Differential pressure gauge (Magnehelic)

[MaxE]

Im looking to purchase a differential pressure gauge to better know what's happening with my rest. I'm mostly interested to monitor the cracking pressure, and to aid in adjusting my 2nd stages. Eventually down the line I may want to service my own regs and know that I will want an gauge with a IP gauge mounted next to it. Right now i'm not really feeling the need to drop $300 for what I'm looking to do. I can get an analog gauge for about $85 but then should really get a plate to mount it to driving the cost up. I came across a digital one that is intriguing. It is small and seems like I could travel with it easily, it looks to have a data hold function which would be great.

Does anyone have any experience with these?

Digital Differential Pressure Gauge

 

[Couv]

@MaxE That looks like a pretty handy tool. But if you need something for just occasional use, I suggest building one like @herman outlines in this post: DIY regulator test/flow panel

 

[herman]

NO need to spend anywhere near that much money. First off, you do not want an electronic one, the response time is too slow to really be useful. I prefer a 3-0-3 IWC Dwyer magnehelic but they are a bit hard to find. a 0-3 is usually easier. A 0-1 is really too low a range and the more common 5-0-5 or 0-5 are IMO too wide since you are usually working at 1 to 1.5 IWC. Used mags are in the $20-25 range on ebay all the time. This is just the first one I came on, a better search may well find a better deal. The single scale ones can be used for vacuum or pressure by swapping the position of the hose, a bit more pain than the center scale ones but they can be used for both.

DWYER MAGNEHELIC DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE MAX 15 PSIG TEMPERATURE 140 F* 2003 696575231330 | eBay