Do developments like MADS mean that other approaches, using much cheaper devices are worthless?
This is a tricky question. It depends not just on the technology but also the assumptions underlying the use of the technology. The big problem is that many people think, that even the most simple EMF meter is some kind of ‘ghost detector’. Let us be clear, a magnetic field meter does just that; it measures magnetic fields, no more, no less. It is up to the researcher to decide the cause of these fields and the consequences of being exposed to them, based on inference and theory. A simple hand held meter is useful for assessing simple household EMFs; that’s about as simple as we can make it. However, strange experiences are associated with very complex fields at specific low frequencies. Such frequencies and complexities, quite simply, cannot be measured by simple, cheap meters. Some of the more expensive meters may be sensitive to relevant frequencies but they can’t tell you much about them, only that a change has or is occurring. This is fine for, say, a preliminary site examination,