I ranted about this a year ago or so, but I want to get it off my chest again because of a new situation.
I brewed a RIS yesterday and was shocked by a wild miss on the OG. It should have been 1.092 and it came out at 1.077! I learned part of that lesson. I need to decrease the efficiency for bigger beers. BUT,
I have three gravity measuring devices: a refractometer, and four hydrometers, one of which is a full scale model and three are narrow range models.
I used the high range hydrometer to get the 1.077 OG. A couple of minutes ago I decided to enlist the others. The refractometer and the broad range hydrometer were within 1 point of each other...at 1.086!
This makes me crazy. It's like having an elastic yardstick. I don't swear very often but this tempts me.