Australia's Science Forum

Thinking of buying a portable data logger. Can anyone recommend one?

We have 5 little Eco-Log data loggers. They are about the size of a box of cigarettes but I wouldn't recommend them.

They are very tempremental, need charging frequently and half the time wont charge until you take the back off and "fiddle" with the rechargable battery. But I suppose they do the job for Year 8 ecosystems as they measure temp, Light, decibells, relative humidity, and air pressure. You can get other probes, we have a pH probe but nothing else.

I certainly wouldn't get them for Senior work.

We have recently purchased a Vernier Datalogger but as yet it hasn't been used!

Wendy

I'm trialling the Vernier LabQuest and it's really, really good; easy to use, collected data is easy to manipulate and it can be used with or without a computer interface.(I just hope the heavies OK my request for extra budget so I can buy them for next year.)
Liz

We use Xplorer GLX from Pasco. Very handy, good size and can be used with or without a computer. You can save directly to a USB key and can plug in up to 4 probes at once to do multiple measurements. Do a search for data loggers on here and you should come up with some other discussions. We have just set ours up so they can be charging all the time and then are available at short notice without the students needing to have them plugged in. I think they last about a day (at least a school day!) without going flat. We take them on Bio and Chem day trips and haven't really had any problems.

We use Go Link they are great.

Yeah the GoLink are good, but mine can only log time so it's not much help in some physics experiments.
Liz

We have just purchased the Pasco Spark data logger. I have been having a bit of a play with our fishtank and have been meauring PH, DO, temperature and conductivity every hour for 24 hours. So far its a really good little data logger and it has a touch screen which I think the students will find easy to use. Like the old pasco data logger it can be used directly with a computer or you can save all your data for later use if out in the field.
www.pasco.com/spark
When I bought it about 3 months ago it only cost $700 for the data logger and extra for the sensors and probes. We already own the older style pasco withthe compatable extras so not so expensive.