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

BAFX Products Infrared Thermometer ReviewPackaging: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 / 0.1FDistance spot ratio: 12:1Emissivity: 0.95 fixedDegrees Centigrade / Fahrenheit selectableAuto power off & Data HoldLaser On/Off selectableBacklight On/Off selectableUse 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.

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:[...][...]

I received the thermometer a couple of weeks ago and am quite pleased with it. I have neuropathy and I am losing my ability to sense temperature. The thermometer works great for telling me that the coffee I reheated in the microwave is 172 degrees or that the bath water I drew for my great grandson isn't too warm or cold. It doesn't work too well on a shiny aluminum fry pan, as BAFX explains in their sales material but fortunately I use cast iron so that's not a problem.The laser guide is a neat function that I really don't need for most functions but can be fun to play around with. The BAFX warn that it is not calibrated with the sensor so you have to be careful about relying on it.Another thing, the thermometer is instant on and auto off so I just grab it from the drawer, pull the trigger, read the temperature and put it back in the drawer. It couldn't be simpler.It was also neat to know that the exterior of my new refrigerator is at room temperature and the interior is at the proper temperature, both freezer and refrigerator. Next I calibrate the oven!As I mentioned, I have had the thermometer for just a couple of weeks but it seems to be well constructed and I expect to be using for years.

The evening it came, I gave it a try. The temperature is way off.. on both ends of the scale.Using a digital cooking thermometer, I measured hot and cold water running at the tap, theBAFX was at least 10 degrees low on the low side and 20 degrees off on the high side. THenI measured some copper heating pipes. I have two loops that have input and outflow themometers.. input was about 160 degrees on both supplies. The BAFX indicatred 110! Then I measured thesupply to the (zone) hot water heater. The BAFX reported 82 degrees, yet, I could not hold my handon the pipe.. it must have been much higher than 82!! Returned to Amazon the next day.PART 2: BAFX Customer support emailed me. If I was interested, he would arrangeto ship me a new unit. If I liked it, I could keep it and pay for it, if not he would includea return pre-paid label. I was impressed with his support, so I agreed. I've had it about 2 weeksnow. It works just as described and correlated very closely with the other (kitchen/room)thermometers around the house. Though the first one failed, with good customer supportand the second one working, I would recommend this to anyone interested in one.