Harbor Freight IR gun ?

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Smokin Okie

Master of the Pit
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Jun 27, 2018
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I own one that I use on my griddle , mostly. It cost $23 . It seems to work fine. I've no way to test its accuracy but have no reason to doubt it. Its working for my purposes.

But I keep getting email from Thermoworks with their IR gun on sale for $40. I like TW and I like their quality, but is there any reason their gun would be better than Harbor Freight's ?
 
I own one that I use on my griddle , mostly. It cost $23 . It seems to work fine. I've no way to test its accuracy but have no reason to doubt it. Its working for my purposes.

But I keep getting email from Thermoworks with their IR gun on sale for $40. I like TW and I like their quality, but is there any reason their gun would be better than Harbor Freight's ?
I have a cheap on from Amazon. For my purposes I use it to get a directional idea of my hot and cool zones so I don't need super accuracy.
 
First question I would ask: what are the +/-º degree accuracy specs?

Well, the HF IR is on sale right now $19.54

Here's the specs on accuracy ... looks even at the temps I'm working at.

@-58°F to 32°F ±7°;
@ 33°F to 1022°F ±4° or 2% whichever is greater

Here's the Thermoworks specs

55 to 95°F : ±2.7°F ;
32 to 1022°F : Greater of 4°F or ±2% of reading;
-76 to 32°F: ±4°F+0.09°F per degree below 32°F
 
I ordered the the TW gun a couple of days ago when I got the email from them. Fortuitously, as it turns out, our Harbor Freight gun got dunked in the sink full of water the night before and drowned.
 
As Jeff said. For griddles. Having it really precise isn't a big deal. I have two of them. And they read within a few degrees of each other. But these types of temp devices are pretty subjective to thermo reflections from flat to shiny surfaces. Aiming into a drop of oil can give different readings.
 
Well, the HF IR is on sale right now $19.54

Here's the specs on accuracy ... looks even at the temps I'm working at.

@-58°F to 32°F ±7°;
@ 33°F to 1022°F ±4° or 2% whichever is greater

Here's the Thermoworks specs

55 to 95°F : ±2.7°F ;
32 to 1022°F : Greater of 4°F or ±2% of reading;
-76 to 32°F: ±4°F+0.09°F per degree below 32°F
I'm betting these readings are not based from the same test methods.
 
I suspect the cheap ones are plenty accurate for our purposes; I would recommend one where you can select the emissivity setting. Some of the really cheap ones come pre-set to .98 or so, which works fairly well for measuring food temps, but if you need to measure the surface temp of other materials, they can vary wildly between 0 and 1.0. The IR gun will come with a table for recommended settings.
 
The only way to test my inexpensive, probably Amazon purchase, that I came up with is your forehead temp. I just checked mine against the medical IR thermometer. The Bayer thermometer read my forehead at 98 deg, right about where it should be (if I'm not sick!), the "industrial" IR read 94 degrees.

So thats 4 degrees of proof right there. Like Steve said, the surface you are getting the reading from can make a difference. Mine is a little finicky on a stainless pan, but a layer of oil settles the readings down. Pretty solid on a cast iron griddle though.

I pretty much use it to see if a pan is in a good temp range to start cooking something, for the most part. I'm not sure what else to use it for.

I played around with it on my wood stove to prove those little analog wood stove thermometers are wildly inaccurate. But in the end, it doesn't matter, I've learned that whatever actual temp it is, the magnetic analog one on the stove gives me all I need. If its 40F or above outside temp, I know I need to aim for keeping the stove at what that thermometer reads as about 300 or the stove will run you out of the space...need to open windows and doors to cool it off. If it's below 40, 350...below freezing, 400, in the 20's...450, teens...500.
 
The only way to test my inexpensive, probably Amazon purchase, that I came up with is your forehead temp. I just checked mine against the medical IR thermometer. The Bayer thermometer read my forehead at 98 deg, right about where it should be (if I'm not sick!), the "industrial" IR read 94 degrees.

So thats 4 degrees of proof right there. Like Steve said, the surface you are getting the reading from can make a difference. Mine is a little finicky on a stainless pan, but a layer of oil settles the readings down. Pretty solid on a cast iron griddle though.

I pretty much use it to see if a pan is in a good temp range to start cooking something, for the most part. I'm not sure what else to use it for.

I played around with it on my wood stove to prove those little analog wood stove thermometers are wildly inaccurate. But in the end, it doesn't matter, I've learned that whatever actual temp it is, the magnetic analog one on the stove gives me all I need. If its 40F or above outside temp, I know I need to aim for keeping the stove at what that thermometer reads as about 300 or the stove will run you out of the space...need to open windows and doors to cool it off. If it's below 40, 350...below freezing, 400, in the 20's...450, teens...500.
`That's pretty good way to check them. Didn't think of that. You'll get the most reliable readings off of a flat black or dark surface.
 
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