Thread: Infrared thermometer suggestions

My ~$30 ebay IR thermometer is about 20 years old and still going strong.
In that time I have only replaced the battery once..

These gizmos are pretty accurate for anything rough or dark coloured surfaces but they can struggle on highly reflective surfaces.

I've compared the temperature it measures using a calibrated thermocouple and it measures within 10ºC when measuring the temperature of most things across a range of 0 to 600ºC. To measuring the temperature of highly reflective surfaces the emissivity adjustment setting (if it has one) needs to be changed and even then it can out by more than 10ºC. For example directly measuring the temperature of water, or a stainless steel or Al saucepan.

Mine came with a thermocouple probe and a socket to plug it into the front which I have found very handy (ie more measuring the temperature of receptive stuff). It's accurate to about 2ºC. I had a quick look on ebay and it doesn't look like these are available in the super budget range - cheapest one I saw was ~$60.

Whatever you get make sure you get one with sufficient temperature range measuring capability. Some only go to ~300ªC which won't be enough for a Pizza oven.

BTW I too have used it to measure the temperature of Pizza oven. Its also useful to determine the coldest tinny in a fridge provided the cans are not too reflective.

If I was buying again I would go for this one by Inkbird
INKBIRD Bluetooth Meat Thermometer IHT-2PB + Infrared Thermometer Gun Cooking AU 705495126838 | eBay
I've used several Inkbird Temperature controllers and they are excellent and very accurate.

Originally Posted by BobL

If I was buying again I would go for this one by Inkbird

Thanks Bob, I ordered from a supplier with just the infrared device as I already have a meat thermometer, $31.99.

I bought this one from eBay some time back, mainly for use with epoxy resins in the shed. Have also used it to check oven temps etc.
Cheap, but reliable so far.

Infrared Thermometer Gun -50℃~380℃ Non-contact IR Temperature Gun Laser Pyromete | eBay

Some Things I use mine for
Oven temps
Fridge contents temp ie beer cans
Temperature of heated oil bath, for quenching .
Chainsaw temps (exhaust and chain)
Electric motor bearing temps
3D printing temps (printer bed, printer nozzle temps etc)
Temps of heated metal objects annealed by fire.
Temps of tempered metal objects.
Making Bell mouth Hoods - measuring temp of heated PVC pipe.

I have a proper disappearing filemanet optical pyrometer for use above 700ºC.