BAFX Products Non Contact IR (Infrared) Thermometer (-58° ~ +1,022°F) W/Adjustable Emissivity & Pointer (-58 ~ +1,022)

BAFX Products Infrared Thermometer Review Packaging: It comes bubble packaged, as most things. However you won't be bleeding after you open it. You simply need to remove a few staples and snap open. Features: Measuring range: -50-550C (-58 - 1022 F) Accuracy: +- 1.5C / +- 1.5% Resolution: 0.1C / 0.1F Distance spot ratio: 12:1 Emissivity: 0.95 fixed Degrees Centigrade / Fahrenheit selectable Auto power off & Data Hold Laser On/Off selectable Backlight On/Off selectable Use one standard 9V battery (comes with it) Walk-around: - Looking at the front of the gun, there is a ~1/2" diameter hole, ~1" deep with a lens at the bottom for picking up the temperature, and ~1/8" diameter lens flush with the end of the gun for the laser. - Looking from the back of the gun, there is the LCD screen which gives the readings. The gray button on the left toggles the Laser. The gray button on the right toggles the LCD Backlight, and the red button in the middle toggles the display between Centigrade and Fahrenheit. - The battery compartment door is the black piece on the front of the handle, and the 9V battery is located in the bottom of the handle. - The yellow color that you typically see on equipment and the picture shows here, is not what I received. I would describe the color as DayGlo Orange. Basic Operation: - Putting the battery in: The entire black piece that makes up the front of the handle and that encircles the trigger is the battery door. On each side, up behind the trigger, where the black meets the orange, there are indentations for your thumb nails. With your thumb nails in each slot on the handle, and your long fingers wrapped around the front of the gun, press forward with your thumbs, and it will pop open very easily, and the battery door will swing down. - The 12 to 1 they list in the features simply means that it you measure a surface from ~12" away, it will measure an area ~1" in diameter, at ~3' it would be ~3" in diameter, etc. - To measure the temperature of an object, just point at it and press the trigger. It will continually read the temp as you move it around as long as the trigger is depressed. When you release the trigger, you will hear two beeps. This means it is no longer reading, and it retains your last reading. After a few seconds, it turns off, unless you again depress the trigger again. - The defaults when you turn it on will be Laser = on, Backlight = on, and Temperature Scale = Centigrade. - You cannot toggle any of the settings unless it is on, the trigger no longer depressed, and before it times out. (~5 sec.) - When you select a different behavior with the buttons, it will not be effective until the next time you press the trigger. - As long as the battery remains alive and connected, it will remember your settings. Testing: Next to my electronic thermostat, I have a liquid thermometer. They both read exactly the same at all times. I know the liquid thermometer is certified accurate, and I used it to calibrate the electronic thermostat. I just happened to leave the liquid thermometer there. They both read 64 degrees. Not expecting too much from something that was inexpensive, and works on the infrared principle, I aimed it at the thermostat and pressed the trigger. It read 64 degrees. My reaction was disbelief. I measured the wall next to it and the thermometer base, and they all read 64 degrees. Then I measured my picture window and it read 46 degrees. (-1F outside) I continued to measure things. You can easily find air leaks and spots on walls where the insulation isn't good. I don't need or expect this level of accuracy, nor did I believe this level of accuracy was possible with an IR thermometer. It took quite a while to convince me. Other: - There was a short period when it wasn't accurate, and that is when I first received it. It order to work properly, it seems to need to be at the temperature of the air around it. When it is, it is accurate. When it isn't, mine would be off 5 or 6 degrees. - The emissivity is fixed at 95% according to the feature list. Different textures and finishes emit IR differently. Some high-end ones have adjustments available for this. 95% must be a good pick because the walls, the white shiny plastic of the thermostat and thermometer, wood, counter tops, and linoleum are accurate. They state it won't be accurate on highly reflective surfaces. I haven't checked it on chrome exhaust, and wouldn't be able to tell you if it was off if I did. It's still difficult for me to believe it works this well, but to achieve the average user rating like you see here, there must be a lot of people with experiences similar to mine. From what I read, for the few that get lemons, the company seems to take care of those with legitimate issues.

This IR gun was purchased to be used to check the temp coming off of my RC cars but have found some other fun uses for it as well (not to mention annoying the wifey with the red laser;)It has been working great so far. It came well packaged, included the battery, (which was a nice touch as they can be rather expensive on their own) and was delivered rather quickly. The directions that came with it are something that could certainly be improved upon (must have been written in China for sure)but with this gun they really aren't needed. It is pretty self explanatory, aim at the area to be tested and pull the trigger. Obviously the further away you stand the larger of an area it reads and the more inaccurate it reads, the close you are the more accurate it is and reads a smaller surface area. The temp range on this gun is rather high for my needs (1,022 degrees) but compared to similar guns this one was much much cheaper and seems to work just as well. I cannot tell you about how exact the temp accuracy is as I have nothing to compare it to but it is supposed to be within 1.5 degrees Celsius and from the use I have put it through so far it seems to be correct. Overall I would recommend based on the price and the fact that it actually seems to work rather well.

I'm a computer tech and general nerd, so I am not too concerned with the accuracy of this product, but from what I have seen measuring my own skin, and room temperature, and various other things, it seems accurate within a few degrees. I always wanted one of these to play with and for the price of this it has a couple of nice features that more expensive ones dont, like the backlight, and increased temperature range. I mainly will use this for checking the temperature of computer motherboards and chips, and things like my car engine to see how hot it is. It will be fun to use the next time I grill out to see the temperature of steaks, etc. I have bought the BAFX products ODB2 bluetooth scanner as well for my car that has worked fine as well, which is why i went with this BAFX products brand again, so far so good, it seems to be well made. It's study ABS plastic, with a rubberized coating in the handle, I don't see this breaking under normal useage anytime soon.

Think the item works great, really just bought it out of curiosity about the temperatures of things. First off for those writing a negative review there are a couple of possibilities, 1 you got a dud, 2 you have no idea how this thing works and you didn't even read the manual or the instructions on the side of the gun (these are my guesses based how people describe the problems). Google how infrared thermometers work and you'll see they work best on organic materials and not so well on shiny metals and things of the sort. Furthermore the laser measures nothing and is just used as a pointing device, on mine it seems it measures the temperature slightly below wherever the laser pointer is (likely they are mounted in parallel and obviously the laser is mounted above the infrared sensor). This gives you surface temperature only, if you're cooking this is good for checking oil temperature in a pan but not for checking internal temperature of meat (get a meat thermometer) or for checking boiling sugar temperature (get a candy thermometer). However if you say for instance want to know about how hot is that fire over there, this is great (assuming that fire over there is no hotter than 1022 F/550 C. Inaccuracies can be caused by differences in the assumed emissivity of the measured material (probably around .95 from what I've read) versus the actual emissivity of whatever you're measuring... for the geek in you all: [...] [...]

After putting in a 9V battery (included), I put the thermometer to work right away, and discovered that my wooden floors were 8°F colder than the walls. I also used it for cooking, and for solder rework. It measured very nicely, although it was a little hard to align for the solder rework project; at close range, the measuring spot is quite small. The right button activates the display backlight, and the left button turns on the laser guide. The red button changes between °C (default) and °F. The trigger switch feels really nice, with a satisfying, somewhat soft detent. The handle is rubberized plastic, and the black section hinges forward with no tools to reveal the battery compartment. It closes very securely. The only slight complaint I have is that how to turn on the laser was a little confusing. As I wrote above, the left button enables and disables the laser, but the laser won't actually turn on until you pull the trigger. Now that I've figured this out, I feel like this tool is well-made and has no obvious weaknesses. It seems very rugged, and is a great buy. I have no regrets on this one!

I don't believe this is the most accurate IR thermometer out there, but for the price it does exactly what I needed it to - figure out temperature differences. I have used it on various things such as walls and ducts, tires and car components, and mold and casting related materials. The laser feature is nice and helps with not having to look directly down the top of the thermometer when using it. The toggle able backlight is nice as well, but I usually just leave it on. It is very consistent, if not perfectly accurate. It seems to provide temperatures within 5%, based on comparing it to a few real thermometers. It does seem to get more accurate the closer you are to the object being measured, but that makes sense based on how the field of view grows over distance. The slight inaccuracy shouldn't be a real detractor from this product - if someone is looking for high accuracy, a more pricey model is what they should be looking for. For this price, this IR Thermometer does a fantastic job. I've been using is pretty frequently since I bought it, and I am still on the first, included battery.

Do. Not. Buy. Trust me on this one--I read the 300 plus reviews too--thinking, okay, this will be good. So I will buy. Don't. This is a great laser pointer that beeps--that's it. Do. Not .Buy. Obviously there is a lottery here. Some of you get ones that work, some of you don't. I got one that didn't work. Here are some of the finer functions of this piece of crap (understood its $20, not expecting a miracle, but at least something that works..) First, it looks pretty nice and feels pretty go in your hands--(so did my ex-girlfriend, but at least she was reliable). Second, allegedly there is a "battery indicator"--mine never had one, even with three batteries I switched (and these were USA batteries, brand new, as opposed to "uncle chang's 9Vspecial" that came with the unit, the battery indicator never lit up. Third. I followed the instructions that came with it even in its best Engrish, and nothing but a nice laser beam and a beep. And yeah, I measured cast iron black pots--76.2 degrees F; even after on the stove on high for 20 minutes. I had one of those lodge cast iron black grills tonight and it registered 84 degrees on a stove that was searing chicken. This morning's coffee (in a matte black coffee mug) was a comfortable 584 degrees, when it wasn't "Lo" and beeping. I usually don't comment on stuff like this, but do so today so you can avoid the lemon I got. There are things you can skimp on, and regulatory instruments are not one of them. You get what you pay for. Look elsewhere, unless you are looking for an nice pistol grip laser pointer (that beeps), because thats all this is. Had there been a zero star, I would have assigned it, except for the fact that it is a nice laser pointer.

I bought this thermometer because the one I had before cracked when it was dropped. It was about four years old too but the price was about the same as this one. The jury is definitely still out. It sure seems to be built well and operates exactly as I was expecting (except for the annoying beeps), but for accuracy, I may need more testing with a better baseline. I can only test internally with common household devices such as thermostats, oven thermometers, outside temperature sensors and it seems off by up to 5 degrees. My other unit seemed to nail it at near perfect readings every time (per the reading from the baseline device). I think the difference here may be the distance. As I get closer to the object to measure, the more accurate the reading. With my other unit, I could stand 15 feet back and get the same reading as if up close. Not this one. Since this was cheap, I'll keep it but I won't put too much weight into the readings if I'm wanting a precise measurement. It just won't do it. And for better accuracy for future projects, I'll probably buy another from a same manufacturer as my other unit.