EMF meters come in all shapes and sizes, testing various frequencies. It’s easy to feel confused when looking for the right one, you might be asking yourself questions like ‘why do some meters measure specific frequencies and others both low and high?’ or ‘do I need more than one meter’? This very much depends on the reasons why you are buying the meter and also what your experience is in testing. If you’re suffering from a strong electromagnetic sensitivity for example, then we would obviously recommend you go straight to the more sensitive meters.
For the individual who wants a meter they can use straight out of the box and knows the basics of electromagnetic fields (EMFs), then you might be best off buying what we call an ‘all-in-one’ meter. These types of meters can give you a rough overview of the EMFs in your environment. Two meters come in mind in this area, the TriField TF2 (which we stock) or the Cornet ED88TPlus. Both these sit around the same price and are good options for beginners. Whilst the Cornet has a more functionality, It’s a bit more fiddly to use and has a smaller screen. This can be a bit of a deal breaker for those with poor eyesight or those who struggle to use digital devices. If you’re after something with very simple controls and a big clear display, then the TF2 is the probably going to be the better option.
To truly test your environment however, you will need to have both a low and high frequency meter. Ultimately this is the only way to get accurate readings and is what any building biologist will utilise when testing. Low frequency meters typically go from the range of 5 or 16 Hz up to 2 or 100 KHz depending on the sensitivity whereas high frequency usually start at the 800 MHz mark and can go all the way up to 6 or 10 GHz. Having this separation in readings can help you better identify the type of frequency because some frequencies may hold more weight in terms of exposure limits.
So which meter brands do we recommend in the low and high frequency departments? Well there’s plenty of great options but there’s three brands in particular which we recommend which are all trusted providers with many years of experience: Gigahertz Solutions (Germany), EMFields (UK) and Alphalabs (US). Of course, there are many others brands available and you will notice this as soon as you pop in ‘EMF meter’ on Amazon however, don’t be swooned by the cheap prices of some of these meters. Many of these will not be giving you accurate readings or may even exaggerate certain readings. We only recommend working with trusted providers as above.
Starting with the low frequency range, we recommend checking out Gigahertz meters, specifically we like the Low Frequency Analyser ME3830 because it measures all the way up to 100 KHz so it can comfortably measure frequencies caused by energy saving lamps, switching-mode power supplies, electronic dimmers, or monitors, which are considered especially critical. Although they do have a slightly cheaper model (ME3030B) this doesn’t have as wide a range. If you want to splash some more cash, then you can always go up the range to the ME3840B which they call the link between amateur and professional instruments. This meter has a switchable internal filter module allowing a numeric differentiation of traction power and mains supply as well as the artificial higher frequencies. This can come in handy as building biology suggests to have the electric and magnetic field pollution at least a factor 10 lower than the main frequencies recommendations.
Moving onto high frequencies, although Gigahertz have an equally solid range in this department, there are two meters from EMFields which we recommend. Firstly, the Acousticom 2, which is really more of a detector as opposed to a meter, which measures all the way up to 8 GHz. This meter is particularly beneficial for those who might not be able to interpret specific readings because it uses an LED light warning system from green to red instead of displaying a digital number. It’s extremely portable and is the perfect meter to have on the go with you. If you’re on the market for a meter which has a digital display which gives both a current reading and pulsed reading, then we recommend going for their higher range model, the Acoustimeter which comes in at just under £300. Note that both use the same high quality detector.
What about other meters? If you want to broaden your measurements in investigating EMFs at home, then there is one other meter that you could consider; an electromagnetic Interference meter, also known as an ‘EMI meter’ or ‘dirty electricity meter’.
These meters measure the amount of electrical noise in the circuits of your house. We won’t go into detail on what dirty electricity is in this article (see our other article on this) but this type of meter can be useful in determining what electrical noise may be in your circuits (caused by either devices inside or the electricity travelling into your home) which subsequently can increase the intensity of electromagnetic fields, particularly near walls with mains wiring. You can opt for either the Line EMI meter from AlphaLabs or the Broadband EMI Meter from GreenWave. Either of these would be good options.
EMF Home Team