Nyfynest22
New Member
Hey everyone , was wondering if anyone new a good temp gun to purchase? and a good place to get them. thanks.
Temp Gun?
- Thread starter Nyfynest22
- Start date
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
This is the one that I use.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Discolored-...=260724787922&ps=63&clkid=4768489457337474150
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Discolored-...=260724787922&ps=63&clkid=4768489457337474150
xanthoman
Avid Member
imo, therm/hygometer a better tool
pro-exotics or harbor freight are popular ones, but beware temp guns have their issues and limitations, and can produce misleading temps for those who arent aware of their issues. temp guns do not measure air temp, they measure the reflected infrared of solid objects. imo you are much better off with a zilla digital thermometer/hygrometer for $20 has twin remote sensors records high and low of both temps and humidity, a good thing to know. jmo
edit; ok, i know somebody is going to ask, so before they do, here we go. short version, there should be an explaination/illustration of "ds (distance to spot) ratio" on the pro exotic website, if its no longer there, then ill probably end up posting on that too.
different temp guns use different aspect (distance:spot) ratios. basically a temp gun sends out a cone of infrared energy, the size shape/steepness/angle of that cone is determined by the distance:spot ratio. if you are shining a 6" cone at a 4" cham (and remember the face of the cone of energy is round which chams are not) then every solid object within the cone, is reflecting back ir energy, so this could include temp readings from the branches, the leaves, the screen/glass or metal in the background, or even drops of water, the feeding cup etc. all are reflecting back a measurement of ir energy which is then averaged. since air does not reflect ir energy, it is the only thing within the cone that is not being measured. bear in mind the cone is invisible, so the only way to know the proper distance/ cone size is to know and understand the "DS ratio". therefor ir temp guns are a poor indicator of your ambient air temp if thats what you are trying to measure. if your trying to measure your cham temp, then temp guns are a good tool for that as long as you know the "DS ratio" and the distance to use it at to get the desired size of cone. if the cone is bigger than the solid object you are trying to measure then everything else within the cone whether in front of or in back of is being measured and averaged as well. the closer you are the smaller the face of the cone, the DS ratio determines by how much. i would get the pe2 or equivalent ds6:1, its got a more favorable ds ratio for cham keeping than the pe1 ds1:1 (meaning it measures a smaller area so you are less likely to be getting readings from objects you dont want).
http://www.proexotics.com/store/product.php?productid=16212&cat=248&page=1 jmo
pro-exotics or harbor freight are popular ones, but beware temp guns have their issues and limitations, and can produce misleading temps for those who arent aware of their issues. temp guns do not measure air temp, they measure the reflected infrared of solid objects. imo you are much better off with a zilla digital thermometer/hygrometer for $20 has twin remote sensors records high and low of both temps and humidity, a good thing to know. jmo
edit; ok, i know somebody is going to ask, so before they do, here we go. short version, there should be an explaination/illustration of "ds (distance to spot) ratio" on the pro exotic website, if its no longer there, then ill probably end up posting on that too.
different temp guns use different aspect (distance:spot) ratios. basically a temp gun sends out a cone of infrared energy, the size shape/steepness/angle of that cone is determined by the distance:spot ratio. if you are shining a 6" cone at a 4" cham (and remember the face of the cone of energy is round which chams are not) then every solid object within the cone, is reflecting back ir energy, so this could include temp readings from the branches, the leaves, the screen/glass or metal in the background, or even drops of water, the feeding cup etc. all are reflecting back a measurement of ir energy which is then averaged. since air does not reflect ir energy, it is the only thing within the cone that is not being measured. bear in mind the cone is invisible, so the only way to know the proper distance/ cone size is to know and understand the "DS ratio". therefor ir temp guns are a poor indicator of your ambient air temp if thats what you are trying to measure. if your trying to measure your cham temp, then temp guns are a good tool for that as long as you know the "DS ratio" and the distance to use it at to get the desired size of cone. if the cone is bigger than the solid object you are trying to measure then everything else within the cone whether in front of or in back of is being measured and averaged as well. the closer you are the smaller the face of the cone, the DS ratio determines by how much. i would get the pe2 or equivalent ds6:1, its got a more favorable ds ratio for cham keeping than the pe1 ds1:1 (meaning it measures a smaller area so you are less likely to be getting readings from objects you dont want).
http://www.proexotics.com/store/product.php?productid=16212&cat=248&page=1 jmo
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Hoj
Friendly Grasshopper
most auto of hardware stores offer a few differeent modles as well as hobby shop. for the most part it seem you get waht you pay for with temp guns, so id go for the best one that fits your buget.
i got mine from Canadian Tire for $30 on sale reg $130 dso i was happy, and i love it, i can temp all 13 cages in multiple spots in like 5min
i got mine from Canadian Tire for $30 on sale reg $130 dso i was happy, and i love it, i can temp all 13 cages in multiple spots in like 5min
Whatcamo
New Member
I just received the pro-exotics PE-2 today now granted I'm very new to all of this but I'm a little lost to its accuracy I used it setting up the branches and basking area in the cage for my panther and I was reading 79-85 on the branches under the basking light while the thermometer for the humidity and temp was reading 78 in the spot the gun was reading 85 so I checked it against my aquarium which has two thermometer one by apex probe and a digital probe which both read 77.4 and I got a reading on the gun of 68.4 so what do I believe here?
xanthoman
Avid Member
Limitations of ir temp guns
this is exactly what i am talking about. the pe2 is accurate for what it does, but its important to understand what it does and does not do.
1. IT DOES NOT MEASURE AIR TEMP, IT ONLY MEASURES THE SURFACE TEMPS OF SOLID OBJECTS WITHIN ITS DISTANCE TO SPOT RATIO, WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE SAME AS YOUR AIR TEMP.
if you are trying to measure air temp, since the tool works by averaging reflected ir energy, and since air does not reflect ir energy, then it is useless for accurate measurement of ambient air temps, (although admittedly solid object can only be so different than the temp of the surrounding air) if you want to measure air temps then use a digital thermometer with a remote sender or even an analog temp gauge.
2. it includes a reading of the average reflected ir energy of all solid objects(including water) within its distance to spot ratio, which may or may not include items other than what it is pointed at. what it does not include is a temp reading of the ambient air temp. if you want to measure the temp of your animal, then the pe2 is a good tool for that providing you keep the distance close enough so that the face of the cone (ie the "SPOT") is smaller than the size of the object you are trying to measure. the pe2 has a ds ratio of 6:1 that means that at 6" distance it is measuring everything within a 1" circle so that would make 6" a good distance to measure your cham at (assuming your cham fills a 1" circle (so neonates maybe a different story) the farther away you get, the larger the spot gets, if the any portion of the spot is larger than the specific object you are trying to measure, then the gun will measure everything within its spot (except the air), and average out the temps.
@2' distance, the pe 2 has a 4" circle. even chams much larger than 4", may not fill a 4" circle entirely (since chams are not perfectly round) so the rest of the measurement is an average of everything else in that circle, as you get farther away, the circle grows even larger, so for example, if you are trying to measure a your cham using a 4" circle at 2', there are likely spots within the circle that are not filled up by the cham and the circle grows even larger behind the cham, so it would likely be taking in readings of the screen behind the cham or anything else in the foreground or background of the circle. picture the cone like a mega phone and the circle like the wide end of it.
3. the moral of the story is, if you want to measure your cham, do it from 6" away using the temp gun , if you want to measure the air, use a digital therm with a remote sender, not placed in the radiant beam of your uva basking light,
if you want to measure your uva basking temp, then place the remote sender in the sweet spot of the beam of your uva basking zone, i suppose you could also use the temp gun to measure the actual basking temp of your cham, which is not necessarily exactly the same as your basking zone temps.
cham = temp gun
ambient air = digital thermometer, with sender placed outside of uva basking zone
basking zone temps = remote sender of digital thermometer in the sweet spot of the basking zone (while he is not in it) at the same distance your cham would be.
this is why i dont use or recommend temp guns for anything other than measuring actual cham body temp. they are not a good tool for measuring air temps or basking zone temps. for that you are better off with a digital therm with a remote sender.
personally for the price of a pe2, you could have almost 2 zilla thermometer/hygrometers, which are good for measuring ambient air temps, cham temps, basking spot, AND relative humidity, plus highs and lows of each, which is great for keeping track of whats been going on while you are not there. (which is even more important if you have been measuring the temps wrong in the first place).
in terms of usefulness, i would trade an entire box of ir temp guns for one digital thermometer/hygrometer. on the other hand a box of digital thermometer/hygrometers, would be extremely useful.
hope that sufficiently confused the issue lol. jmo
this is exactly what i am talking about. the pe2 is accurate for what it does, but its important to understand what it does and does not do.
1. IT DOES NOT MEASURE AIR TEMP, IT ONLY MEASURES THE SURFACE TEMPS OF SOLID OBJECTS WITHIN ITS DISTANCE TO SPOT RATIO, WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE SAME AS YOUR AIR TEMP.
if you are trying to measure air temp, since the tool works by averaging reflected ir energy, and since air does not reflect ir energy, then it is useless for accurate measurement of ambient air temps, (although admittedly solid object can only be so different than the temp of the surrounding air) if you want to measure air temps then use a digital thermometer with a remote sender or even an analog temp gauge.
2. it includes a reading of the average reflected ir energy of all solid objects(including water) within its distance to spot ratio, which may or may not include items other than what it is pointed at. what it does not include is a temp reading of the ambient air temp. if you want to measure the temp of your animal, then the pe2 is a good tool for that providing you keep the distance close enough so that the face of the cone (ie the "SPOT") is smaller than the size of the object you are trying to measure. the pe2 has a ds ratio of 6:1 that means that at 6" distance it is measuring everything within a 1" circle so that would make 6" a good distance to measure your cham at (assuming your cham fills a 1" circle (so neonates maybe a different story) the farther away you get, the larger the spot gets, if the any portion of the spot is larger than the specific object you are trying to measure, then the gun will measure everything within its spot (except the air), and average out the temps.
@2' distance, the pe 2 has a 4" circle. even chams much larger than 4", may not fill a 4" circle entirely (since chams are not perfectly round) so the rest of the measurement is an average of everything else in that circle, as you get farther away, the circle grows even larger, so for example, if you are trying to measure a your cham using a 4" circle at 2', there are likely spots within the circle that are not filled up by the cham and the circle grows even larger behind the cham, so it would likely be taking in readings of the screen behind the cham or anything else in the foreground or background of the circle. picture the cone like a mega phone and the circle like the wide end of it.
3. the moral of the story is, if you want to measure your cham, do it from 6" away using the temp gun , if you want to measure the air, use a digital therm with a remote sender, not placed in the radiant beam of your uva basking light,
if you want to measure your uva basking temp, then place the remote sender in the sweet spot of the beam of your uva basking zone, i suppose you could also use the temp gun to measure the actual basking temp of your cham, which is not necessarily exactly the same as your basking zone temps.
cham = temp gun
ambient air = digital thermometer, with sender placed outside of uva basking zone
basking zone temps = remote sender of digital thermometer in the sweet spot of the basking zone (while he is not in it) at the same distance your cham would be.
this is why i dont use or recommend temp guns for anything other than measuring actual cham body temp. they are not a good tool for measuring air temps or basking zone temps. for that you are better off with a digital therm with a remote sender.
personally for the price of a pe2, you could have almost 2 zilla thermometer/hygrometers, which are good for measuring ambient air temps, cham temps, basking spot, AND relative humidity, plus highs and lows of each, which is great for keeping track of whats been going on while you are not there. (which is even more important if you have been measuring the temps wrong in the first place).
in terms of usefulness, i would trade an entire box of ir temp guns for one digital thermometer/hygrometer. on the other hand a box of digital thermometer/hygrometers, would be extremely useful.
hope that sufficiently confused the issue lol. jmo
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Hoj
Friendly Grasshopper
you say
2 zilla thermometer/hygrometers, which are good for measuring ambient air temps, cham temps, basking spot, AND relative humidity
how is the zilla measuring cham temps.
and for me i perfer the temp gun as i am interested in the temp the cham will be at in various places of the cage. as the chams temp is a better representaion of what is acctually going on such as heat from light absobsion, i mean ambient air could be 60 but if the cham has sufficient sun/light as too reach a body temp of say 85 than what is the concern for air temp at that point, thats is in my opinion why we use basking bulds instead of heaters, to allow the cham to thermoregulate through exposure to heat from the light.
i do use digital thermometers/hydrometer as well but i dont not value them any more than my temp gun.
JMO
2 zilla thermometer/hygrometers, which are good for measuring ambient air temps, cham temps, basking spot, AND relative humidity
how is the zilla measuring cham temps.
and for me i perfer the temp gun as i am interested in the temp the cham will be at in various places of the cage. as the chams temp is a better representaion of what is acctually going on such as heat from light absobsion, i mean ambient air could be 60 but if the cham has sufficient sun/light as too reach a body temp of say 85 than what is the concern for air temp at that point, thats is in my opinion why we use basking bulds instead of heaters, to allow the cham to thermoregulate through exposure to heat from the light.
i do use digital thermometers/hydrometer as well but i dont not value them any more than my temp gun.
JMO
Kamikaze Chameleon
Avid Member
Thats hilarious and how misleading! Great post! Im so glad i looked at this! i was about to buy gun.... ill just get the digital therm! Thats funny too cuz i screen print and we use those to determine the heat of the ink on the shirt so that makes TOTAL sense!???
