What Geiger counter??

[zrq]

Sorry for reviving this old thread, but I just encountered this interesting paper by PTB https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350448721000950 about how accurate (inaccurate) these cheap Chinese-ish personal dose meters are.
TLDR: most of them are sensitive enough, but lacking energy compensation so absolute reading is meaningless unless you know what you are being exposed to.

[unknownparticle]

Sorry for reviving this old thread, but I just encountered this interesting paper by PTB https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350448721000950 about how accurate (inaccurate) these cheap Chinese-ish personal dose meters are.
TLDR: most of them are sensitive enough, but lacking energy compensation so absolute reading is meaningless unless you know what you are being exposed to.

Have seen a number of youtuber reviews on these and all make the same comment.

[Stray Electron]

Thanks, I've looked at that and many similar, much lower priced options but I want Alpha particle capability as well as Beta and Gamma.  I also want reliability and dependability of readings, and this is where the lower price units fall down.

   Jonpaul is 100% correct in post #13.  Alpha is VERY difficult to detect in practice and you don't want to include that capability unless you're sure that you need it.  The windows used for the Alpha-capable tubes are extremely fragile and most of them are quickly ruined when in use. Among the other problems is that Alpha is VERY short ranged (2 to 3 cm even when looking at plutonium) and you have to put the detector tube right up against the item to be tested and that greatly increases the chance of damaging the window.

   Realistically, if you want to look for Alpha sources, you're probably going to need a separate detector.  When I worked with the US Civil Defense (many years ago!) we used three separate rad detectors. And IIRC none them were Alpha capable.

   The book 'The Day We Lost the H-Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Weapons Disaster in History' contains some good details about what's it's like to look for radiation sources in real life.