Temp guns?

[LPacker79]

Do any of you use temperature guns to monitor your enclosures? How well do they work, and can they replace a regular thermometer? Or should they be used as a back up only?

[corr]

I love mine! It works great! I still use probe thermometers to monitor hot spots and then use the gun to calibrate them and check cool ends. I also use it to check the temp of new water when I'm doing changes on my aquariums... very handy.

[retic]

i have a Raytek laser heat gun, they work great, i also use it to check the hot spots, best investment i have made

[Vengeance]

I got mine from www.tempgun.com and it works great, it's replaced any need for me to have a thermometer with a probe.

[mykee]

I love mine, can't do without it. I'm with Phil in that it's one of the best herp-related investments I've made.

[Stockwell]

Yup they are great. You can't beat the convenience and ease of operation.
I have three of the Raytek minitemp foodsafety units which are about $150cdn. They have a higher degree of accuracy(+/- 2F) than most as they are calibrated for a more limited "food" range, closer to our needs with herps.
I've noticed a lot of people seem to think these are something to calibrate other thermometers with, but keep in mind that most are only guaranteed plus/minus 3 or 4 degrees, and that is actually worse than most cheap indoor outdoor consumer thermometers. The cheaper non laser IR guns don't even publish an accuracy spec
It's quite possible most units are actually better than their published spec but don't count on it.

http://www.raytek-northamerica.com/tools/products/view.html?phase=show&id=1082400750&tool_id=14&cat_id=2.3.6.1
The MT 2's and MT4's are only plus/minus 3F. This means if your display reads 90, it could be anywhere from 87 to 93. The fact that they have tenth of a degree digital display resolution tends to fool people, but keep in mind it has nothing to do with the actual accuracy
http://www.raytek-northamerica.com/cat.html?cat_id=2.3.5

[Linds]

I'm with everyone on this one. Definitely an invaluable tool for a collection of any size, especially when the size increases. I use my temp gun as the sole device for measuring temps in my collection. I bought mine at Crappy Tire in the automotive department. I'm sure you can get them at Pep Boys or where ever else down there sells a good deal of automotive doo-dads.

[bidden]

Has anyone used the ones from Monitorspot?? are they just as good as the $125 ones??

[latazyo]

I got mine at radioshack for 29.99usd when it was on sale, I think they're usually the usual 49 dollars there

[jjnnbns]

Right now on sale at LLLreptile.com for $25, I think that I may need to get one.