Mazur Instruments PRM-9000 Geiger Counter and Nuclear Radiation Contamination Detector and Monitor, 0.001 to 125 mR/hr Range, -10 Percent Accuracy (4)

This thing does what it says. Navigating the device features and reading its output is simple. I like that it is designed to run continuously for years at a time. I also like that the sensor audio level is configurable and the backlight is very handy. However, getting data off the device is non-trivial.I purchased this device along with a USB to serial cable as suggested elsewhere for transferring log data off the device onto a computer. However, I had no luck with the instructions describing how to get data off the device. I have a MacBook Pro, but no PC and the instructions were rather scant for Mac.I don't really understand why in these times anyone would use the serial protocol for transferring data. For this reason, I docked the product one star (did I mention, you have to purchase a separate and expensive data cable for this to work--dumb!). Using the arcane RS-232 serial protocol as the only means to shuttle data off this device is a poor design choice, even for people who use Windows. For a device this expensive, I'd think they could use a more current standard--preferably just plugging the thing in and using as a USB drive like how you get data off most smart phones, MP3 devices and everything else that might need to transfer data to a modern computer. While you're at it, make the internal battery rechargeable through USB! Another option would be to have the device write to .txt files on removable flash memory.I went through the instructions in the PRM-8000/9000 Detailed Users Guide and found the instructions rather confusing and incomplete. Hopefully these steps will help anyone using this device to transfer data to a Mac (Intel MacBook Pro 64bit running OS X 10.6.8 EDIT: 10.8.5 now).1. I installed the FTDI drivers only, per section 3.1 of [...] (sigh, URL edited by AMZ, just search for "AN_134_FTDI_Drivers_Installation_Guide_for_MAC_OSX.pdf" which gives instructions on where to download the driver and how to install it--it's fairly painless.)2. Plugged in the TTL-232R-5V-AJ cable.3. Verified the device was listed (/dev/cu.usbserial-FTFX9WDO and /dev/tty.usbserial-FTFX9WDO).4. Downloaded Zterm v1.2 (not hard to find on google), and installed by opening the downloaded .dmg file and dragging the Zterm application icon to Applications.5. Open the Zterm app, and configure the Baud rate, etc. by navigating to Settings -> Connection, set Baud Rate: 57600, Data Bits: 8, Stop Bits: 2, Parity: None, un-tick the boxes for flow control, click OK to confirm settings.EDIT: 5.5: In Zterm, after setting the Connection parameters, you need to do Settings -> Mode Preferences... then select "usbserial-FTFX9WDO" from the Serial Port: drop down menu and click OK.6. Then select File -> Start Capture..., enter a file name and click Save.7. From the PRM-9000 device, Data Logging -> Send Data. The CSV rows should begin scrolling on the Zterm window as the data is received.8. After data transmission completes, in Zterm, select File, Stop Capture...The file you specified in step 6 is now ready to be consumed by whatever you want to feed the CSV plaintext rows to.-- EDIT Jan/14 --After getting a new computer, I had to go through these steps again and found I missed one very important step! See step 5.5 above.Also, note that if you have tens/hundreds of thousands of data records, this can take several minutes (it took 13 minutes to transfer about 97,000 data rows for me). There is no way to interrupt the process once it is started (as far as I know). I thought the device had locked up at first when i saw no data because of the missed step and luckily had the patience to wait it out. Don't force a reboot of the device as I believe this will clear the logged data! Pro tip: If you're running on the 9v battery, make sure you do not have the LCD back light on when initiating the data transfer as it will not automatically shut off until the transfer is complete. No need to drain the battery unnecessarily.Continuing with the theme of my frustration getting data off of this device, here is a summary of rows obtained from back-to-back CSV dumps:total rows exported, first dump: 96311 (98287 listed under the status menu).total rows exported second dump: 96178 (98287 listed under the status menu).identical rows: 94114rows unique to first dump: 2196rows unique to second dump: 2063No additional logging was performed between the dumps (which were only minutes apart).The differences appear to be caused by interleaved rows, which I assume is due to the lack of flow-control/error correction employed by the device, not due to internal data corruption. So if the ~2% of the rows that get corrupted during transmission is a major concern for you, you may be able to retrieve them all with multiple exports and then collating the data.You can use egrep -v '^([0-9]{2}/){2}[0-9]{2},[0-2][0-9](:[0-6][0-9]){2},[0-9]{6},CPM$' to remove the invalid data rows (leave a comment if you need help with that).I think it's important to note, that I'm still glad I purchased this device (being on the west coast, post Fukushima and all), and would recommend it, albeit with caveats. I know Mazur can do better; hopefully my constructive criticism will be taken as a challenge, not an affront.

Prior to purchasing something expensive, people usually look for the negatives first. With the Mazur PRM-9000 geiger counter, the only flaw I can possibly think of is replacing the batteries. No worries, the 9-V battery itself lasts a long time with this geiger counter. However, it's also quite easy to damage the areas around the battery compartment, if you're not careful. The manual does not come with concise pictures to walk you through it step-by-step. The manual does give you 11 steps to follow on page 9, though. So, the first thing one would do is to remove all four screws on its backside. The Mazur should always display the startup message and the serial number each time a new battery is placed in after the device is turned on. In the settings, the user can alternate between setting the battery to the "Sets battery Power Setting" and "Sets external Power Setting." Powering on and off the geiger counter is very easy. Needless to say, the Mazur 9000 detects alpha, beta, gamma, and x-ray particles. Although I would never recommend testing food or liquids with a geiger counter for accuracy, the ones with the pancake probes are the best for doing this. Additionally, I love knowing that this is not a geiger counter that was made in China. For nationality rankings for these devices in terms of quality, I personally believe it's American, German, and Russian in that order. People have a tendency to forget that after World War II, a lot of the most intelligent astrophysicists and nuclear physicists moved to the USA to work for the government. Anyways, for timed measurements, you can choose between 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, 20 min, 30 min, 60 min, and 90 min with the Mazur. To block alpha particles, put a piece of paper over the pancake probe.Then, it should read mostly beta particles. It cannot list for the user WHICH radioactive chemical element(s) is in the object, but it will most certainly show people how much radioactivity is currently present. Try not to confuse the device's detection of potassium in bananas with Cesium-137. Bananas and brazil nuts are naturally radioactive. The top 3 geiger counters you can purchase is either this one, the Inspector EXP, or the LCD-90 + RM-80 geiger counter from Aware Electronics Incorporated. They all detect the big four. In my own personal opinion, the LCD-90 + RM-80 appears a bit outdated, but these products supposedly offer a little bit more than the Mazur. The user can choose between even more set units with the LCD-90 + RM-80. There's only one video on Youtube showing off AE's product. So, only nuclear physicists, university professors, and the company's employees have probably heard of this geiger counter. Nevertheless, the Mazur 9000 is state-of-the-art. We're still comparing a Lamborghini to a McLaren F-1, in that regard. They're both expensive, terrific geiger counters. I personally like how the Mazur 9000 looks more modern than the LCD-90. It doesn't look like it was pulled right out of 1988. The users can even adjust the audio sound on the Mazur 9000 in three different ways. One loud beep, one softer beep, and the usual crackling noise one would hear from any other geiger counter. It's really neat. So, do I recommend this product? Yes, absolutely. Unfortunately, some of the best items on the market are never cheap.