I'm a "heft it" fan because it's the most foolproof way of determining
the moisture content. The problem with using transparent pots or poking
a finger into the media is that SOME orchids have root masses (that are
sometimes in a "plug" of some other media) that are centered right
under the leaves and do not extend to the sides of the pot. Thus, the
core of media around the roots stays wet while the looser media near
the outsisde of the pot is dry.

This "dense plug in loose media" potting is not the case with all
orchids, but several vendors (offshore USA, I'm betting) are selling
mass-market orchids potted like this. Lesson: If an orchid dies, don't
just pitch it out-- do an autopsy to try to detemine why it died.
Sometimes it really isn't your fault.