Any recommendations on a "good" hygrometer?

cliff t · March 2010

I'm escalating in my cigar "thing", and have more than one humidor. So I'll take any rx's for a good one!

j0z3r · March 2010

Xikar makes a nice one, auto-adjusted when calibrated with the press of a button.

PuroFreak · March 2010

I'll second what Joe said. I have the Xicar hygro and it works very well. easy to use and always accurate. I picked it up at my local shop for $19.99.

Luko · March 2010

I can give you advice on a bad one. I ordered one from heartfelt when I ordered some beads and it crapped out on me after about 9 mos or so.

xmacro · March 2010

+1 for Xikar; get them off Amazon for $17; Madelaine makes an identical one as well. Both of them only have one button - press it once and it converts to Fah/Cel, but if you hold it down for a few seconds, it resets the hygrometer to 75%, so you can easily calibrate the thing yourself

alienmisprint · March 2010

I agree with Joe, Puro, and everyone else, lol. You really can't go wrong with the Xikar one.

I have been using 4 for over a year now, and after you calibrate them all together, they pretty much stay on point. Like, I can put all four in one humidor for a day, then when I check them, they all read the same. So that's four of their hygros right there that have kept perfect numbers running 24/7 for a year. For $20 each.

YankeeMan · March 2010

On the advise of Hays, I bought two hygrometers at Walmarts for about $6 each. They are not adjustable, but once I salt tested them, one was spot on at 75% and the other was 74%, close enough for government work!

I've had them for some time now and they have worked great. If you want to get hygrometers cheap, this is the way to go.

stephen_hannibal · March 2010

YankeeMan:
On the advise of Hays, I bought two hygrometers at Walmarts for about $6 each. They are not adjustable, but once I salt tested them, one was spot on at 75% and the other was 74%, close enough for government work!

I've had them for some time now and they have worked great. If you want to get hygrometers cheap, this is the way to go.

I second the Hays approved hydro. All of mine are dead on at 75%, and they cost 6 bucks.

lilwing88 · March 2010

YankeeMan:
On the advise of Hays, I bought two hygrometers at Walmarts for about $6 each. They are not adjustable, but once I salt tested them, one was spot on at 75% and the other was 74%, close enough for government work!

I've had them for some time now and they have worked great. If you want to get hygrometers cheap, this is the way to go.

+1...... I went the same route. My first hygro I got at the B&M for $25.... works fine. The second one I got at Walmart for $7 works just as fine.

Goldy · March 2010

I got a 5 dollar one on ebay from thailand that works great, its not adjustable but it doesnt matter if its spot on.

kingjk729 · March 2010

Iam on board with the digital from walmart on Hay's advise and now have three ..... all spot on

leonard · March 2010

I have a Xikar and a WalMart hygrometer. Both have work perfect and my WM hygro is spot on.

Unthought_Known · March 2010

Isn't the walmart hygrometer the one that's off by 20% for a lot of people?

Redtailhawkoz · March 2010

stephen_hannibal:
YankeeMan:
On the advise of Hays, I bought two hygrometers at Walmarts for about $6 each. They are not adjustable, but once I salt tested them, one was spot on at 75% and the other was 74%, close enough for government work!

I've had them for some time now and they have worked great. If you want to get hygrometers cheap, this is the way to go.
I second the Hays approved hydro. All of mine are dead on at 75%, and they cost 6 bucks.

Ive got the same one mine has never tested at 75 always at 65 so its 10 off.....

Sandman1am · March 2010

Unthought_Known:
Isn't the walmart hygrometer the one that's off by 20% for a lot of people?

I bought one and returned it a few days later. It was off by 10 or so and I didn't want to deal with it.

Hays · March 2010

Unthought_Known:
Isn't the walmart hygrometer the one that's off by 20% for a lot of people?

Yeah, so it seems...and unfortunately, a lot of those people bought em on my recommendation. I bought one for my first humi, and it's been perfectly spot-on since I bought it (tested it multiple times). Others, it seems, have had far worse experiences.

mrpillow · March 2010

I have two from Walmart, one is off 20% and one is off 6%, but I don't think it's much of a problem. You dont have to be accurate to be precise, and adding 20 or 6 isn't that much of a mental struggle.

Sandman1am · March 2010

mrpillow:
I have two from Walmart, one is off 20% and one is off 6%, but I don't think it's much of a problem. You dont have to be accurate to be precise, and adding 20 or 6 isn't that much of a mental struggle.

It is for me!

leonard · March 2010

Sandman1am:
mrpillow:
I have two from Walmart, one is off 20% and one is off 6%, but I don't think it's much of a problem. You dont have to be accurate to be precise, and adding 20 or 6 isn't that much of a mental struggle.
It is for me!

Sandman, what l have learned in the last couple years is dont sweat the small stuff. My humidity fluctuates between 62 and 68 in various bins or humis. All smoke fine. I enjoy cigars to relax and you dont need to over think and stress over your cigars.

Sandman1am · March 2010

leonard:
Sandman1am:
mrpillow:
I have two from Walmart, one is off 20% and one is off 6%, but I don't think it's much of a problem. You dont have to be accurate to be precise, and adding 20 or 6 isn't that much of a mental struggle.
It is for me!
Sandman, what l have learned in the last couple years is dont sweat the small stuff. My humidity fluctuates between 62 and 68 in various bins or humis. All smoke fine. I enjoy cigars to relax and you dont need to over think and stress over your cigars.

I don't stress over them and I don't do math. That is why I got a different Hygrometer so I didn't have to think about them. I get fluctuations during the winter months because of it being so dry. I don't fight it too much just add more water when it is needed. I just wanted a spot on hygrometer for that exact reason....didn't want to worry about it.

j0z3r · March 2010

Sandman1am:
leonard:
Sandman1am:
mrpillow:
I have two from Walmart, one is off 20% and one is off 6%, but I don't think it's much of a problem. You dont have to be accurate to be precise, and adding 20 or 6 isn't that much of a mental struggle.
It is for me!
Sandman, what l have learned in the last couple years is dont sweat the small stuff. My humidity fluctuates between 62 and 68 in various bins or humis. All smoke fine. I enjoy cigars to relax and you dont need to over think and stress over your cigars.
I don't stress over them and I don't do math. That is why I got a different Hygrometer so I didn't have to think about them. I get fluctuations during the winter months because of it being so dry. I don't fight it too much just add more water when it is needed. I just wanted a spot on hygrometer for that exact reason....didn't want to worry about it.

haha, I've been running my humidors for several months with no hygrometers since all the batteries died, it has only been in the past couple weeks that I finally bought some more batteries. And you know what, my cigars were just fine even though I didn't know what exact RH they were at...I just let the cigar tell me when I smoke it, is it too dry, too humid, and adjust accordingly.

jeff_connors · March 2010

This is what I use, and its ...well amazing....www.honeywellweatherstations.com/.../TE657ELW%20FINAL%202-29-08.pdf

Duder2 · March 2010

YankeeMan:
On the advise of Hays, I bought two hygrometers at Walmarts for about $6 each. They are not adjustable, but once I salt tested them, one was spot on at 75% and the other was 74%, close enough for government work!

I've had them for some time now and they have worked great. If you want to get hygrometers cheap, this is the way to go.

I got 2 of the cheapo's and they are both worthless, WAY off and inconsistent. However, I spent an extra buck($8) at WM on an Accu-rite (i think that's what it's called) and it is off by 7%, but consistent and works well for my coolidor (it's a bit large for a small humi).

Duder2 · March 2010

jeff_connors:
This is what I use, and its ...well amazing....www.honeywellweatherstations.com/.../TE657ELW%20FINAL%202-29-08.pdf

My roommate has a very similar one and it works great.

turn_key · March 2010

I just got the new Xikar and it's working well. It came calibrated but I did the salt test just for giggles and it was accurate.

My analog meter is mounted in the front of my humi and it never worked well. I placed the Xikar under the lid where the round humidifer is supossed to be mounted.

Hawk55 · March 2010

I did an online search for the brand offered by Walmart...found a place where they were about nine dollars...bought five of them. Calibrate them ad see how they check out...they work great and are ten dollars cheaper..

Hawk55 · March 2010

Hey Jeff...I still like your avatar!!!

TatuajeVI · March 2010

I have four digital hygrometers. My first was from a local B&M, the one from Madelaine. Spot on, but $20-25 kinda hurts. I bought two of the "hays" approved wal mart ones (lol, I love that we named it after hays) and they are both at least 10% off. Not a big deal, they are still accurate if I subtract a few percentage points. But for my newest humidor, I decided to grab another Madelaine one. I tend to rotate my hygrometers from humidor to humidor, probably cause I'm a bit psycho.