Welcome people. Welcome to yet another very random review. Years ago I started reviewing smartphones and now, now I’m getting LED lights and all sorts of other random gadgets.
Today we’ve got a sound level meter and, well, it does just what you’d expect it to really. On top, under that cover, is a microphone that’ll monitor the loudness of surroundings. It can tell you in decibels just how noisy things are, and has a range between 30dB and 130dB.
Want to see if those noisy roadworks are breaking the legal noise limits? Got a complaint with a noisy neighbour? This’ll do the trick. Also, if you have a job which involves checking volume or background noise levels in factories or offices, this is just £13.59 from Amazon.
Turn it on and it’ll monitor the sound levels live with a read-out on the LCD screen. You can also find the loudest and quietest levels recording since you turned it on by simply pressing the MAX / MIN button a couple of times (once for max, then again for min). You can also press the “HOLD” button on the left to keep it locked onto the current volume reading.
There’s a 0.1dB resolution and it’ll meet the IEC651 standard. I’ll be honest and admit that I don’t know what that standard is, but I’m sure some of you who are interested in this sort of thing are.
It’s powered by a 9V battery which is supplied and comes with a set of simple and straightforward instructions. Around back, next to the battery compartment, is a tripod hole should you want to fit this to a stand. You can then leave it monitoring for however long you wish.
The cover can be removed if you wish, but if there’s any kind of wind you’ll need it on so that you don’t get any false readings.
As for battery life, well they tell me that it’ll last 50 hours, but it will shut down after 15 minutes of inactivity.
We tested this with the washing machine (which was perhaps the only thing I could find which showed a dB reading) and it did indeed show the decibel reading correctly. It’s built well and has a modern “rugged” look with an easy to understand control system and a great built quality. It measures 170 x 58 x 35mm and weighs in at just 107g.
As I’m slowly teaching my son how to do all this blogging and vlogging stuff, he’s helped with the overview video on this one..
Overall? It’s built well and is easy to use. However, my minor concerns were that the lowest reading I got was 40.7dB (it wouldn’t go below that) and even late at night when the house was completely quiet it still said that there was 40.7dB of noise. When in close proximity it seemed to detect sound well, but a metre away from the TV and it dropped back to 40.7dB again even though there was noise, which was a little strange.
So, although it will register noise when close, I think it might have a bit of trouble with quieter noises or when you’re a little far away from the sound in question.
If you want to get one, it’s £13.59 from Amazon.
