics and fertigation
UPW Tester EC Not applicable Ultrapure water Deionised and RO water

Where These Testers Are Used

Pocket testers turn up wherever a measurement has to happen at the point of use rather than in a laboratory.

🌱Agriculture & soil
💧Hydroponics
🧪Laboratories
🌊Aquaculture
💦Deionised & RO water
🏊Pools & spas
🚰Borehole & drinking water
🏭Light industry
🎓Schools & training
🔧Maintenance teams

How to Pick the Right Tester

  1. Decide what you are measuring into

    A tester built for liquids will not survive repeated insertion into soil, and a soil tester is overkill for a beaker. Match the probe shape to the sample before anything else.

  2. Settle on the resolution you actually need

    If you are correcting pH in steps of half a unit, 0.1 pH is enough. If you are holding a setpoint within a tenth, you need 0.01 pH and two point calibration.

  3. Count your parameters

    Buying one four parameter tester is usually cheaper and easier to carry than three single parameter ones, provided you need all four regularly.

  4. Check the electrode is replaceable

    On a tester with a sealed electrode, a failed sensor means a new instrument. On a replaceable electrode model you fit a new tip and carry on.

  5. Budget for the consumables

    A tester is only as good as its calibration. Order buffer sachets, storage solution and cleaning solution with the instrument, not after the readings start drifting.

Calibration, Storage and Keeping a Tester Accurate

Almost every tester that reads wrong is reading wrong for one of three reasons: it has not been calibrated recently, the electrode has dried out, or the junction is fouled. All three are consumable problems rather than instrument faults.

Calibrate against fresh buffer, not buffer that has been open in a bottle for months. Hanna supplies single use sachets precisely so the reference is reliable. For pH, calibrate at 7.01 as a minimum and add 4.01 or 10.01 depending on which end of the scale you work at.

Store a pH electrode wet, in storage solution, never in distilled water and never dry. Distilled water strips ions out of the bulb and shortens the electrode's life. If a tester has been stored dry, soaking it in storage solution overnight will often bring it back.

Ecotao stocks the buffers, storage solution, cleaning solution and replacement electrodes for the Hanna tester range. If you tell us which model you have, we will quote the correct consumables for it.

Frequently Asked Questions

A tester has the sensor built into the body as one sealed unit, reads to 0.1 or 0.01 pH, and is designed for quick spot checks. A portable meter is a separate instrument with a detachable electrode on a cable, usually reads to 0.01 or 0.001 pH, logs results, and lets you choose an electrode suited to the sample. Choose a tester for speed, portability and price. Choose a portable meter when the reading has to be documented, when you need a specialist electrode, or when you need parameters such as dissolved oxygen that a tester does not offer.

Not reliably, and not for long. A standard pH bulb is thin glass designed to be immersed in liquid, and pushing it into soil will scratch or break it. It will also read the water film rather than the soil if there is not enough moisture. Use a tester with a conical, reinforced soil electrode such as the GroLine HI981030, which is built to be inserted into moist soil directly, or prepare a soil and water slurry and measure that with a liquid tester.

For most users, weekly is a sensible baseline, and daily if the readings matter commercially or the tester is in constant use. Calibrate more often if you measure at temperature extremes, work in dirty or high solids samples, or notice the reading taking longer than usual to stabilise. A tester that will not hold a calibration after a clean and a fresh buffer usually needs a new electrode rather than more calibration.

A slow or wandering reading almost always points at the electrode rather than the electronics. The usual causes are a dried out bulb, a reference junction blocked by protein, oil or soil particles, or an electrode that has simply reached the end of its life. Clean the tip with the correct Hanna cleaning solution for the contamination involved, soak it in storage solution, then recalibrate. If it still will not settle, fit a replacement electrode where the model allows it.

The multiparameter models do. TDS is not measured directly by any of these instruments. The tester measures electrical conductivity and converts it to a total dissolved solids figure using a fixed conversion factor. That makes TDS a useful relative indicator for tracking a known solution over time, but it is not a substitute for a gravimetric TDS determination in a laboratory if you need an absolute number.

Yes. Ecotao stocks the calibration buffer sachets, storage solution, cleaning solutions and replacement electrodes for the Hanna tester range, and these are usually the items customers reorder. Tell us the model number of your tester and we will quote the matching consumables so you are not matching part numbers yourself.

Related Pages

Other Hanna categories and water quality pages

Not sure which tester fits your sample?

Tell us what you are measuring, what you are measuring it in and how tight the reading has to be. We will recommend a model and quote the buffers and electrodes to go with it.

Email sales@ecotao.co.za Call +27 21 911 5835