EMF metres—which ones actually work?

I've been reading a lot of conflicting advice on EMF metres and honestly I'm getting frustrated. Some people swear by them, some say they're complete nonsense that just pick up mobile signals and power cables.

I've got a basic Mel-8704 that cost me about £40 but I'm not confident it's actually detecting anything paranormal versus just picking up electrical interference from my flat. When I use it in different rooms I get wildly different readings, which could mean something or could just mean some rooms have more electronics.

Should I invest in something better? There seem to be meters that cost anything from £30 to £500+. Is there actually a meaningful difference or am I throwing money at snake oil?

The Mel-8704 is honestly fine for starting out. Yes, it picks up electrical interference, but that's sort of the point - if you learn to identify what normal electrical interference looks like in various environments, then genuine paranormal activity shows up as anomalies. Most people just don't do the groundwork to understand baseline readings.

Honest answer: cheaper metres are about as reliable as expensive ones for detecting 'paranormal' energy because we don't actually know what paranormal energy is or if it registers on electromagnetic frequencies. You're gambling either way. What matters is your investigation methodology, not your kit.

wildly different readings, which could mean something or could just mean some rooms have more electronics

Definitely the latter. Your microwave, phone router, TV, laptop - all of these generate EM fields. Do a proper baseline survey of your flat first. Map out where the hot spots are from normal equipment. Then when you're investigating somewhere and get a reading you can't explain, that's potentially interesting.

I've got a TriField TF2 (cost me £150 about five years ago) and honestly the main difference versus the cheaper models is consistency and the ability to measure different types of fields separately. But you're right that it might not matter if you don't know how to interpret the data. Training matters more than kit.

Save your money. EMF metres in ghost hunting are mostly theatre. The real investigation tool is your notebook and your willingness to spend hours sitting in the dark doing nothing. If you're not prepared to do that, no metre will help you.