Spent $150 on a 'professional' mineral identification kit and it's mostly junk

Everyone says you need the fancy tools, but the included streak plates are cheap ceramic and the hardness picks are just rebranded steel nails. Has anyone found a good source for just the basic, solid tools without all the fluff?

3 comments

3 Comments

colemartinez2mo ago

Ugh, tell me about it. I mean, I got burned on one of those too. The "mohs scale" was just a piece of glass and some plastic.

bethcarr2mo ago

But is it really that bad, @colemartinez?

grace_fox32mo ago

Oh man, it's EVERYWHERE now. You can't trust the basic stuff anymore, not even a simple product description. It feels like companies are just betting we won't notice the cheap swap. Makes you double check everything, which is just exhausting.