Infrared Thermometers with Laser! - need recommendations?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Infrared Thermometers with Laser! - need recommendations?

Posted: 10/20/2010 6:48:37 PM EDT

Looking for one under $50 if possible, any good ones you gadget freaks recommend

The Fluke brand looks nice too.

Posted: 10/20/2010 6:54:39 PM EDT

[#1]

Fluke is the best "technician" level instrument you're going to find. Any higher than that, you ought to know what you're paying for and how to use it already.

You can find some that will work for under $50, but they're not going to be all that great.

Posted: 10/20/2010 6:59:37 PM EDT

[#2]

What do you want to do with it? (Besides get temperatures from remote surfaces, that is.)

I picked up a cheap one from Home Depot for about $20 so I could get a rough idea of some temperatures around the house. I wasn't looking for .001 degree accuracy, just more or less how warm my PC was and some other things. It is within a degree of what my PC reports from the sensors and what the various room thermometers report so I trust it more or less for general readings.

Posted: 10/20/2010 7:02:25 PM EDT

[#3]

the laser doubles as a cat/dog exerciser

Posted: 10/20/2010 7:10:11 PM EDT

[#4]

Keep in mind your ratio of dot size and remember that the temperature is an average of the Dot area at your distance. IE 12:1 at two feet yields a 2" circle and that area temperature is averaged.

Posted: 10/20/2010 7:16:08 PM EDT

[#5]

I have had a hankering for one of these for over a year now. I had a big commercial office building I built. There were some female tenants that kept bitching about the temps in their suites. I couldn't find a decent thermometer in stock, so I just used one of the HVAC guy's.

Make sure and read the accuracy. I saw a couple that were + or - 10 degrees F. That is horrible.

Home Depot has a rechargeable set from Ryobi. I think that was a little over $50 though.

Posted: 10/20/2010 7:29:56 PM EDT

[#6]

$25.00 at Harbor Freight, under their "Deal of Day" weblink. Mine works great. I liked it so much I bought my brother one.

$39.00 on their website right now but wait for a sale or the "Deal of the Day" http://www.harborfreight.com/non-contact-laser-thermometer-96451.html

Posted: 10/21/2010 7:00:54 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

$25.00 at Harbor Freight, under their "Deal of Day" weblink. Mine works great. I liked it so much I bought my brother one.

$39.00 on their website right now but wait for a sale or the "Deal of the Day" http://www.harborfreight.com/non-contact-laser-thermometer-96451.html

thanks, but doesn't their stuff have a life expectancy of less than a year?

Posted: 10/21/2010 7:14:55 AM EDT

[#8]

Do you already have a multimeter that can be used to measure temperature (via a probe)?

Just thinking cheap.

Posted: 10/21/2010 7:25:08 AM EDT

[#9]

We were doing some load bank testing, and used the Fluke 561 to keep track of the sprinkler heads.

Got damn hot in the switch gear room, and didn't want to set them off.

IIRC, the heads popped at 110F, so we shed some load/repositioned/etc. if one hit 102F.

To check accuracy, shot three of them simultaneously at the same head, and all 3 registered within 0.5 degrees F. Plus, in 3 months or testing, we never popped a head.

Think I paid about $140.00 apiece for them, so guess that's out of your price range.

But Fluke makes good stuff.

Posted: 10/21/2010 7:25:34 AM EDT

[#10]

I have the General tools one (~$50). Pretty accurate (+- about 5 degrees). Works pretty well for me, I use it to check for hot spots and ventilation issues in equipment racks.

Also have a Fluke multimeter that has a temp probe, seldom use it (the probe, not the meter).

Posted: 10/21/2010 7:26:12 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

Quoted:

$25.00 at Harbor Freight, under their "Deal of Day" weblink. Mine works great. I liked it so much I bought my brother one.

$39.00 on their website right now but wait for a sale or the "Deal of the Day" http://www.harborfreight.com/non-contact-laser-thermometer-96451.html

thanks, but doesn't their stuff have a life expectancy of less than a year?

I have the Harbor Freight one, works fine.

Posted: 10/21/2010 7:29:42 AM EDT

[#12]

I'd love to have one for the kitchen. No more trying to get my probe thermometer to read a 1/2" of oil in a pan without the probe hitting the bottom of the pan or leaving the oil.

Posted: 10/21/2010 7:42:59 AM EDT

[#13]

Mastercool Part#52224-A-SP

I use two of them. iirc $35

Posted: 10/26/2010 1:06:57 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:

Mastercool Part#52224-A-SP

I use two of them. iirc $35

just ordered the same model yesterday from Amazon.com, but it was $48 shipped free - cheapest I could find

Posted: 10/26/2010 1:09:32 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:

$25.00 at Harbor Freight, under their "Deal of Day" weblink. Mine works great. I liked it so much I bought my brother one.

$39.00 on their website right now but wait for a sale or the "Deal of the Day" http://www.harborfreight.com/non-contact-laser-thermometer-96451.html

thanks, but doesn't their stuff have a life expectancy of less than a year?

It depends entirely on the item.

The HF thermometer is GTG.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Infrared Thermometers with Laser! - need recommendations?

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