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Comment by pppone | Hacker News Reader

I would recommend checking out the AQ-SPEC program [1]. They do quite comprehensive tests on low-cost air quality sensors. My side project with a few friends [2] chose to use the Sensirion SPS30 [3] for our portable PM2.5 monitor. As mentioned by others, it's a bit more expensive than the PMS5003 used by AirGradient, but we preferred its documentation, company reputation, and form factor at the time of choosing (2019). The PMS5003 is perfectly capable, and has demonstrated good success with many projects/companies using the sensor (e.g. PurpleAir). However, a quick search suggests there are some issues with a recent batch of these sensors [4].

[1]: https://www.aqmd.gov/aq-spec/sensors

[2]: https://www.open-seneca.org/

[3]: https://sensirion.com/products/catalog/SPS30/

[4]: https://community.purpleair.com/t/new-version-of-plantower-p...

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This resource is amazing.

I bought a Dylos DC1700-PM a while back for around $400; interesting to see how the lab test shows it producing varying data at 65%+ humidity (I live in a fairly humid climate and that perhaps contributes to why I see large shifts in readings throughout the day).

Is there a good, sub-$3000 meter that is accurate, 'just works', and requires little to no maintenance?

Ooof based on the aq-spec summaries... None of the gas sensors are particularly good. And the best ones are thousands of dollars..

That program is excellent! I purchased an AtmotubePro for PM2.5 measuring, and their testing and confirming it uses and SP30 makes me much more confident in it's readings.

It's a shame its does not seem to do CO2 only a compound measure of VOC gases. It seems only the Atmo Cube has CO2 measures.

Your site does not appear to have pricing for your kit based on brief browsing.

They are about $50 from my search which is about 5x more than the plantower pm2.5 sensors. There is a big difference in documentation and that issue with the new MCU on the plantower units is concerning since they all have the same markings and housing when purchased.

At volume, the SPS30 gets down to ~$30 a piece. Their newest sensors (SEN5X) offer similar specs, and are about $25 per single unit, or $15 a piece at volume for the cheapest variant. The more expensive variant include integrated T/RH monitoring, which is very handy for humidity corrections for this type of PM2.5 sensing.

Sadly not yet. Since this is more of a voluntary commitment amongst my friends and I (we're in the process of finishing our PhDs), we lack the human-power to take the product to market at the moment.

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