What's a good heat gun?

I have heard that a heat gun is a very useful tool for keeping snakes so you can get quick measurements of surface temps at various locations in the cage. Can anybody recommend a good heat gun? I don't want to spend a fortune but I want something pretty accurate..

thanks

I have two PE-1 temp guns. They rock and you can't find a better deal at $25.

http://www.tempgun.com/main.html

Just make sure you hold that model one inch from from the area your measuring.. It has a 1:1 aspect ratio..

i work in the hvac field, i have several different thermometers ranging from 10 bucks to 275.00 bucks. for my snakes and reptiles i prefer to use the 10-15 dollar ones daily. "temp guns" or laser thermometers measure surface contact temps which is different from ambient temps. most laser thermometers vary in accuracy by 2-3 deg. interestingly those cheap 10 dollar accurites also vary 2-3 deg. i don't see a reason to spend more on a thermometer that isn't more accurate. on the other hand the laser beam is cool to play with! lol


vaughn

I have the PE 1 also from temp gun.I paid $25 and it works great

All thermometers are going to be off but its the aspect ratio that I am talking about.. I have found accurite to be one of the worst..

You find accurite to be the worst? The new Walmart doesnt seem to have them so I was planning on taking a drive to the other one. They seem to get a lot of props around here. What would you recomend getting Matt?

JT

there are plenty of accurate thermometers. brands like hart scientific,cooper, atkins and fluke are some of the top names. maybe some of the thermometers made/sold for the reptile community are "off" i have a couple of thermometers that are ul listed to be within 1 deg accurate. the accurites that i use are always within 1-2 deg. of my higher end thermometers. i have a 150.00 fluke thermometer sitting right next to my accurites and i use the accurites more. they are accurate enough for most reptile needs.

just curious matt, what kind of thermometer did you use to compare with or test the accurites?


vaughn

I use a raytek for my main gun and then an off brand cooper want to be from KROGERS.. I looked for a month trying to find them and came up with nothing.. Talked to the store manager and they said it was a one time deal like their snow globe deals..

Raytek all the way.....I should have a holster to put it in I use it so much....

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