Not really bro. I had one of those. You can buy them at the home hardware megastores. It was never accurate and then it stopped working all together. Get one of these to start out with: http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-pH-Control-Kit/dp/B000BNKWZY They're very accurate
That's correct. Measure and adjust your solution's pH and then measure the runoff from your pots and adjust your solution accordingly to get proper runoff readings. I don't know anyone who uses just a soil probe to adjust pH. You won't find a more accurate soil probe in that price range. You would probaly want to get a soil test kit. But it's your soultion and runoff that you want to test and adjust.
For indoor growing - If you're using potting soil you already know the properties of that soil... they're printed on the bag. So you don't really need a soil probe. If you're growing outsdoors (in the ground) - dig a big hole and fill it with some perlite at the bottom and then fill the hole with your potting soil. Get a runoff pH sample from a small pot first and adjust your solution accordingly. You can keep taking soil samples and testing the runoff throughout the grow process.
would this work? http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-pH-Mete...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 im new to this but.. do you need to control the ph of soil as well? or just water/nutes and how do you get the ph of nutes? mix it in the water and - or + it?
That would work, though I don't know the quality of that instrument. You'll need calibration and storage solution to go with it. You might want to start with the GH control kit and save up for a Milwuakee pH pen. Yes you mix your nutes and then pH the solution. You take readings from your runoff in the drip tray and adjust the solution accordingly. You don't really need a soil probe. I used mine for about a day and it stopped working. I tossed it.