Garden / greenhouse light meter recommendation needed

February 9, 2015 6:16 AM

I need a light meter for gardening in our yard and, eventually, in a small greenhouse. Ideally, I'd like to know the number of hours of light a specific area gets each day, although full sun / partial shade etc. readings that can be converted are also acceptable. Looking for something durable and for recommendations from folks who have used a specific model successfully for at least a few growing seasons. Bonus points if readings can be downloaded for reference.
posted by ryanshepard to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

GSS 1M, pricey but excellent.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:29 AM on February 9, 2015

I guess I should add that >=$200 USD is the ballpark amount I can afford to invest in this.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:32 AM on February 9, 2015

This one's $250. Try searching sites that sell solar panels and things like that--measurement of sunlight is objectively important to those folks, so they might have something that's not tagged if you're doing garden-specific searching.
posted by resurrexit at 9:08 AM on February 9, 2015