moisture meters

[Russ Clemons]

I am looking to purchase a moisture meter. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[George Makra]

It depends on what you going to use it for. in this case what you pay for is what you get.

A 30 dollar General will not even come close to the accuracy of a Ligomat moisture meter.

If you want to be exact get a scale and an oven. And look up how to determine moisture content of wood.

[Lee Schierer]

I have a ligonotech mini ligno and it works well for a hobby type shop. Note that is is difficult to get the pins to penetrate deeply into hardwoods to get readings of the core wood.

[Doug Dawson]

I am looking to purchase a moisture meter. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


I have a Wagner mmc220 (pinless) meter. My most common use for it is to check equilibrium of boards after resawing, etc. So the non-marring feature is significant. Also you can select the species, etc., and the depth is very good. Unfortunately it's discontinued, but the newer Wagners should perform similarly, are a bit more technologically advanced, and a bit cheaper (the mmc220 was US$400 or so.)

[Jim Andrew]

I have a mini ligno, and while it is not an expensive meter, is good enough for my hobby shop. Bought it on sale from Grizzly.

[John K Jordan]

I am looking to purchase a moisture meter. ...

You might say what you want to test.

For example, a pinless meter needs to be pressed firmly into a flat area at least as large as the sensor pad on the back. You also must set it for the type of wood, or rather, the density. The Wagner I have claims to measure about 3/4" deep. I use it a lot on boards and woodturning blanks.

A pinless meter doesn't need the flat spot but has sharp pins that are pressed into the wood, shallow or deep depending. It will leave two little holes in the wood. It measures about as deep as you press the pins, perhaps a bit more.

As someone implied, this is one of those things where the quality/accuracy can improve a lot with the amount of money spent. But you may be satisfied with a less accurate meter if all you want is an idea of the relative dryness.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

I have a Wagner mmc220 as well. It’s a great meter but stopped working a little after a year (just after the warranty expired) with very little use and always without batteries when stored. I discovered it was a common problem, contacted them and they repaired it free of charge. They’ve evidently resolved the issue with the newer model. Something to keep in mind is many lumber yards don’t take kindly to pinned moisture meters due to the holes they leave.

[roger wiegand]

I got the Lignomat Scanner SD (pinless) about 6 months ago, it has been completely adequate for my needs of assessing relative moisture, ie telling whether boards brought up from the basement match ones that have been in the shop longer and when they stop changing. I haven't tried to assess absolute accuracy, but repeatability seems very good. It can be set to measure 1/4 or 3/4" deep, which is convenient.