Soil testing may be needed for environmental studies, or in farming and horticulture to ensure plants and crops are receiving the right balance of nutrients in the right conditions.
There are a wide variety of soil test kits available which range from quick tests on a couple of basic parameters through to larger kits including electronic photometers to achieve higher accuracy results on a wider range of tests.
Palintest have one of the biggest offerings of soil test kits in terms of range of specifications – we’ve compared their different kits below to help you choose the best kit for you…
Parameters Covered
Perhaps the most important consideration – what parameters will each kit cover?
The range varies from basic soil pH and lime requirement, NPK analysis or a full analysis including the metals in soil.
The parameters are summarised in our comparison table below
Instruments Included
Some of the kits include a “multiparameter pocket sensor” – this is a portable pH and conductivity meter, to test these two parameters electronically by a meter.
The two most advanced kits include a Soiltest 10 Bluetooth enabled photometer – again this allows electronic measurement of the parameters by a photometer. This gives higher accuracy results.
The more basic kits work via “tester blocks”, a type of test kit which works on a visual colour comparison basis to get the result. This does make them lower cost and very simple to learn to use, but does give less accurate results as light and personal vision differences will effect the results.
Comparison of kits
| SK 100 Kit | SK 200 Kit | SK 300 Kit | SKW 400 Kit | SKW 500 Kit | |
| pH | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Lime Requirement | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Nitrate Nitrogen (N) | – | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Phosphate Phosphorus (P) | – | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Potassium (K) | – | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Magnesium (Mg) | – | – | Y | Y | Y |
| Calcium | – | – | Y | Y | Y |
| Conductivity | – | – | Y | Y | Y |
| Salinity | – | – | – | Y | Y |
| Aluminium | – | – | – | – | Y |
| Ammonia Nitrogen | – | – | – | – | Y |
| Chloride | – | – | – | – | Y |
| Copper | – | – | – | – | Y |
| Iron | – | – | – | – | Y |
| Manganese | – | – | – | – | Y |
| Sulphate Sulphur (S) | – | – | – | – | Y |
| N/P/Mg Tester Block | – | Y | Y | – | – |
| Double Tube Assembly for manual K test |
– | Y | Y | – | – |
| Soil pH Tester Block | Y | Y | Y | – | – |
| Pocket Conductivity Sensor | – | – | Y | – | – |
| Pocket pH/conductivity Sensor | – | – | – | Y | Y |
| Bluetooth Enabled Soiltest 10 Photometer | – | – | – | Y | Y |
For more information on the soil test kits, follow the links above or contact us;
I want information about the SKW 500 Kit. Cost and shipping to Mexico.
Hi Oliva,
I’ll ask our export team to email you with more information and shipping costs
Kind regards
Camlab Support Team
Information skw400/skw500. Cost and shipment philippines
Hi Leland,
Thank you for your enquiry – I’ll ask our export team to be in touch and quote you including shipment to the Philippines.
Kind regards
Camlab Support Team
How accurate is the SKW 500 kit ?
How much will it cost for shipment to Tanzania please. Do we get any discount if we order 5 or more kits ?
Thank you
Hi A3 Argo,
Thank you for your enquiry – please get in touch with our export team export@camlab.co.uk for more information on export shipping.
Kind regards
Camlab Support Team