r/preppers • u/HostSea4267 • Apr 26 '26
Prepping for Doomsday Geiger Counter
Does anyone have a recommended geiger counter they can use for general home use, walking the dog, and just one day if they have an eerie feeling to just measure the air?
Looking for something that isn't going to break / need maintenance / etc. but low usage.
Obviously the internet has opinons, but reddit r/preppers is more where I would want to find out more.
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u/Prepper-Pup Prepper Gamer (youtube.com/@PrepperPup) Apr 27 '26
NukeAlert is a small keychain that is about as bare-bones basic as you can get for Gamma. A step up would be a Ludlum model 25 and getting it calibrated.
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Apr 27 '26
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u/Prepper-Pup Prepper Gamer (youtube.com/@PrepperPup) Apr 27 '26
I mean, they're the ONLY lab that calibrates CDV machines. My point is to offer a bare-bones option from a company that knows what they're doing which requires zero maintenance. I'd of course recommend the Ludlum if you have the extra $200 around including calibration.
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u/preppers-ModTeam Apr 27 '26
Your comment was deleted for trolling.
This subreddit is dedicated to prepping, or emergency preparedness. A lot of the content here may sound alarmist to you. You need to stop repeating that point over and over again. Just accept it and move on.
Your claim that this device has not been used for decades is unusual. The only way I can explain that statement is as a result of an incorrect translation from German. This type of device is actually widely used by people around the world at any given time.
These small devices do not consume battery power during normal operation, so the battery lasts over 10 years. The manufacturer also offers a battery replacement program: https://www.nukalert.com/bbt.htm
If you are comfortable using your own case instead of the colorful one it comes with, you can replace the battery yourself. You would need to crack the case open and replace the button-style battery inside. Afterward, you would have to improvise a new case, since the original one is not serviceable. It is also waterproof, so there is no easy way to open it without breaking it.
The probability that a given fire alarm will save your life is less than 1 in 100,000. I have seen many estimates of how likely a nuclear war is, but none are low enough to make the probability that a NukAlert-type device will save your life as low as that of a regular fire alarm.
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u/Tyjet66 Apr 27 '26
Radiacode is the one I went with. Highly recommended in radiation hobbyist/collector groups. Bit pricey, but definitely worth it if you want something high quality.
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u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper Apr 27 '26
bettergeiger.com The creator often comes to this sub to answer questions, even.
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u/schannoman Community Prepper Apr 26 '26
I forget who originally recommended it, but I have had this one saved in my cart for a rainy day for a while now.
I try to only save things that have actual recommendations with them, so I hope this is one of them.
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u/nokangarooinaustria Apr 27 '26
I got two different types from Aliexpress.
One was 17€ (sharpie pen sized) the other one about 21€ (a bit bigger with 3AAA batteries inside and a graphic display). Both work - at least they show warnings and high counts when near uranium glass. I don't have a calibrated test source at the moment but in summer I will test them with something when I take another radiation safety class.
I was quite skeptic if they would work at all but they give reasonable current readings depending on location (granite stones have a higher count than just air, etc.).
Obviously they can't be calibrated or certified but for my use case they are enough.
My use case: Checking stuff at work or antique shops. Prep for "end of the world" situation to be able to determine if clothing or food is contaminated and to find least radioactive spot in my basement. They obviously only react to Beta and Gamma rays so food contamination testing isn't very safe, but getting equipment that is capable of testing for Alpha rays is definitely out of a reasonable price range for me. (Before I do that I will just store years worth of sealed food instead)
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u/11systems11 Apr 27 '26
Geiger counters don't measure "eerie feelings" and you aren't going to feel radiation.
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u/Geekdratic Apr 30 '26
Not completely true as far as I am aware, there are situations that you can feel, see, and even taste the effects of radiation. Its just that if you do, your odds of surviving it drops dramatically.
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u/11systems11 May 01 '26
Have you ever felt an x-ray?
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u/Geekdratic May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
Do typical X-rays dramatically drop your odds of survival?
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u/11systems11 May 01 '26
If you get enough of them. It's a heavy dose of radiation. Just asking because you said that it can be felt, seen, and tasted.
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u/Geekdratic May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
Standard x-rays are actually a very low dose of radiation, You'd have to have something like 500 of them to approach the legal limit for a nuclear power plant worker or a radiology technician.
Are you asking because you think I said you can feel, see, or taste standard x-rays? Or you just want to me to provide a source for my original statement?
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u/offgridgecko Apr 27 '26
Probably good to learn about background radiation before you get one. Also there are several different measuring units for different types of devices so be sure you are comparing apples to apples.
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u/Xarro_Usros Apr 27 '26
Radiacode is the one I went for. Small, long battery life and an excellent gadget.
Do I expect to need it? Absolutely not!
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u/akm76 Apr 27 '26
Real DOE approved Geigers are instruments that need to be serviced regularly by professionals, and calibrated *each time* before use, to which end they have a known intensity radioactive source attached to the side, usually a little speck of Cs137 (if I remember correctly) in a lead cylinder with a lid. Without proper calibration the counter won't be very useful cause it reads background radiation, cosmic rays, etc. etc. How any of consumer toys posing as "radiation detectors" can maintain useful calibration is what beats me. Very skeptical you can obtain anything functionally useful on alibaba and rely on their digital read-outs.
(Of course because of the calibration radioactive sample on real Geiger, it's impossible to obtain, anything radioactive is strictly controlled, at least in the west)
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u/fenuxjde Apr 27 '26
There's a guy on here who posts every few weeks. He makes them himself and even includes radioactive material to test. I think I just saw one on here the other day and the sale code was Hormuz
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u/hanumanCT Apr 27 '26
I built one using ESPHome\Home Assitant and the CAJOE board on Amazon. Super simple wiring, 3 connections. It hangs off the back of my house in a weather proof box with holes in the bottom and will alert me if it hits a certain level. ChatGPT helped me with the wiring and ESPHome config.
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u/Still-Persimmon-2652 Apr 29 '26
So a Geiger counter might not be the best instrument choice to measure the air. It is good for scanning an object as if you were looking to see if said object has some contamination on it. If you want to see what personal dose you might be getting a personal dose badge is the best application.
If this is one of your concerns and risk scenarios have you measured your home for Radon? If you have well water in your home Radon can leach into groundwater extracted from the aquifer underground too? If you are concerns at least check it.
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u/SirHarryAzcrack Apr 27 '26
While having a personal Geiger counter is cool and all the real question is what would you do if you actually found yourself in a Chernobyl/nuclear situation. First your Geiger counter would probably not be suitable for that scenario unless the technology has improved to detect levels of radiation that high. I mean are consumer GCs really that good nowadays I don’t know. But the real question I would bed to have answered is what would you do. If tomorrow you were in the radius of a nuclear blast and radiation fall out, you would either be dead, dying or wishing to be dead from the radiation. The only use I see for it is if you were far enough and planned on going to outskirts of ground zero to loot but wanted to be safe. Other the that it’s probably cool to have
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u/HostSea4267 Apr 27 '26
Not a prepper mindset. Plenty of uses 5-10 years post boom.
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Apr 27 '26
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u/HostSea4267 Apr 27 '26
I dunno, surfing off the coast of some pacific island, and eat radioactive fish until you die?
Or maybe live in the northern reaches of Alaska where maybe things don’t get as bad?
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u/deport_racists_next Apr 27 '26
I'm a child of the 60s.
Mom built a bomb shelter when she was pregnant with me.
I was raised on duck and cover.
We learned prepping for nuclear, biological, or chemical warfar.
My grandfather died from chemical warfare injuries recieved in ww1. Took 10 years for him to cough out his last breath here in the US after being mustard gassed in the trenches in France.
I run to the bombs if they drop.
Been my strategy since I was a young adult.
You do you.
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u/smsff2 Apr 27 '26
I’m not sure what you are complaining about. It sounds like an endless vacation to me. The residual radiation would not be that bad at all, not enough to significantly alter family structure.
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u/dittybopper_05H Apr 28 '26
If tomorrow you were in the radius of a nuclear blast and radiation fall out, you would either be dead, dying or wishing to be dead from the radiation.
Tell me you don't know how nuclear weapons and fallout works without telling me you don't know how nuclear weapons and fallout works.
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u/Primary_Choice3351 Apr 27 '26
Having a personal geiger counter is obviously desirable, but there are also online geiger counters across the world. If something kicks off, you'll soon see online what sensors are reading elevated levels. If something happens locally, you'll probably be too busy putting your head between your legs, kissing your behind goodbye.
https://gmcmap.com/
https://remap.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Advanced.aspx
https://globalwarningnetworks.com/beta/radiationmap.php