Infrared temp gun

notjustair

Well-known Member
Just found out the neighbor's birthday is on Sunday. The best gift would be an infrared temp gun. Seems like a good way to monitor baler and combine bearings. I know I would love one so that's a pretty good gauge.

Do any of you have one? Do you like it? Where did you get it? It appears that Sears has them but I am not sure what other stores.
 
I have a General IRT206 and it is great. I got mine as a present but they are wildly sold and I think under 50 bucks. I use mine to monitor my stove and flue temperature all winter. It is also a great cat toy and grandchild favorite. Just be careful about pointing it at eyes. The laser shines a long distance.
 
We've got one at work....use it to check room temps, a/c and heat vents. Works great.
I think they got it from Grainger.
 
Have you used the Auto Zone ones? Are they reliable? I'd rather spend more money and have a good one (it's a good neighbor!). More doesn't always mean better, but I don't want Chinese junk that lasts a month.
 
Yes.

We do HVAC/R and had an expensive unit that we carried in the service truck. Heat from sitting in the closed truck did it in. Needed it on a job and discovered it was toast. Went to AutoZone and bought one and have used it for about a year now. No issues so far.
 
I'll second the Harbor Freight model, works great, today, I found it on the floor, it had fallen off the shelf it was on. Wasn't working, so I pulled the battery out, and pried the spring connections out a little, and it started working.
I use it on bearings on my baler, too. Found one that was a little hot. Been squirting penetrating oil, on it for about 5 years, now!
 
check it against known temp as I have seen some 40 degrees off! Keep in mind that all the cheaper units, meaning $100 and down have 8:1 distance/ spot size ratio, so at 8 ft you are measuring a diameter of a foot. Makes for measuring more than you intend in many cases.
 
Raytec makes good IR temp guns. I think I paid about $190 for one several years ago with calibration traceable to the National Institute of Standards. It is supposed to be accurate to +/- one degree plus 1% of the reading. It has been +/- 1 degree each time I have had a chance to compare it to a credible reference. Raytec's less expensive guns seem to be about as accurate, +/- 2 to 3 degrees.
 
Yep, played that game, bought the KOOLAIDE. Have a $$$$ Raytech and the readings do NOT seem to be repeatable. Oh, well!
 
I have one from HF too; it is within 2 degrees of our thermometer. Wife uses it sometines when she is cooking; I use it to check things outside.

However, it only goes down to -3 degrees. Wonder if they make one that will read lower temps?
 
I have a General IRT207 temp gun that I use in the kitchen more than in the welding shop these days. We use these in several locations at work and they are tough and reasonably priced. I paid $39 and tax for mine at Lowe's. Real handy for shooting cylinder temps on exhaust manifolds if you suspect a cylinder is not firing right or at all.
 
(quoted from post at 02:57:12 08/09/13) Just found out the neighbor's birthday is on Sunday. The best gift would be an infrared temp gun. Seems like a good way to monitor baler and combine bearings. I know I would love one so that's a pretty good gauge.

Do any of you have one? Do you like it? Where did you get it? It appears that Sears has them but I am not sure what other stores.

I brought the first Raytech I laid my eyes on sometime back in the late 80's are very early 90's... Their is a learing curve as to what and how to shot it.. When the Raytech bit the dust the second time I replaced it with a Mastercool 52224,,, The Raytech I had was a P.O.S. compaired to the Mastercool,,, I have no complaints with it...

About the Raytech I had and still have somewere... It would lock up the only way to unlock it was to remove the battery,,, if you got it near a disturbutor it would go haywire and show some type of code... I got tired of it being so undependable....
 
(quoted from post at 02:57:12 08/09/13) Just found out the neighbor's birthday is on Sunday. The best gift would be an infrared temp gun. Seems like a good way to monitor baler and combine bearings. I know I would love one so that's a pretty good gauge.

Do any of you have one? Do you like it? Where did you get it? It appears that Sears has them but I am not sure what other stores.

I brought the first Raytech I laid my eyes on sometime back in the late 80's are very early 90's... Their is a learing curve as to what and how to shot it.. When the Raytech bit the dust the second time I replaced it with a Mastercool 52224,,, The Raytech I had was a P.O.S. compaired to the Mastercool,,, I have no complaints with it...

About the Raytech I had and still have somewere... It would lock up the only way to unlock it was to remove the battery,,, if you got it near a disturbutor it would go haywire and show some type of code... I got tired of it being so undependable....
 
I have a Craftsman Pro multimeter with a built in IR temp sensor and it has worked very well. It was pretty close in price to the IR gun they had on the shelf and kills 2 birds with one stone toolbox space wise. I've had it 2 years and was well worth the $60ish I paid for it.
 
I have one from HF. Use it all the time for various reasons.

Wished I'd have had it when we were racing stock cars. The real way to tell how your chassis is working is by checking tire temps immediately after a race.

RF should be hottest, followed by RR, LR, and LF, in that order. Can also optimize tire air pressure by comparing readings on the outer edges of the tire to the center. Can check camber on the front wheels by checking the temp across the face of the tire, etc.
 
I Have had the expensive Ray-Tec because they were about the first on the market. All our big trucks now have the el-cheap=o from Harbor Freight. Catch them on sale for around $28.00 seem to work perfect. With out a doubt one of the best tools a farmer,trucker, or any one involved with machinery can have. We run three heavy haul rigs with 42 tires each and checking for hot tires or bearings saves a lot of blown tires.
 

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