Tcheck potency tester
- Thread starter Wiired
- Start date
Wiired
Semper Esurientem
Got the tcheck in the mail yesterday, thought Id report on my findings thus far. I had a scare initially, as the device failed to turn on! Turned out there was a bad battery in the package they sent. (I won’t hold this against them, luck of the draw I guess). I downloaded the app, made an account, and did the requested firmware update. The device is plastic (I bought the green one) with a glowing, color changing logo, a power button, and a slot to put the tray into. Everything is done on the app, so the device is pretty idiot proof.
The tray is plastic also, but clear. There is a little dimple on one end where you put your oil in, and a top cover that snaps on. The top cover has some kind of lens too. I put 6 drops in the tray dimple to fill it and then put the cover on. The oil promptly overflowed into the tray which told me 6 was too much. Cleaned tray and tried with 4 drops – just right. Took a second to get the bubbles out, I read that bubbles can interfere with the reading.
I performed a few tests with some known-strength oil tinctures to see how accurate it really is. The website says its accurate to within 15% if I read it correctly. My first test was an infused coconut oil that I bought from a dispensary. It is labeled as having 500mg of THC per 40ml bottle, which comes out to about 12.5mg/ml. I put the 4 drops into the tcheck tray and let it do its thing. It flashed some funny little messages while its working (screens attached) and then spit out 13.3mg/ml for the reading, making it measure at 532mg for the bottle. Not bad, I was 32mg over which is like 6.4% difference. This falls right into the middle of their stated margin of error. (The sticker on the bottle says the batch actually contains 508.2mg of THC, so really its closer).
Test #2 was from a big batch of infused olive oil that I made a few weeks ago that was lab tested at 8.6mg/ml. The tcheck says that this concoction measures 8.3mg/ml. Again, this is pretty close, but this time it was under just a smidge.
Test #3 was a quick test of THCa from a weak, non-decarbed alcohol tincture. My mental math guessed the content to be somewhere around 2mg/ml and the tcheck reported that it to be 1.6mg/ml. These measurements aare close enough for me!
I don’t have any CBD tinctures at the moment, so I cannot test that yet, but I will get some in the next few days to try.
So far so good, it seems to be pretty accurate. I have not yet tried measuring stronger tinctures which exceed the maximum reading of 15mg/ml, Ill have to make a super potent tincture this week. Those will require some dilution and a little math in order to measure but Im ok with that.
I notice that there are wear marks on the tray already (12 tests so far), but the marks don’t cover the lens or the dimple so I think its still ok. One of the (very few) reviews I read talked about this too. Not sure if that will be a problem in the future or not, and im not sure if they sell extra trays.
I attached some screens if anyone wants to se them.
https://ibb.co/nc4LC03
https://ibb.co/ncs6jPr
https://ibb.co/JjQ27cb
https://ibb.co/sJdjJBm
https://ibb.co/KmKd7j4
https://ibb.co/RghXb1Z
https://ibb.co/7ypHV1s
https://ibb.co/QmWMky6
https://ibb.co/y5f007D
https://ibb.co/sJqP1KS
The tray is plastic also, but clear. There is a little dimple on one end where you put your oil in, and a top cover that snaps on. The top cover has some kind of lens too. I put 6 drops in the tray dimple to fill it and then put the cover on. The oil promptly overflowed into the tray which told me 6 was too much. Cleaned tray and tried with 4 drops – just right. Took a second to get the bubbles out, I read that bubbles can interfere with the reading.
I performed a few tests with some known-strength oil tinctures to see how accurate it really is. The website says its accurate to within 15% if I read it correctly. My first test was an infused coconut oil that I bought from a dispensary. It is labeled as having 500mg of THC per 40ml bottle, which comes out to about 12.5mg/ml. I put the 4 drops into the tcheck tray and let it do its thing. It flashed some funny little messages while its working (screens attached) and then spit out 13.3mg/ml for the reading, making it measure at 532mg for the bottle. Not bad, I was 32mg over which is like 6.4% difference. This falls right into the middle of their stated margin of error. (The sticker on the bottle says the batch actually contains 508.2mg of THC, so really its closer).
Test #2 was from a big batch of infused olive oil that I made a few weeks ago that was lab tested at 8.6mg/ml. The tcheck says that this concoction measures 8.3mg/ml. Again, this is pretty close, but this time it was under just a smidge.
Test #3 was a quick test of THCa from a weak, non-decarbed alcohol tincture. My mental math guessed the content to be somewhere around 2mg/ml and the tcheck reported that it to be 1.6mg/ml. These measurements aare close enough for me!
I don’t have any CBD tinctures at the moment, so I cannot test that yet, but I will get some in the next few days to try.
So far so good, it seems to be pretty accurate. I have not yet tried measuring stronger tinctures which exceed the maximum reading of 15mg/ml, Ill have to make a super potent tincture this week. Those will require some dilution and a little math in order to measure but Im ok with that.
I notice that there are wear marks on the tray already (12 tests so far), but the marks don’t cover the lens or the dimple so I think its still ok. One of the (very few) reviews I read talked about this too. Not sure if that will be a problem in the future or not, and im not sure if they sell extra trays.
I attached some screens if anyone wants to se them.
https://ibb.co/nc4LC03
https://ibb.co/ncs6jPr
https://ibb.co/JjQ27cb
https://ibb.co/sJdjJBm
https://ibb.co/KmKd7j4
https://ibb.co/RghXb1Z
https://ibb.co/7ypHV1s
https://ibb.co/QmWMky6
https://ibb.co/y5f007D
https://ibb.co/sJqP1KS
Wiired
Semper Esurientem
Flower testing isnt hard, just working on one now. Basically you do a qwet with a certain amount of flower and ethanol then measure the resulting ethanol. Minor math involved. Same with concentrates- you basically just dilute in ethanol at like 20:1 and scan the result. Again, minor math involved.
The kit has everything you need to do these tests, but any enterprising person can easily obtain the same stuff for less $$ if they want. But if you're one of those people who loves a package deal then go for it.
Theres a $25 off coupon available online, just google it.
Last edited:
Hobbess
Relaxed
.
Wiired do you have access to a Nova decaboxylator?
They claim 100% conversion to THC from THCa and I'd love to see some independent results.
.
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/100-decarb-with-the-nova.20534/page-21
.
Wiired do you have access to a Nova decaboxylator?
They claim 100% conversion to THC from THCa and I'd love to see some independent results.
.
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/100-decarb-with-the-nova.20534/page-21
.
Last edited:
Wiired
Semper Esurientem
I do not have a Nova, sorry. Until now I didn't even know it existed. (Had to google it)
guyonthecouch
Well-Known Member
If this is the tech involved, the results will be variable/inaccurate.Flower testing isnt hard, just working on one now. Basically you do a qwet with a certain amount of flower and ethanol then measure the resulting ethanol. Minor math involved. Same with concentrates- you basically just dilute in ethanol at like 20:1 and scan the result. Again, minor math involved.
The kit has everything you need to do these tests, but any enterprising person can easily obtain the same stuff for less $$ if they want. But if you're one of those people who loves a package deal then go for it.
Theres a $25 off coupon available online, just google it.
A qwet wash doesn't usually capture all of the essential oils/cannabinoids in one shot.
Can you elaborate on the process(length of soak etc.) and math/formulas used to calculate/quantify results?
Last edited:
Wiired
Semper Esurientem
I watched a video on youtube on how to test flower, no other instruction was available to me. More detailed instructions may come with the expansion kit, I'm not sure because I didn't buy it. The video says to use 100mg of flower and 10ml of alcohol, shake it up for a few minutes then measure the resulting liquid using the flower mode on the device. Pretty generic advice, but at least it was a starting point.
I have tried various soak times from 60 seconds upwards of 5 minutes. The sweet spot seems to be between 3 and 5 minutes, which seems to give the most accurate reading (I am using flower that was lab tested for reference so I could better gauge accuracy). This does, though, depend on the grind.
I tried with various consistencies from whole buds to completely powdered. Using very finely ground (damn near powdered) flower seems to work best in about 2 -3 minutes, but the resulting product cannot be used in the tcheck without first filtering (it will fail every time due to all the shit floating around). I also think too much chlorophyll from a longer soak makes it often fail the test - just an observation as it seemed the greener the alcohol the harder time testing.
Using whole bud was cleaner and typically didnt require filtering, but required closer to the 5 minutes for extraction. The finer the grind, the better chance of the test failing if you dont filter it first. I just use a 20 micron syringe filter (I read this on a review, dont know if its the best or not) to filter the alcohol before testing and everything seems to work just fine; Filtering = way less bad tests.
I also performed second washes on the remaining product to see what residual cannabinoid content remains. I found when using finely ground flower the second wash contained almost nothing but the whole buds still had a little bit (some more than others, but not a whole lot either way - usually less than 10-15%). Given this, I find I prefer a fine grind for testing as long as you have a filter. The fine plate of the Kannastor grinder gave me the best, most consistent results.
The process may not be perfect but the results did come within 15% accuracy for most of my testing. I did have a couple weird outliers though that were no where near what it should have been. Worth noting that almost all of these occurred when I did NOT filter the product.
Concentrate tests are done in the same manner but with 10mg of concentrate and 10ml of alcohol. Again, depending on the concentrate used you may have to filter to get a proper result. Dirty ass RSO does not test for shit without filtering but distillate worked fine without.
In the app, both the flower and the concentrate test has a place to input the amount of material used, but I just used the amount that the video said to use. Maybe ill try different amounts later, maybe not.
As for the math, there really is no other math involved. I fucked up and was originally using the Alcohol test feature thinking I needed it to test like a tincture and totally didnt even notice the "flower" test. I was able to do a flower test using the "Alcohol" test but that part requires math. Using the flower test was much easier - no math involved after all (almost like they meant for you to do that
). There's also a concentrate test button that I had completely missed as well...it really helps when I pay attention!I did have an issue testing CBD isolate though, for some reason the first 2 times I tested it, it showed up as THC not CBD, although the percentage was right. Oddly, the 3 tests after that all said CBD. Not sure on that one.
My takeaways thus far:
-It seems to work within the stated margin of error (for the most part)
-Filtering is a must with flower and most concentrates - they should probably tell you this but they dont.
-Occasionally there is an off-the-wall result that doesnt seem anywhere near right so I would not rely on a single test just in case. I perform 3-5 tests and take the average.
-Perhaps not quite as accurate as the lab, but I dont have to pay $40 for each lab test. It has already paid for itself in my book.
-The plastic tray scratches easily but the sample wells are recessed and out of the way of those scratches, so I dont think it will effect the tests. I read that some people had issues of alcohol making their trays cloudy, but i have not experienced this. Just wash tray after use.
-Im happy with it so far!
Madri-Gal
Child Of The Revolution
What is the point of the testing? What do you do with the information? I'm pretty sheltered.I watched a video on youtube on how to test flower, no other instruction was available to me. More detailed instructions may come with the expansion kit, I'm not sure because I didn't buy it. The video says to use 100mg of flower and 10ml of alcohol, shake it up for a few minutes then measure the resulting liquid using the flower mode on the device. Pretty generic advice, but at least it was a starting point.
I have tried various soak times from 60 seconds upwards of 5 minutes. The sweet spot seems to be between 3 and 5 minutes, which seems to give the most accurate reading (I am using flower that was lab tested for reference so I could better gauge accuracy). This does, though, depend on the grind.
I tried with various consistencies from whole buds to completely powdered. Using very finely ground (damn near powdered) flower seems to work best in about 2 -3 minutes, but the resulting product cannot be used in the tcheck without first filtering (it will fail every time due to all the shit floating around). I also think too much chlorophyll from a longer soak makes it often fail the test - just an observation as it seemed the greener the alcohol the harder time testing.
Using whole bud was cleaner and typically didnt require filtering, but required closer to the 5 minutes for extraction. The finer the grind, the better chance of the test failing if you dont filter it first. I just use a 20 micron syringe filter (I read this on a review, dont know if its the best or not) to filter the alcohol before testing and everything seems to work just fine; Filtering = way less bad tests.
I also performed second washes on the remaining product to see what residual cannabinoid content remains. I found when using finely ground flower the second wash contained almost nothing but the whole buds still had a little bit (some more than others, but not a whole lot either way - usually less than 10-15%). Given this, I find I prefer a fine grind for testing as long as you have a filter. The fine plate of the Kannastor grinder gave me the best, most consistent results.
The process may not be perfect but the results did come within 15% accuracy for most of my testing. I did have a couple weird outliers though that were no where near what it should have been. Worth noting that almost all of these occurred when I did NOT filter the product.
Concentrate tests are done in the same manner but with 10mg of concentrate and 10ml of alcohol. Again, depending on the concentrate used you may have to filter to get a proper result. Dirty ass RSO does not test for shit without filtering but distillate worked fine without.
In the app, both the flower and the concentrate test has a place to input the amount of material used, but I just used the amount that the video said to use. Maybe ill try different amounts later, maybe not.
As for the math, there really is no other math involved. I fucked up and was originally using the Alcohol test feature thinking I needed it to test like a tincture and totally didnt even notice the "flower" test. I was able to do a flower test using the "Alcohol" test but that part requires math. Using the flower test was much easier - no math involved after all (almost like they meant for you to do that
I did have an issue testing CBD isolate though, for some reason the first 2 times I tested it, it showed up as THC not CBD, although the percentage was right. Oddly, the 3 tests after that all said CBD. Not sure on that one.
My takeaways thus far:
-It seems to work within the stated margin of error (for the most part)
-Filtering is a must with flower and most concentrates - they should probably tell you this but they dont.
-Occasionally there is an off-the-wall result that doesnt seem anywhere near right so I would not rely on a single test just in case. I perform 3-5 tests and take the average.
-Perhaps not quite as accurate as the lab, but I dont have to pay $40 for each lab test. It has already paid for itself in my book.
-The plastic tray scratches easily but the sample wells are recessed and out of the way of those scratches, so I dont think it will effect the tests. I read that some people had issues of alcohol making their trays cloudy, but i have not experienced this. Just wash tray after use.
-Im happy with it so far!
Wiired
Semper Esurientem
The point is to determine the THC content of your stuff, being flower, concentrates, or alcohol/oil infusions.
I don't really have the need to test flower much as it comes to me already tested. I mostly want to use it for measuring the potency of my infused oils and tinctures I make. Given that I can perform a pretty accurate guess knowing the content of my flower (which I typically do), I don't really NEED the tcheck but I like gadgets like this
Im sure its of much more benefit for someone who grows their own or gets their flower from an unknown source.
IIIQBIII
Vape Obsessed
Thank you for your review and the information you posted up. I ordered one for myself today based on your review as well as a few others online.
It is a bit strange that its so hard to find any info about this thing, but looking forward to getting it and testing out some things.
It is a bit strange that its so hard to find any info about this thing, but looking forward to getting it and testing out some things.
Madri-Gal
Child Of The Revolution
Thank you for the explanation. It seems like an interesting idea.The point is to determine the THC content of your stuff, being flower, concentrates, or alcohol/oil infusions.
I don't really have the need to test flower much as it comes to me already tested. I mostly want to use it for measuring the potency of my infused oils and tinctures I make. Given that I can perform a pretty accurate guess knowing the content of my flower (which I typically do), I don't really NEED the tcheck but I like gadgets like this
Im sure its of much more benefit for someone who grows their own or gets their flower from an unknown source.
Nematode128
New Member
Have you tried testing potency of butter with the t check 2 yet? I just got one and am looking forward to trying it out! Have you found a difference between testing your infusion right after you make it vs refrigerating and reliquidfying to test at a later date ? How long do you let your infusion cool before testing it?
EdibleMaster
New Member
I'd love to know how you made your infusions. My tCheck is WAY off. Their excuse was that I did not make it an Isolated Infusion. Meaning, you have to Isolate the THC to get it to be accurate. Would love to know your method of making your Infused Oil? I use a Nova Decarboxilator, and a Magic Butter Machine and have all my batches lab tested. I also tested some from a dispensary and the tCheck way, off.
I made an infusion that the lab said was 6.95 mg/ml and tCheck came back as 44 mg/ml WTF?
I honestly don't think it works for 99% of people making Infusions based on what they learn online using ordinary kitchen items. There is no way you can ISOLATE the THC if you make your oil from Flowers. The keyword on their website and the main thing they don't explain is that it only works on ISOLATED infusions.
Personally, I think TCheck is a piece of crap. I compared the results of 5 different infusions that I had Professional Lab tested and it's completely inaccurate for the normal way people make Infused Coconut oil or anything else it claims to test. I went back and forth in email with their support and they fall back on their disclaimers.
NOTE: It only works with an ISOLATED infusion. Meaning, you need to ISOLATE the THC or CBD. No other cannabinoids or terpenes can be in the infusion. So if you use decarbed flowers or use Lecithin as a binding agent (which most people do) the numbers are complete CRAP.
tCheck won't even provide any instructions on how the infusion is supposed to be done to get accurate readings. I think the good reviews are all B.S. or they are from professional labs where they have the tools to isolate the compounds.
I went round and round with their support team for 3 weeks and never got a straight answer. Only excuses that to get any real readings using normal extraction that it requires their flower kit (upsell) and a 2-step process. It's so unreliable and their online marketing is very deceiving.
The company is in California. If enough people write and complain to the California Department of Consumer Affairs and the California State Attorney Generals office and file a BBB complaint, it will help everyone else from being fools. Their return policy sucks. They make you pay return shipping and delay support tickets long enough that it takes over 30 days to get a refund return approved and then they try and stick you with a 20% restocking fee on top of it. I think that's their business model. People think they are making the BOMB infusions but their numbers are WAY OFF!
I wanted the tCheck for small batches but it's useless. Direct message me if you want more details. I have a complete email thread from them. They could care less that it's inaccurate. They use Medium for their website, don't have a phone number listed that I could find, and pushed me to buy the flower kit to get a more accurate reading. Completely lame!
Nematode128
New Member
I had the same problem. Tried telling me my butter made with abv was 4000mg thc per table spoon. Ya okay lol it's a shitty gag gift at best
How are you able to get your stuff lab tested? I live in a legal state and have been wondering how to do lab testing
Last edited by a moderator:
Roth
Pining for the Mountains
Wow, that sucks to hear but glad you're letting others know. What good is it if it only works with isolated THC? Garbage.
I am suffering through same ordeal with tCheck customer service. All through emails no one will talk to you. My device is 3 months old and won't sync with app and they told me warranty does not cover app issues? And I'm past the 30 day refund period. But they did offered me 50,% refund or a new device but no guarantee it will work with the app.
After I stalked their FB page and sent multiple emails to jam up their website
Horrible service.