Misco introduces the new Palm Abbe line of handheld digital refractometers engineered specifically for the international wine industry
The Palm Abbes provide an instant digital field determination of grape ripeness, grape-must concentration, grape-must density, and sugar content, as well as the potential and actual alcohol content of the finished wine.
Measurements are made with a precision comparable to mid-range bench-top refractometers costing thousands of dollars more.
"With the Palm Abbe, we are able to break price and performance barriers previously unattainable by handheld digital refractometers," says Michael Caminer, Misco director of marketing.
"These wine refractometers represent the most complete line of dedicated wine testing instruments ever assembled".
Priced between US$325 and $525, the Palm Abbe digital refractometer breaks the price barrier that previously divided digital refractometers from traditional analogue handheld refractometers, while also breaking the performance barrier separating digital handheld instruments and expensive bench-top laboratory refractometers.
Certain models display prompts and measurements in English, Spanish, French, German, or Russian.
Other models are available with scales for various international units of measure including Baume, Brix, Oechsle, KMV, Babo, specific gravity, alcoholic strength, etc.
Users have the flexibility to mix and match up to five different scales on some Palm Abbe models, giving them the ability to create truly custom wine testing instruments.
Protection against inaccurate readings due to temperature differences, a major concern in refractive index measurement, is assured with nonlinear temperature compensation specific to grape juices.
Temperature compensation is automatic for fluids read between 0 and 50C.
The stainless-steel sample well requires only a couple of drops of fluid to take measurements.
A simple, user-friendly interface consists of two buttons: one to take readings and the other to step through various menu options.
A large, dual-line, multilingual LCD display is easily read, even in dim light.
The digital refractometer removes the subjectivity associated with analog refractometers that require users to interpret where a boundary line crosses tiny scale divisions.
Calibration of the Palm Abbe is automatic and does not require special calibration solutions or tools; they automatically calibrate themselves to water.
