10 Best Moisture Meters in 2020

Moisture meters are an essential tool for artisans. Ensuring that your wood is thoroughly dried before using it is a key factor that determines project success. The best moisture meters are those that are consistent, easy to use, and the best value for your money. However, many products often come with a variety of features, and with so many on the market, it is easy to become confused, trying to juggle the pros and cons of each product.

That is why we’ve created a buyers guide to ensure you get a product that meets all the criteria, at a price you will love!

View the Best Moisture Meter, Below.

• Best Value – General Tools MMD4E Digital Moisture Meter
• Lignomat USA, LTD Lignomat Moisture Meter
• Best for affordability – Proster Handheld Wood Moisture Test Meter
• Tavool Digital Wood Moisture Detector
• Calculated Industries 7445 AccuMASTER Duo Pro
• Dr.meter Wood Moisture Meter
• Best for Professionals – Breathe Essential SAM-PRO Dual Moisture Meter
• Dr.meter Pinless Wood Moisture Meter
• Extech MO55 – Combination Pin/Pinless Moisture Meter
• TACKLIFE Building Materials Moisture Detector

1. Best Value – General Tools MMD4E Digital Moisture Meter

The General Tools MMD4E Digital Moisture Meter is a dual pin device great for professionals or homeowners who want to measure moisture levels not only on wood but also on drywall and carpets. It enables readings of water in areas affected by flooding and is the first step in mold prevention. It is a versatile product with a great LCD, making it bright and easy to read. The large 0.3-inch (8mm) digits allow for quick and easy viewing, and it features a hold function to freeze a reading.

It comes with sharp stainless steel pins, allowing it to easily penetrate even those sturdier surfaces. Overall measurements range from 5 to 50% for wood and 1.5 to 33% for other materials. It also includes low, medium, and high moisture tones and visual LED alerts. This product also includes extra 0.3in (8mm) pins, a protective cap that doubles as a calibration checker, and a 9V battery. Perfect for those in need of easy ballpark readings for an excellent price. Making this product the best meter for your money.

This digital meter is an affordable staple for every artisan and one of the best and most versatile out there for its price.

2. Lignomat USA, LTD Lignomat Moisture Meter

The Lignomat Moisture Meter does all the work for you. As one of the best pin moisture meters, all you need to do is insert the pins in the wood, and the meter will turn itself on with an automatic reading of the moisture levels. This product is equipped with 3/16" and 7/16" pins, which come with protective caps, allowing you to adjust to different thicknesses. While pin meters do leave small holes after measurement, they are great in terms of accurate readings for American domestic woods.

This product is very user-friendly. Bright red numbers backed with LCD give you a clear picture of the information. While using a 9V battery for energy efficiency. This meter includes a measuring range of 6-45% and is equipped with built-in calibration. This is the best moisture meter for efficiency.

This moisture meter dual-pin function, allows you to tackle different measurement depths, excellent for professionals seeking accurate results.

3. Best for affordability – Proster Handheld Wood Moisture Test Meter

The Proster Handheld Meter combines the convenient wide use design and a large HD LCD, with four modes. Allowing you to cover approximately 50 species of wood. It is perfect for detecting moisture and humidity in wood, logs, cardboard, paper, and firewood. Made with economic ABS plastic and wrapped in environmental packaging for sustainability.

This product is not only superior in terms of durability but also accuracy. While it automatically switches itself off to save battery, although the battery is not included with the purchase. This product does, however, come with sensitive electrode pins and two test probe pins. This meter is perfect for those on a budget seeking high accuracy.

This easy-to-use handheld moisture meter is an affordable option with an extended range and accurate readings.

4. Tavool Digital Wood Moisture Detector

The Tavool Digital Detector is an affordable two-pin reader with high precision. It is able to penetrate into wood and other building material to give a fast, accurate reading of moisture levels and can detect the location of moisture build-up. It's ideal for woodworking, building, construction, and floor-laying. It features two measuring modes and is great for a range of products, including furniture, lumber, window frames, and rolled products.

It's a simple, user-friendly product with a backlit LED screen and hold key freezes readings. It also features memory function and Max/Min moisture. This meter has two measuring modes and eight calibration scales and finds the percentage of moisture content of many different wood types. It can be used to find hidden leaks in both walls and surfaces.

This multi-functional product has a hand-friendly shape and rubber side grips for extra comfort.

5. Calculated Industries 7445 AccuMASTER Duo Pro

The Calculated Industries 7445 AccuMASTER Duo Pro is perfect for checking lumber and hardwood before building. It detects moisture content quickly and is highly accurate. It combines dual pin and pinless sensors, allowing you to switch to pins for accurate tests. While you can use the pad for non-invasive pinless scanning - ideal for home inspections. This meter can be used for wood, brick, drywall, plaster, and carpet.

This product has many features, including icons and optional audio alerts, detecting low, medium, or high moisture content. Accuracy ratings for this meter are ±3%, and this model includes battery saving, auto-shutoff, and protective caps for pins. It's an excellent choice for home inspections and is super easy to use.

This moisture meter is loaded with features and can be used in a variety of settings, while it is very easy to use!

6. Dr.meter Wood Moisture Meter

The 2-in-1 Dr.meter Moisture Meter offers the dual function of both pinless and pin-type scanning in one. Allowing you to take non-invasive scans and fast response, high accuracy readings. This meter has a wide measuring range, which differs for pinless and pin-type functions. In the pinless scan, a range of 5-53% for wood and 0-35% for other materials with an error range of +/-4%. While the two pins scan 5-50% for wood and 1.5-33% for other materials with an error range of +/-2%.

This meter has four pinless scanning modes of hardwood, softwood, board, and concrete and is equipped with a moister tester beep alert when moisture exceeds 17% or wall humidity exceeds 70%. This meter can also measure 0-40 degree current environmental temperature with as little as +/-2 degree error. It is designed with a green backlight display and reading hold function and a signal bar to get those all-important intuitive measurement tips.

This easy-to-use use moisture meter has a range of functions, featuring a bonus alert system.

7. Best for Professionals – Breathe Essential SAM-PRO Dual Moisture Meter

The Breathe Essential SAM-PRO Dual Moisture Meter is a professional grade meter with 4 material type modes. This meter detects both moisture and temperature readings in over 100 materials, including softwoods, hardwoods, carpets, drywall, and concrete. Combined with a large color LCD screen and flashlight function. It includes max, min, and scan functions.

This pin-type meter includes a high/low moisture reading bar making the meter quick and easy to use and perfect for mold protection, finding hidden leaks or catching where these problems are likely to develop. This product's sensitive steel sensor pins can also see whether moisture is low (5-11%), medium (12-15%), or high (16-50%). It comes with a durable nylon case, set of replacement probes, and batteries.

The Breathe Essential Dual moisture meter is super sensitive and can cover a wide range of materials. Great for multi-functional use.

8. Dr.meter Pinless Wood Moisture Meter

This moisture meter is the best moisture meter for non-invasive readings. It has a large LCD screen and is easy to use even in darkness. This is a great product for those keen to get accurate readings without damaging valuable objects or making holes. It features electromagnetic waves sparing you the mess and clean up. It is a high precision moisture meter with wide compatibility to get the exact reading you need, consistently.

This product has a temperature compensation function enabling you to test the object at the same temperature in 5 minutes to get accurate readings. While it has a power-saving mode after 5 minutes of inactivity to ensure maximum efficiency. It also has calibration to notify you of zero calibration, temperature calibration, or ATC overrunning.

This moisture meter's calibration features make it the best moisture meter for alerting the user, and it combines power saving modes for extra efficiency.

9. Extech MO55 – Combination Pin/Pinless Moisture Meter

The Extech MO55 – Combination Pin/Pinless Moisture Meter can measure more than just wood. This meter can provide accurate readings for sheetrock, cardboard, concrete, plaster, and mortar. While pinless moisture measurement depth can measure up to <1" (25mm). This product doubles as a damp meter and can provide visual icons for low, medium, and high levels of moisture for up to 1 inch below the surface with the option of using pinless function, so you don't damage any materials.

It has a small, compact design and features a hold function that allows you to freeze readings on the display. It also features an audible alert tone. However, it is different from other meters, the beep alert gets faster as moisture increases so you can measure moisture in real-time. It comes complete with two pins, protective caps, and a 9V battery.

Why we liked it: This product can be used on more materials than wood alone, and the audible alert system allows you to track increasing moisture or damp in real-time.

10. TACKLIFE Building Materials Moisture Detector

The TACKLIFE Building Materials Moisture Detectors pin-type design leads to accurate testing. It has two modes for building or wood materials, making it easy to detect moisture. It has a range of 0-60%, resolution of 0.1% and an accuracy of ±2%. A great feature of this product is its 7 type switch and lights. Allowing you to match different materials to resistivity to get precise % RH range.

It also shows a red light indicating once the moisture levels have exceeded the standard. This product has hold data function and recording so that you never miss a reading. While its anti-slip covers and ergonomic design make it very easy and comfortable to use. It comes with two replacement pins, protective caps, and a portable carry bag so you can take it with you wherever you go.

This moisture meter is a great purchase for those looking for a wide range of functions to cover multiple materials for an affordable price.

Buyer’s Guide to Moisture Meters

Moisture meters are essential for every artisan and are great general tools for keeping an eye on moisture for homeowners. The best moisture meters are those that are highly accurate and consistent. For woodworkers, a moisture meter is an insurance policy and ensures wood that you are working with is stable. While for homeowners, moisture meters can be the difference between paying out to repair a flooded kitchen and preventing it.

As there are so many options out there, we have tried to make it as easy as possible to choose the right model for you. A moisture meter should ideally detect moisture that is not visible with the naked eye. Anything above or below five to ten percent saturation is not fit to use.

In short, detecting moisture content saves you time, money, and once you get the right one, it can last a lifetime. This review has highlighted some of the best products on the market and their features. The first key specification for moisture meters is their accuracy. Both pin-type and pinless moisture meters have been included in this review.

Some models offer dual function, so you can tailor reading to the material you are working with. However, buyers should consider that pin-type models plunge into the material and generally give the most accurate reading but leave small holes. While pinless readers are also accurate but are prized on their no-mark finish.

However, you may wish to consider that a pinless meter should lie flat on the material surface, therefore if you are working with larger quantities of wood and want a quick moisture content reading, then pin-type may be the best moisture meters for you. Nevertheless, whether you chose pinless or pin-type, it’s best to look for a product that is accurate within .1% for the most reliable and consistent readings.

Generaly tools on moisture meters for wood that get you the best results usually include digital or LCD displays. So if possible, try to get a product with these displays, but you can also use an LED or analog display that lights up to detect specific moisture content if this is the method of your choice.

Expert Tip

Take good care of the pins on your meter, preferably clean with a microfiber cloth, and ensure they are dry and stored in a suitable place. Rusted or grim-covered pins may not conduct electricity as freely, which could give an inaccurate reading. A good practice, in general, to get an accurate moisture content is taking multiple readings, with three consistent results being a hallmark of success.

Did you Know?

Finding the best moisture meter for you can be tricky. But a plus to many products is their additional features. They can double up as damp meters as well as meters for wood, allowing you to detect and locate issues early on. If you find a product with temperature correction, you can also resolve moisture levels by tweaking current heat and humidity levels.