CLEARANCE Mini Digital Sound Level Meter

I used this little bugger to set-up my sound room where I practice acoustic guitar/vocals several hours daily. I was treating the room with sound proofing/sound absorption materials & wanted to get comparative readings inside & outside the room as well as in various other locations in relationship to the room. This device was unbelievably handy in this process. (I cannot speak for accuracy since I have no professionally calibrated devices to compare it to. However, I can say all of the readings I got were exactly in the ranges I anticipated, which to me made the device appear to be very accurate.) This little meter is VERY sensitive in a good way. When you first turn it on, you need to give it several seconds to normalize, as the initial sound pressure readings are as expected erratic until the device normalizes itself. A really good example of sensitivity - I live a good 200 yards from a residential road - when I'm sitting inside my fairly soundproof newer home & a car goes by that far away I can see a brief slight rise in the dB readings & then it goes back down again. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but noticed this happened consistently. When an occasional motorcycle or small truck goes by I see a similar rise & then drop in the readings - something I would expect - the car thing was unexpected since it was barely audible (at least to me). My point is this device is extremely sensitive (for such a low priced device) and users need to understand that variances in readings can be expected with even the slightest sounds. I also note that the (fairly loud) ticking clocks hanging on my walls cause fluctuations. Overall, great device!!! Price was unbelievable, personally, I think it's well made and as indicated highly sensitive in a good way. The documentation is worthless, but it couldn't be easier to operate. I haven't even wanted to try the max / min button in my application yet but as other raters have indicated the documentation does not explain it. If you want to use this feature - just push the max/min button and see what it does. For me, I was able to handle the on/off button very easily (LOL) and after letting the device normalize for several seconds see exactly what I needed to see - relative readings throughout an entire sound room set-up !!! I would buy it again - no regrets - only positive things to say (except the documentation - but most users probably won't need documentation to operate a device that has an on/off switch and one other function max / min.) Oh, I do like the built in tripod nut - it may come in handy in some applications. Also not sure why the specs say 40db to 130db - mine goes down to the teens & twenties in VERY quiet conditions. Haven;t had a desire to test the upper range yet - maybe a trip to the airport or local motorcycle shop would work!!!

The only CON is that the display is constantly updating, unfortunately it has a slight lag in the update of the LED display which gets kind of annoying when you are trying to find specific peaks. That is not a show stopper for me, I still love the solution, it is compact, works well and is super simple. Simplicity always wins on a working product. There is a peak hold and low hold if you want to just find out what the loudest peak or valley was or just let it constantly update. Nice sized LED display (Its lit), has a mount on the bottom which seems to fit a standard camera stand mount. I use it for mixing down recordings to help 'settle' the mix in to a specific range of perceived 'loudness'. I don't think it picks up anything less that 60dB or so, check the specs. Good product!

I used to do professional sound reinforcement for live theatre. I have retired and sold all of my equipment. I moved to an active 55 plus community where they do lots of live productions and I have joined the audio group. We just had our theatre refurbished and unfortunately the powers that be installed a glass enclosed tech booth. Needless to say, we can't hear anything live and I have been forced to install a monitor speaker. Now the only reference is what is being sent to the house and not the combination of live and amplified that you get from "hearing" the actual end result. There is no easy way to add a microphone to the house to "listen" so setting the monitor in the booth to the same db level as the house is actually getting in the seats, the only way I can get any feel for what is happening live (still far from ideal). A db meter was the answer and this little unit is great. I used to have a Radio Shack one but you had to pre select db ranges and that was a pain. This unit works great, is small and fits in my pocket. It also has a backlit screen (push a button) so it is great when working anywhere that light might be a problem. Great little unit.

This sound level meter is of good quality and accuracy for its very low price. I use it for taking incidental reading in the car, at home and out-and-about, just to get a feel for how loud the environment is. For this, it does a fine job, but I can't recommend it for anything more pressing because it has no slow/fast setting, has no high/low capture or reading lock, and suffers from a rather generous +/- 20% claimed accuracy (taken from the documentation included with the product). This is not to disparage the meter; it does not claim to have any of these features, but just to note to any readers that they will definitely want something more feature-rich if they want these capabilities.

This sound meter works perfectly. I wanted to see how loud the traffic noise was on a main highway that goes through a residential area, both inside the building and outside. The meter worked perfectly. I could see the sound level increase and decrease as traffic or big trucks drove by. I just held the meter in my hand. It took a while to figure out how to find the maximum and minimum noise levels for a period of time. The instructions aren't detailed in that. After trying this or that I finally got it. But I could also tell visually just by watching the meter. I also set it on a table outside and watched it measure the changing sound levels, and also set it on a table inside by the window. It worked great, I highly recommend it. I'm thinking about taking it to church to measure the sound level of the sound system there, sometimes the music is awfully loud, especially up front by the speakers. They play music with electric guitars and drums using a sound system.

For the most part, I'm overall satified with this sound level meter. The owner's manual says the accuracy is no more off than 3.5 decibels and no less off than 3.5 decibels. This sound level meter may not be always exactly exact, but it is a very close indicator. I've used it before while working at some live music concerts while wearing up to 30 decibels reduction earmuffs, and have noticed most readings at the concerts I've worked at are usually at around 96 to 98 decibels with a high of 104.6 decibels at a Rick Ross concert. I can see how much the earmuffs protected my ears from the very loud noises. This sound meter is easy to use. I agree with a previous reviewer that the power button could constantly be unintentionally turned on and off accidentally shortening the life of the battery. If one wants to see if an environment meets OSHA safety standards or doesn't meet OSHA safety standards, this sound level meter is a good guide.

This is a neat little sound meter that gives pretty good readings, thereby helping to establish relatively accurate noise levels. I use it when our recent neighbors get overly rambunctious in their partying. The difference in response one gets when registering a complaint with the local law such as: "Officer, the peak noise levels from this party go over 95 db A-Weighed, at 200 feet, in a bedroom with no windows towards the noise ..." and the more generic: "Officer the neighbors are driving me nuts with their music." is substantial. Good product for some general applications.

Well mysteries remain mysteries unless one is welling to try and solve, as the case of the suspicious industrial motor noise, late at night for minutes, or during the day for 20 minutes. Shooting out radiation levels, sometimes spiking, masked behind a noise device-gees-Well it was not a ghost but basically someone up to no good so- well nothing like the ghostbusting equipment to solve even a mystery authorities appear to not been able to solve so here it is the best money can buy, yes we have backup with another highend piece, all who search into para whatever do, right?, and therefore note our comparison the device is very accurate keeping taps day and night recording max., and min. NOISE with simple push of a side button that locks the max., and min. reading (gees you have to use finger power-humor keeps it light on disappointing moments-no ghost) And now with all the other equipment well we will let the authorities figure this one out, on to the next ghost. If you like to dabble into something new like what's that noise a ghost? This is the best for the $$$ equal to higher end just need to use your finger, also you need paper and a writting instrument as no computer here to keep scores of the readings. Only drawbacks- keep an eye out for the occasion the foam tip ball may fall off-dont panic it easily goes back on, and beyond that working for days 24plus on the same batteries the battery back plate removing can be a bit so try a pair of rubber kitchen gloves-comes right off and easily slides back on. Yes it comes with instructions or WALLA simply push the button in front after adding batteries of coarse and you are up and running, have fun, it's amazing how loud things can get, invest in the hearing aid companies!

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