Auracle ANALYZER and PRO Compared - which is best?

CONTENTS

WHICH TESTER IS BEST FOR YOU?
ANALYZER OR PRO? - by user type
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS COMPARISON
ANALYZER OR PRO? - do they test for everything? 
ACCURACY (and our test results)
FURTHER INFORMATION

WHICH TESTER IS BEST FOR YOU?

If you are ready to buy now and just want the product pages, visit the Auracle ANALYZER or the Auracle PRO.

Still not sure? View our deep-dive reviews and technical tips here:

• Auracle ANALYZER: Detailed Information & Tips
• Auracle PRO: Detailed Information & Tips

ANALYZER OR PRO? - by user type

The Auracle ANALYZER is best if:

• You are a hobbyist or collector checking items that are unlikely to be gold, but you want to be sure; you are an antiques/second-hand dealer who needs to check every purchase to see which items are gold; you deal in costume jewellery and need to catch the occasional gold item that slips through. In all these cases you just need something simple that will reliably show you the carat. 
• You deal in jewellery, you only need to know the carat, you want a simple reliable no-frills tester.

Either model is suitable if:

• You deal in "real" jewellery occasionally and usually stick to hallmarked items, but now that the price of gold is so high you don't want to turn down non-hallmarked items. The ANALYZER will be quite sufficient but if you can afford it, go  go for the PRO.

The Auracle PRO is best if:

• You are a scrap dealer. When you buy you test for carat (9, 14, 18, 22) and that's good enough, but when you sell it on, you want to know the average percentage of gold in each batch, then you can keep track of the overall gold content and calculate the percentage you are being paid relative the official gold price on the day of melt. (If you don't understand any of that - go for the ANALYZER!).
• You want a tester that is the most 'versatile' in terms of features. 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS COMPARISON

ACCURACY
The PRO is excellent for items with a low gold content (9ct/37.5%), good for items with medium gold content (14ct/58.5%)), not bad for items with a high gold content (18ct/75%), unreliable (inconsistent) for items with a very high gold content (22ct/916%). This isn't quite so noticeable when using Standard Mode (carat reading) but very noticeable when using Advanced Mode (percentage reading) with for items with a high gold content. The Analyzer is more accurate than the PRO, though it only gives readings in carat not percentage.

ANALYZER OR PRO? - do they test for everything? 

No!
Both models are for yellow gold only.

• Silver reads not gold
• Steel reads as high carat, though when well-filed it usually reads not gold. TIP: when you file steel you can feel it’s too hard to be a precious metal, no further test required. ANOTHER TIP: use a magnet, if it’s magnetic it can’t be gold or silver (though beware, not all steel is magnetic!)
• These testers cannot distinguish platinum from Palladium. For this reason we do not advertise this as being able to test platinum (the manufacturer does, we don't!)
• White gold: when the alloy has nickel added to the gold you get a reading that is too low; or with a high silver content you get a reading that is too high. There's no way of knowing if the reading will be too low, too high, or just right.  
• Rhodium is used to plate white gold to improve the colour (it can be used to plate platinum too, but that’s rare). Theoretically, rhodium will give a reading that is too high, but since the reading on white gold can be too high or too low you will be non-the-wiser. 

CONCLUSION (other precious metals)

Every serious trader uses acids alongside their electronic tester. So either decide not to buy any of the above (and miss out on an awful lot of profit) or get yourself the special set of acids designed for use with electronic testers, the Q3-FOR-EGT.  The acids also give accurate readings on high carat gold.  

ACCURACY (and our test results)

The ANALYZER gives good (accurate) results on 9ct to 18ct providing it's kept calibrated. At about 20ct it's not bad. At 22ct to 24ct assume an accuracy of ±2ct. 
For testing high-carat accurately (e.g. if you deal in 'Asian' gold) acids are best, see our  special set of acids for use with electronic testers, Q3-FOR-EGT.

The PRO in Standard mode (carat readings) is fine on 9ct and 14ct, just very occasionally 18ct will read "22ct", or 22ct will read  "18ct".  With 22ct to 24ct assume an accuracy of ±2ct. As regards the PRO IN Advanced mode (percentage readings), we took 250 readings using 9ct, 14ct, 18ct and 22ct samples. While the display gives the result to the nearest 0.1%, this is not the accuracy. This is what we found:

•  9ct varied from 36% to 39% on the same sample
  (9ct means the gold content is 37.5%)
• 14ct varied from 56% to 59% on the same sample
  (14ct means the gold content is 58.5%)
• 18ct Result 72% – 82% on the same sample
  (18ct means the gold content is 75.0%)
• 22ct varied from 79% – 95% on the same sample
  (22ct means the gold content is 91.6%)

As you see, items with a low gold content (low-carat) test quite accurately, items with a high gold content (high-carat) - not so accurate. If you want a more precise reading on high carat get the special set of acids (ref. Q3-FOR-EGT) designed for use with electronic testers. Every serious trader uses acids in combination with an electronic tester.

ACCURACY: CONCLUSION

The ANALYZER is more accurate than the PRO (carat readings only). The PRO also gives results as the percentage content of gold, see chart above and decide if this is good enough for you. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Not sure what type of tester to get? See our fascinating article, Twelve methods of testing gold, silver and platinum.
  
• For small very fragile/valuable items such as rare coins (and also loose gemstones) see the specific gravity tester. 
• Finally, do remember that acids are the most versatile and accurate for testing precious metals, see What he various testing kits do and Testing white metals.
• You have read about the limitations of electronic and need acids to test the precious metals that electronic gold testers can't cope with - see our special Q3 for use with electronic gold testers. Please note, this is only available for sale with electronic gold testers. 
• There is also a historical article reviewing old models - Reviews of 9 electronic gold testers.