Does it exist? I need one.
Would be nice. I buy one a year.
I’ve gone through 3 in the last year. I’d pay good money for something more durable.
I am still using the one I bought when I first started brewing 4 years ago. I do have a spare just in case though.
I found the best way to never break a hydrometer is to buy an extra one.
Truer words have never been said.
I broke one 15 years ago. I bought 2. I haven’t broken one since.
wtf is a hydrometer? 8)
actually, i do minimize its use and only check my og and wait to check my fg until i am pretty sure it is done. almost everything i ferment sits in the bucket for a month. i dont check daily.
A refractometer is almost indestructible. Admittedly, it is less convenient post fermentation, but I find that my hydrometers last a lot longer now that I have one refractometer and two hydrometers.
Yeah, refractometers are easier to use and less likely to break. They are definitely less accurate post-fermentation, but an estimate is close enough for me.
I’m embarrassed to say I don’t really use one any more. I use the refractometer to check OG and then essentially let everything ferment out for 3+ weeks and keg. I don’t do big beers so if I did I’d have much more desire to check for final gravity. When I go to keg I usually taste a bit first to make sure it’s not sour or anything and I guess if I had one that was particularly sweet I’d leave it longer or check further but that hasn’t happened yet.
I fall in the “I don’t really use one anymore” camp. I’m not usually in a hurry to package batches so they sit in the corner until I get around to doing something with them. I check where the FG is using my refractometer so I have an idea where it finished. If the numbers are way off I look into it closer but as long as the FG looks reasonable I keg it.
If I ever get more serious about repeatability I will dig out my hydrometer but for now the refractometer is good enough.
Paul
I broke several hydrometers over a 3 year span. Now I use a refractometer for preboil and OG, and then use the hydrometer for FG. +1 to buying a backup hydro to stop breaking them !
When my cheapy finally bites it im going to get a set of good ones with thermometer and easier to read scale.
I guess I’m wondering how you break them? “I” broke one once… and that was my girlfriend breaking it by setting a bucket on top of it in the sink… Maybe get a stand for it? I could see it maybe getting broke if you just had it in a drawer or something? I actually just store mine in their original ‘tubes’ I have a set of the high precision ones… They were expensive like maybe $20 each… but they are certainly a lot easier to read 
Rolling off the table/counter, bumping something in the sink or cleaning bucket, moving large amounts of stuff the “fast way” by carrying way too much in my hands and dropping it, slippery hands. In 8 years I have owned 6 hydrometers. The worst is when I have one that is dead accurate only to be replaced by one a point or two off.
I’ve never broken one. Mine is actually my Dad’s that I inherited (I was hoping for a fortune, I got a hydrometer). I’ve had it for 12 years and he had it for 20 before that so I assume I win for the oldest hydrometer. Please send my trophy to my home address. Thanks.
I guess I’m just paranoid with delicate things… when I’m done with mine I rinse it off and stick it back in the tube. It never really sits anywhere where it be knocked or dropped onto the floor…
What he said. I broke two by these methods of my own accord, one was broken by my daughter who was curious. But I’ve brewed since ‘92ish, so I guess that’s an average of roughly every 8 years. Lots o’ batches.
This hydrometer is two weeks old and has been sitting here in this container with my thief and thermometer for 12 days. Might explain why I break them.
At $6 a piece, I’m not all that careful.