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I have a SQM, had it for ten years. It has been very useful for documenting the sad degrading of the night sky in my backyard observatory. It is also useful for correlation with the Global Light Pollution map, which is available online,
I found that the years I spent camping with fellow astronomers at Bretti Reserve near Gloucester NSW, provided a great field data gathering exercise for the SQM. Each trip I would take readings with the SQM and it gave me a real appreciation for its accuracy and just how dark, dark really is.
While my observatory has lost some darkness rating over the last decade, it still delivers occasionally a night which comes close to the old days. And the SQM is still in use when I roll the roof back.
PS. If you have a SQM, always make sure it has fresh batteries at the start of each season, they are sensitive to poor voltage.
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