That is how all IR temp guns work. The laser beam is just for an aiming point. If you go with a nice temp gun like a fluke or FLIR brand the laser will actually display the cone as you get farther apart. You have to look at the ratio the gun has, normally in the manual. It should look like this 6:1 or 10:1 etc. If it is a 10:1 that means at 10 inches away you are measuring a 1 inch dot.