ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF DIAMOND TESTER?
The most common type of diamond tester works on the principle of Thermal Conductivity. There are two slight variations. The cheaper models have two lights, one for Diamond and one for Not Diamond, the best model has a row of lights. The advantage of the better model (row of lights) is that you can turn the sensitivity down if you are working in the cold (e.g. an early morning market), the cheaper model (two lights) will give false readings if it is cold. HOW RELIABLE ARE DIAMOND TESTERS? – WHAT ABOUT CUBIC ZIRCONIA AND MOISSANITE? Of the two most common diamond simulates, Cubic Zirconia (including ‘diamond-coated’ Cubic Zirconia) presents no problem at all but Moissanite needs a special mention. Moissanite is a purely synthetic stone (ie it is grown in laboratories by man, it does not exist in nature) and it registers as diamond on diamond testers. This is an unfortunate fact of physics, that Moissanite has the same thermal properties as diamond. So how do you tell Moissanite from diam
