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Cheap Geiger counter / Dosimeter - what to look for?

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TinkeringSteve:
Probably the first question is: What do you want to do with it?

That's already difficult ;)
Can devices like this tell me differences in radiation of food items (that do not come out of Chernobyl), *as well* as something like "did this reported reactor incident produce anything  of concern over here", or even "this spot in the woods of godknowswhere is dangerous when staying in it for an hour or less"?
Or are these things more narrow than that...
I have zero experience with this topic, and was just delighted to see that item, randomly, with a below 3 digit price tag.
But maybe that's not really grounds for joy, I have no idea :)

(this is just an example, maybe there's something cooler on aliexpress with more precise specs or so)
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0BHJ3RJC2

Someone:

--- Quote from: TinkeringSteve on January 19, 2023, 09:50:55 pm ---Can devices ... below 3 digit price tag.
--- End quote ---
No

David Hess:
Any Geiger counter with an exposed window for detection of alpha and beta particle is sufficient for those applications, but will be too sensitive to detect dangerous levels of ambient radiation like a survey meter will.

For detecting remote nuclear events, air is drawn through a filter media, like cheesecloth, for a couple hours and then the filter media is held up to the Geiger counter's window for detection.

DavidKo:
Solution is to have the window with shutter in front of it the counting tube. In case that the radiation is too strong, you close the shutter. Look for the army surplus items, they would be cheap and robustly build. In our country we have this (without Sr source). Communist device which uses western counter tube Philips 18504  :-DD.

Kleinstein:
The radiation levels from food, even if relatively contaminated from Chernobyl of fucushima are still pretty low.  A Geiger counter would not be useful there.  This would need more like a scitillator counter and good shielding and experience in how to look at the results.

A geiger counter can be OK to decect things like radiation leaks at an X-ray machine or electron microscope. It may help to find some minarals that are a bit more radioactive. But even than without the knowledge to make sense of the counts it makes pretty little sense.

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