Budget EMF meters - worth it or snake oil?

Right, I'm looking to get some basic equipment together for casual investigation but I'm not about to spend £400 on a meter I'll use three times. I've seen loads of cheap EMF readers on Amazon, £15-30 quid, and obviously they all claim to detect electromagnetic fields.

Question is: are they actually detecting anything real or are they just novelty toys? Can a £20 meter do the same job as a £200+ meter?

I'm not trying to do serious research, just want to know if the tool itself is valid or if I'm wasting money on a gimmick. Anyone actually used these cheap ones?

They'll detect electromagnetic fields - that's not magic, they actually do that. Problem is: literally everything emits them. Your phone, your WiFi router, your wiring, power lines. So a cheap meter will go mental in a normal house and you still won't know what you're detecting. It's a tool that requires knowledge to use properly.

I bought a £25 one from Amazon (Meterk brand if it matters). It works, detects fields, but the needle bounces around constantly. I used it once, decided it was useless without baseline readings and proper calibration. Probably works fine if you actually know how to use it though.

Can a £20 meter do the same job as a £200+ meter?

Technically yes, a meter measures electromagnetic fields and a meter measures electromagnetic fields. But expensive ones have better sensitivity, narrower detection range, less noise in the reading. If you don't know what you're detecting anyway, the cheap one's fine for learning.

Honest answer: they're tools that work as advertised but they're not ghost detectors. They detect EM fields. Whether those fields indicate anything paranormal is entirely separate and mostly based on confirmation bias. Buy the cheap one, have fun, don't expect to prove anything.

Save the money honestly. You're better off learning about baseline EM readings in normal environments first, which is free. Then if you still want to investigate, spend more. Most people buy this stuff once and it goes in a drawer.