Extech VFM200 VOC/Formaldehyde Meter

Easy to use

I own a ventilation business and offer IAQ testing as an optional service. The meter worked fine for a few months, then was put into storage while we focused on a big contract that took many months. Once we returned back to air testing, the machine appeared to not function properly anymore. Currently it's 100% unusable as the results continuely appear as 0 for both VOC and HCHO. It can be common for HCHO but to see 0's with VOC is extremely unlikely to near impossible. To test the instrument we placed it next to a scented candle which will always provide results and it's shows nothing again. We paid nearly 500$ with taxes to have used it maybe 30 times.I had an earlier also with another Extech product the CO2 which became also defective recently .. but was handled very professional by the company and was replaced. However this time I'm curious to see if I was just lucky to have a understanding staff member or does the company fully stand behind their products.Currently for a product so pricely with a short life span I give it 1 star. If this happens to be just a defective single product and they handle my request professional and replace it without a fuss I will be happy to change my review .. however for the moment I do recommend to purchase with caution.

good product.

I received this through the Amazon Vine Program. Here is what i found:1. The unit is very nicely done! The power charger unit has multiple country plug ends that quickly change out so that you have the one you need. Not sure how many people will need multiple country plugs, but they are there and it also means that you can order this no matter what country you are in.2. The included Lithium battery is not fully charged, as would be expected. So, i plugged in the charger as instructed. That brought up a major disappointment in the fact that there is NO charging light!! It also does not bring up an indication on the LCD that it is charging. So, is it charging or not? Is the plug you plugged the charger into live or not? The only way to tell is to turn the unit on after a bit and see if the battery indicator shows more bars of battery life.3. With respect to usability, the unit is very simple to use. One thing that can be confusing is turning the unit off. They state that you should use a long push to turn it off and the unit will count down from 3 to turn it off. What they mean is to HOLD DOWN CONTINUOUSLY on the power button during the count down!! if you do not, it will not shut off and you get to start again to turn it off. If you do not want to bother with that, the unit will shut off in 30 minutes of no activity.The display is large and very easy to read. You can easily set alarms for points where you want to know if it has reached and they are easy to silence. The only thing to keep in mind that this is an instant read and NOT a cumulative device. So, if you are walking around you can have wildly changing figures if you walk through areas of volatile materials as they are probably not evenly dispersed if they are in use. Walking into a room with a new rug that has been down for awhile gives a more steady reading. Not a problem as long as you know it will do this and know why.All in all, this is a very functional and easy to use piece of gear that has extras like a nice carrying case and multiple plug ends for most countries.

Bought this based on good reviews and price. However, I took several readings with it that made me suspect, so I compared results to a far more expensive model (over $4000). While I didn't expect perfection from this, it was typically reading at levels 2x to 5x higher than the more accurate and calibrated model. In a home built in the mid 1980's it was giving readings over 0.9 ppm (no new paint, carpet, cooking, furniture, etc in the home)!I loved the idea of the convenience, and would accept some level of difference (say a range of .07 to 0.17 for something measure 0.12), but the wide discrepancy this has from reality make it unusable.

Real-time reading of vocs is not accurate and there's not a device on the market that can do that. Lab testing is the only real solution. Tried it as an experiment.

This VOC meter can measure vapor concentrations in the low parts per million, so it can detect dangerous or toxic vapors that can't be smelled or picked up using LEL detectors. Those small concentrations that with consistent exposure over time, can have an effect on a person's health.The meter comes pre-calibrated, charged and ready to use. The display does have a back-light so it can be used in low-light settings. Included with the meter is a user guide that gives a basic breakdown of how it works, what buttons do what, how to set the alarms and adjust the thresholds for them, etc, and explains how to toggle between measuring in PPM and mg/m³.The VFM200 meter is small and fits into the palm of your hand, so it's very portable. I can easily carry this in my jacket pocket, a bag or keep it inside tool box. So it's sized well for both the workplace and home uses. It uses rechargeable battery that takes about 2 hours to go from completely discharged to fully charged up, and there's a on-screen indicator that displays how much charge is left.The compact size, rechargeable battery and easy to read/understand layout of the buttons on the VFM200 make it a simple tool to use. And since it picks up the smallest measurement of toxic vapors (even those that are considered in the safe range) it's not only handy to use but powerful.

Useless. Tried testing air quality in house, in car, outside, I expected it shows relatively stable readings. But instead after the count-down-to-zero ends and the meter is supposed to do the real measurement, the readings keep decreasing until to nearly zero, even inside a smelly closed-window brand new car in a hot summer day.Trusted the EXTECH brand, so ignored the paid 4/5 star reviews. Unfortunately this product does not meet my least expectation.