Cheap costs
As we have already said the nitrate egg costs 55 + IVA, plus the shipping costs. We verified that that you can find it easily in the online stores (here, for example) with prices of 67-70 €, more or less in line with the original one. Combining the purchase with other products you often manage to save the shipping costs, so it could be more convenient to buy the egg outside the principal channel of distribution.
The cost for a single test, if we exclude the first purchase with which we provide the device, is about 1 euro per each measurement, because the kit of reagents for 25 test is sold at about 20 euro + IVA.
The reagents, singularly packed, have a very long expiry date and guarantee a good preservation of the powders without any contamination. This means that if I buy the checker today I don’t have to throw away the reagents after 6 months neither to worry that they contaminate the products, as usually happens with other tests. The reagents of our kit will expire on 10/2025, that are 5 years of validity in normal conditions of stocking.
The unboxing
The Checker HI781 has the classic package of Hanna. Once you removed the carton cover you have the plastic suitcase containing the kit for 25 measurements. The suitcase is quite large, bigger than the one of the phosphate egg. It contains a lot of different tool useful for the measurements. We must admit that at first sight all these accessories perplexed us, and we wonder how complicate the test would have been.
But don’t be scared!
You’ll see that the process is really, really simple and similar to the ones we’re used to do with the other tests. Some solutions are necessary in order not to compromise the validity of the reading, but we’ll examine this later in our small guide.
So, here it is what you’re going to find in the suitcase:
- the controlling device, with its particular egg shape, easily distinguishable among the other for its lilac color;
- an AAA battery of 1,5V;
- a bottle of reagent called HI781A-0;
- nr. 25 packets of the reagent HI781B-0;
- nr. 25 packets of the reagent HI781C-0;
- nr. 2 cuvettes for the tests to be inserted in the hole in the checker when you do the test;
- nr. 1 big cuvette for mixing the elements;
- a filter holder composed by two casings in which you place a paper membrane to replace for every test you take;
- nr. 25 paper membranes;
- nr. 1 graduated syringe of 10 ml with a threaded tip for the filter;
- nr. 1 graduated syringe of 5 ml with spout;
- nr. 1 graduated syringe of 1 ml;
- nr. 1 blunt needle;
- nr. 1 pipette;
- the manual of instruction in English.
The tester is made of hard plastic, with a button for the switch and for starting the phases. Everything inside the suitcase has its place and is well neat. You have to pay attention to the glass cuvettes anyway, but the thickness guarantees enough resistance. Even the filter holder, even though it’s in plastic, is well assembled and seems pretty resistant at first sight. The only critical point we noticed might be the threaded part of the syringe, that could deteriorate in the long run, but we’ll see about that.
If we wanted to be fussy, we could say that there isn’t any microfiber cloth for the cleaning of the glass. We sure can find it easily, but having it in the dotation would have made the dotation complete.
The manual
The manual is in English but you can download it from site in other languages, with a graphic guide to follow for the measurement.
Here below there’s the link to the technical documentation:
In this document there’s also the QR CODE that, once scanned, it will redirect you to the useful and clear video guide on Hanna’s YouTube channel.
The instruction resulted quite linear and easy, overall. The graphic guide is well schematized and the video guide is an extra help, but you have to follow the steps thoroughly otherwise you’ll invalidate the final result.
The article continues on page three where you can read how to do the test, what you have to watch out for, our test on the field and the conclusions.
