Ecosense RadonEye vs AccuStar Labs Alpha Track Radon Test Kit (AT-100)

The RadonEye wins on the two things a live monitor is for: it starts reporting within an hour of being plugged in and it keeps a long term average you can watch, and it is one of six consumer monitors C-NRPP lists as approved for consumer use. The Alpha Track kit is the runner up because it is the cheaper and more defensible of the two, sitting on the AARST-NRPP device list and returning a laboratory report rather than a screen reading, and most households are best served by owning both.

Ecosense RadonEye

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A plug in pulsed ionization chamber monitor that shows a first reading in ten minutes and is on C-NRPP's approved consumer monitor list.

• Ecosense states a first reading in ten minutes with results updated every ten minutes, and the RD200 FAQ says the unit reaches its ready state one hour after power on.
• C-NRPP's consumer-grade electronic radon monitor table lists Ecosense RadonEye RD200 as approved and records the manufacturer stated accuracy as plus or minus 10 percent at 370 Bq/m3 after ten hours of measurement.
• Ecosense publishes the sensor type, pulsed ionization chamber, along with dimensions of 3.14 by 3.14 by 4.70 inches, five monitoring modes and an integrated audio alarm.

• It is not on the AARST-NRPP or NRSB device lists; the RadonEye Pro RD200P is the model that appears on both, so this one cannot be used for professional measurement.
• It runs from a 12V adapter, so it needs an outlet wherever you want to test and it stops measuring in a power cut.
• The product page states greater than 90 percent accuracy without saying at what concentration or over what averaging period, and no measurement range is given in its specification block.

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AccuStar Labs Alpha Track Radon Test Kit (AT-100)

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A passive long term detector with laboratory analysis included, listed by AARST-NRPP as device AT-8205 and analysed by a listed laboratory.

• It appears on the AARST-NRPP approved device list as AT-8205, AccuStar/RadonAway AT-100, with AccuStar Labs named as the approved analysis provider.
• AccuStar specifies a test duration of 91 to 365 days, which is the long term window EPA says is more likely to tell you your home's year round average.
• Nothing to plug in, nothing to charge and nothing to trust on a screen: the number comes back from a laboratory, and long term tests over 90 days do not require closed building conditions under ANSI/AARST MAH-2019.

• You wait a season and then some, and AccuStar states results arrive two to four weeks after the lab receives the device.
• AccuStar requires the device to reach the lab within 30 days of the end of the test and before the expiration date printed on it, so a forgotten kit in a drawer is a wasted kit.
• It gives one number for one place over one period, with no day to day trace, so it cannot show you whether a mitigation fan is working today.

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Side by side

The bottom line

Our overall pick is the Ecosense RadonEye - A plug in pulsed ionization chamber monitor that shows a first reading in ten minutes and is on C-NRPP's approved consumer monitor list. Choose the AccuStar Labs Alpha Track Radon Test Kit (AT-100) instead if anyone who wants a defensible year round average for the lowest lived-in level of their home before deciding whether to mitigate.

Want the full picture, including the other options we compared and the popular one we'd skip? Read the complete The Best Radon Detectors: 4 Compared (and One to Skip).