Testing a battery: is the hygrometer obsolete?

A four-year-old battery isn’t worth much diagnosis, I’d just replace it. But in the future, I’d have a charger on hand to make sure the battery is fully charged before testing it, either with a hydrometer or a conductance tester. I use a battery tender to top off the battery, if it’s really low I have an older Craftsman 10 amp charger I use first.