I definitely agree with the difference in formality.

> You should try and recalibrate your photon detector

I can totally imagine this, in a lab where all the equipment is old, and out of calibration, and the person saying it knows there are 10 other things that are more important, but this thing is still pretty bad and they feel obligated to point out the issue.

Whereas "try to calibrate" sounds to me like the process of calibration is quite hard and it's likely to end up no better calibrated than you started with.

It seems like you would say: You should try to recalibrate your photon detector

To someone who asks for advice.

“I can’t understand these results! You should try to…”