Gas Leak Detector, MESTEK High Precision Natural Gas Detector with Triple Alarms, Portable Gas Sniffer with Digital & Analog Dual Display Checking Combustible Gas Leaks for Home and RV, Rechargeable

The media could not be loaded. Simple to use. Turn on the device. Wait 30 sec for it to "warm up" then put the sensor near a suspected leak. I bought it to try help track down a leak (see video) at my mom's house. It seems to be an intermittent leak. She'd smell gas every so often then it'd be nothing for months. I happened to be over to reboot the wifi router, and smelled gas, so I grabbed the MESTEK detector (I had left it there for this exact scenario), and check where we suspected the leak was. Took a few minutes, but eventually found it.

This worked great...while it worked. It was a great value...until it wasn't.It got about 5 months of light use before it bricked out.I don't know if it's the internal battery that crapped out or what, but it's now a $70 paperweight.It's outside of the return/replace window so there I have no recourse besides eating the cost and buying something else.If you get/have one of these, Beware. This tool does an important job!Get yourself a back-up so you're not caught out on a job with a useless tool.

I calibrated the instrument outside in open air and began testing a newly installed gas line. After not seeing any change in reading, I decided to introduce it to a controlled propane leak to test it. I opened a small propane tank nearby with no change. Eventually I directed the flow directly at the sniffer and still nothing. I was hoping it was user error, but confirmed it wasn't after reading the instructions (which are limited).

The media could not be loaded. I ordered this gas detector for my daughter and her family. Their home uses gas and I thought it is an important item to have to be able to actually detect a leaky gas meter or appliance.The meter comes with an instruction manual that isn't 100 pages long, it gets right to the point. Turn the item on where there is no leak to calibrate, then go look for leaks. The tiny writing in the instruction manual names each button and briefly explains its purpose on the accompanying tiny photo of the device. Yes, the manual could be a bit larger, especially for old eyes.The device isn't heavy, but it also doesn't feel cheap either, ofc, it's not made for industrial use where it would get knocked around. It comes with a short charger, which I would probably just put in the donate box, as we use longer heavy duty chargers for our devices, but it's also handy to have it right there in the case. The case holds the detector nicely and is an extra nice touch to be able to keep grease and dust off of the detector, depending on where it's kept.As you can see in my video, I scroll through and explain all the buttons, they are large and easy to press. The display is large and very easy to read, especially for these old eyes.This is one of those tools that you hope to never need, but is so nice to have for peace of mind.

Easy to use, seems very accurate.Buttons:Power - Long press to turn on, it warms up for 30 seconds and visually displays time remaining.APO - Toggles the Automatic Power Off functionC/F - Toggles between Celsius and FahrenheitSound - Toggles audio indicators on/offPPM/%LEL - Toggles between Parts Per Million and Percentage LevelZero - Used to zero out the sensor in an area where there is no gas, to set a "baseline"After charging it with the included cord, Red for charging, Green for complete, I powered it up with a long press on the power button. It counted down the 30 seconds and was ready to test. I turned the natural gas on my cooktop on, bypassing the ignition, and it didn't take long for the sensor to alert me to the presence of the gas. I let it go until the alarm went off, which is adequate in loudness and grabs your attention.Using it is very simple, without so many features that you'd have to take out the manual every time to use. Turn it on, detect, done. The hardest part may be remembering the long press of the power button.The case is nice, and has a pocket to hold the charging cord. The construction of the detector is really nice, has a very professional feel to it, and looks nice. The display is bright and clear, easy to understand what is on or off, and the audio alert is loud.

I ran it through the propane stove test (very broad) and it did respond. It is difficult to verify it's accuracy unless you have access to calibration gasses.The instructions are very limited. They do state that the readings are relative to natural gas but don't give an indication of in what way. Is it as a percent volume? Is the LEL still accurate or does one need to adjust for propane with a lower LEL? The instructions give no guidance.This instrument could be excellent if the instructions would be clearer. They were obviously written by a non-English native speaker and may have been created through Google Translate.I would trust it more for natural gas than other gasses. However, I'm in a volunteer fire department of a rural area that only has propane to be concerned with. It will help find a leak but I wouldn't trust the LEL (lower explosive limit) reading without guidance.

I don't have any kind of calibrated sensor to compare this to independently, but when placed next to my stove and letting a little gas out it picked up the gas immediately and started beeping. There's no way for me to know if the PPM measures are anywhere near true, but can definitely be used as a true/false detector for small leaks in specific areas.