What's a good heat gun?

when you talk about the aspect ratio do you mean that you need to be holding the gun exactly 1" from where you want to measure otherwise the measurement won't be right? what's the point of that then? I thought the whole point of the gun was so you can take the temp measurement from any distance?


also, is it NOT beneficial to have a temp gun reading the surface (contact) temp? you only want ambient temps?

basically the further away you are the less accurate the reading. certain models have better accuracy and can read accurate from further distances. most temp guns have an accuracy of +/- 3-5 deg. imo, if i'm going to be 3-5 deg off in my reading, i'd rather use a 10.00 thermometer than spend more and still be off. surface contact temp is different than ambient or general enclosure temps. you can have a 90 deg. cage that might be in a 70 deg. room and the cool side wall might read 72-74. your snakes could be in contact with colder temps than you think, maybe. the temp guns are good for quick spot checks and checking general temps. i'd personally go with a thermocouple/thermistor type thermometer as generally they are more accurate than infrared types. the laser ones were designed for testing hard to reach areas, moving parts and surface temps in manufacturing

vaughn

The Raytek MT6 looks like a nice gun and it's pretty cheap here: http://www.tooldiscounter.com/ItemDi...ogle&kw=RAYMT6