Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:09 pm
I don't know about that thing. I looked at digital refractometers online and couldn't find one for less than $500, this company claims that they have one that is a refractometer, interfaces directly with your computer, and includes some kind of software for only $170. They sell the software individually for $75, so you're looking at a $95 digital refractometer with a USB interface? How accurate could it possibly be? What truck was it boosted from? Who could out-china China?
Also the only photo they have of the product is thumbnail size and the same for each product with a different name logo (poorly) MS Painted onto each product; they don't describe how it is used; they sell direct through paypal, not a vendor, and there is no traditional contact information for them (just a submit form, and the city and state they're located at, not even an email address).
Maybe they just had their kid put the website together, but it looks fishy to me.
Besides how far removed do you want to be from knowing whats going on with your beer? You don't learn anything unless you have some amount of hands-on with your calculations. I'd get a traditional refractometer and one of the popular brewing programs you can find on the internet, or you could create an excel sheet to do the same thing for you pretty easily.
It was best on the first of the NHC shows. Ok, maybe it wasn't that funny 
