soil pH meter recs? Need to test soil and water and how to adjust

Title says it all. Looking for recommendations for a pH meter that can be used for soil and water.

I did some research online and think my tap water at home is about 8.5 pH.

Ive been using it on my plants and think I have some nutrient lockout.

If I find that is the case, so I get some General Hydroponics pH down and then flush the pots and re-fertilize with corrected pH water?

Any guidance here would be really helpful.

I've yet to really get into hydroponics, but I picked up a multi-meter a few years ago.. I want to say Home Depot, that you can switch between Ph, Moisture level, and Light intensity measurements. It's put out by Vigoro, though I'm sure there are other brands. Pretty cheap, and you get what you pay for.. I found it's a decent all purpose tester for the investment. 

Seems like people here have had success with the "basic yellow" for about $10 off eBay
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/69132-ph-meter-reminder-recalibrate/
 
I use a Hanna pHep HI 98128 - https://www.nisupply.com/products/hi98128-phep-5-ph-resolution-0-01-ph and I've been really happy with it, but it's going to be time to replace the electrode soon and it's almost the cost of a new unit.  I use it for a number of applications, but I would probably go basic yellow if I were to buy one now for just water adjustments. No new electrodes, just buy a new unit when it no longer holds a calibration.
 
Either of these will work for soil, but you'll probably want to either do an adjusted runoff test (that won't be super accurate) or take a soil sample and let it steep with water in a small cup, either way testing the liquid not the soil directly.  I've never flushed for pH, just salts, but it's probably less involved than flushing for salts.  I suppose I would just run a little extra pH adjusted water through the containers and then water with balanced solutions after that - not a big flush.  Maybe leaning slightly toward the acid end of the optimal range with the flush and first few subsequent watering.  And yeah, pH down from GH would do the trick.
 
Anyway, that's my $0.02.  Good luck!