@Noobie the cheap ones aren’t no but the nice ones are. It’s why I suggest the slurry test because you can get a nice pH pen these days fairly inexpensive to test a slurry and not have to worry about spending $300 or more on a good soil meter.
I’m glad that method works for you, but when you’re growing in soil and need pH adjusted top dressing and watering as normal is all that is needed. Watering too much and to run off in soil damages the ecosystem and the aerobic bacteria and fungus start dying off and getting washed out allowing the anaerobic to breed and out compete the beneficials.
When you’re using organic soil and trying to use organic amendments this will easily stunt growth and diminish your yields and quality.
Watering less volume more often without runoff and only top watering to water in feeds, amendments, and top dressings is more beneficial to a soil grow using organic inputs. It allows the aerobic soil life to thrive and break down the nutrients and it will dramatically increase yield and resin production.