±0.01 pH accuracy, IP67-rated, flat triple-junction sensor — complete ready-to-use kit.
The Apera Instruments PH60F (AI312) is a premium pocket pH tester purpose-built around a replaceable flat-tip sensor — measuring pH directly on low-moisture surfaces like coco slabs, growing media, and tissue samples, as well as standard aqueous solutions. Accurate to ±0.01 pH across a −2.00 to 16.00 pH range, it ships as a complete, ready-to-calibrate kit.
The Apera PH60F is part of Apera's 60 Series Premium pocket tester line — instruments designed for professional-grade pH measurement without bench-meter complexity. The defining feature of the PH60F is its flat-tip sensor: instead of a conventional glass bulb that requires submersion in a liquid sample, the flat probe makes direct contact with low-moisture surfaces, semi-solids, and small-volume liquids. The probe uses a triple-junction internal structure engineered to resist clogging — a real advantage when testing fibrous or particulate media rather than clean water.
The tester body is IP67-rated, meaning it is fully dustproof and submersible to one meter — a practical spec in a grow environment where instruments routinely get splashed, dropped into reservoirs, or set on wet benches. The unit floats, so an accidental drop into a res or water tank is recoverable.
In licensed cannabis and hemp cultivation, standard bulb-tip pH pens can't give you a direct reading from a coco slab, a rockwool cube, or a compressed peat plug without first extracting a slurry sample — adding time and a potential source of error to every test. The PH60F eliminates that step for surface and semi-solid samples: press the flat probe against the moistened surface and read directly.
Practical use cases in cultivation include: verifying runoff pH on individual coco slabs in drain-to-waste systems, spot-checking pH in tissue culture media or agar plates, confirming substrate pH in propagation trays, and as a general-purpose solution pH pen for reservoir checks, fertigation line verification, and foliar-spray water quality. The wide measurement range — down to −2.00 pH — accommodates highly acidic specialty buffers and nutrient concentrations outside the normal growing window.
Auto-calibration recognizes pH 4.00, 7.00, and 10.01 buffers automatically — no manual buffer entry. Calibration can be run at one, two, or three points depending on your target measurement window; the display confirms completion so there's no question about calibration status. Auto Temperature Compensation (ATC) adjusts readings in real time across a 0–50 °C range, so a reading taken from a warm reservoir or a greenhouse bench is as accurate as one taken at room temperature.
The tri-color backlit LCD communicates meter state at a glance: blue during active measurement, green during calibration, and red when a reading falls outside user-set High/Low thresholds. That red alert — Apera calls it the Heads-Up function — fires automatically when pH drifts out of your configured target window, flagging the result without you needing to compare against a written spec. Stable-value recognition eliminates the guesswork about when to record a reading; the display indicates when the value has settled, with an optional Auto Hold function to lock it.
The AI312 ships as a complete, field-ready package. Included: PH60F tester with flat sensor installed, pre-mixed pH 4.00, 7.00, and 10.01 calibration solutions with calibration vials, 3M KCl storage solution for the probe, AAA batteries, lanyard, user manual, and a hard portable carrying case. Everything needed to calibrate and begin testing is in the box — no separate buffer solution purchases required to get started.
The flat probe (part PH60F-E) is user-replaceable, and the PH60F body is also compatible with other Apera 60-series probes including the standard liquid bulb probe (PH60-E) and the ORP probe (ORP60-E). That cross-compatibility means one tester body can cover multiple measurement tasks across a facility by swapping sensors.
| Model / SKU | Apera PH60F / AI312 |
| pH Measurement Range | −2.00 to 16.00 pH |
| pH Accuracy | ±0.01 pH |
| Temperature Range (ATC) | 0 to 50 °C |
| Temperature Accuracy | ±0.5 °C |
| Calibration | 1 to 3 points; auto buffer recognition (pH 4.00 / 7.00 / 10.01) |
| Sensor Type | Replaceable flat-tip, triple-junction structure |
| Ingress Protection | IP67 waterproof and dustproof; floats |
| Battery Life | Up to 1,000 hours (backlit on); auto power-off after 8 min idle |
| Warranty | 2 years (instrument); 6 months (probe) |
| Certifications | CE, RoHS; manufactured under ISO 9001:2015 certified quality system |
| Kit Contents | PH60F tester, pH 4.00/7.00/10.01 calibration solutions and vials, 3M KCl storage solution, AAA batteries, lanyard, carrying case, user manual |
Both. The flat sensor works for direct surface contact — coco slabs, agar plates, growing media — and for standard liquid samples including reservoir nutrient solution and runoff water. It is a dual-purpose instrument; the flat tip is not a limitation for liquid use.
For very dry substrates a light moisture application helps ensure electrode contact, but for already-hydrated media like a wet coco slab or a saturated rockwool cube you can press the flat probe directly against the surface and read without slurry preparation. This is the primary advantage of the flat-tip design versus a bulb-tip pen.
The PH60F auto-recognizes pH 4.00, 7.00, and 10.01 buffers. All three calibration solutions and calibration vials are included in the AI312 kit, ready to use out of the box. For most cannabis and hemp operations, a 2-point cal using pH 4.00 and 7.00 covers the active growing range.
The replacement flat probe is Apera part PH60F-E. The PH60F meter body is also compatible with the standard liquid bulb probe (PH60-E) and the ORP probe (ORP60-E), making it possible to repurpose one tester for multiple measurement types by swapping sensors.
Yes. The tri-color backlit display provides on-screen confirmation of completed calibration steps and stable readings, and auto buffer recognition removes ambiguity from the calibration process. For operations with SOP requirements around pH verification, the meter's clear calibration status indicators support consistent, documentable workflow.
Get operator-direct pricing and availability. We supply licensed commercial cultivators nationwide.
Request a Quote