Mastercool Infrared Thermometer with Circular Laser, 12:1 Ratio, 52224-A-SP, Gray

I wanted to check how badly my house was insulated. My ideal choice would have been using an infrared video camera, but that wouldn't be practical. An infrared Thermometer seemed to be an excellent alternative. I began to look at the available options, comparing temperature ranges and measuring area (Ratios 6:1, 12:1, etc). This IR Thermometer had the best mesuring areas (12:1) and largest temperature reading range out of everything that I looked at (-58 to 932°F). The addition of a case and analog thermometer was a really nice bonus. The day it was delivered, it had been sitting outside in temperatures below zero for several hours. It caused random error messages until it started to warm up. Once it warmed up, I began to measure the temperature of the inner walls of my house. The room temperature was set to about 68 and the inside walls were measuring around 65. Since I expected the walls to be slightly cooler, I was pretty confident with it's accuracy. I began to test the windows and the outer walls (from inside the house). I found that my windows were about 10-15 degrees colder than the walls. My older windows were even worse. It helped me realize the importance of newer windows. One window was so cold that I began looking it over to see if something was wrong. It turned out that the window was open about 1/4 of an inch. I'm sure i was losing lots of heat through that window. I probably never would have noticed it otherwise. The thermometer probably paid for itself right there. It turned out to be a really handy tool. The only problem that I noticed was that when I used it outside, it gave me temperatures that were a lot colder than the actual air temperature. With -4 degree temperatures, I was getting -18 degree readings from the sidewalk. I'm guessing that's why many of the IR thermometers don't give readings that cold. It doesn't really bother me though since I didn't get it for reading cold temperatures and it still wasn't too far off. After using it for serious reasons, I decided to just play around with it. I measured the temperature of light bulbs, my cooking range, food, and just about anything else in my range when it's in my hand. It's really handy and fun to use. I would recommend this product to anyone interested in an IR thermometer.

After reading the reviews on this infrared thermometer and comparing it to the others offered here on this site, I bought the Mastercool. I am very pleased with it. Not only did Amazon beat its estimated arrival date by three days, the package arrived in great condition. The carrying case is heavy duty and it also includes a very usable thermometer.(A bonus I didn't know was coming).The device itself is very easy to use, and with the push of an external button, you can toggle between Fahrenheit and Centigrade readings. The Mastercool is light, fits the hand well, and is very easy to aim at anything you want to know how warm or cold the object is. It is consistent in its readings, obtaining the same temperature within tenths of a degree from one reading to another (eg..several readings of my refrigerators and freezers taken several different times).It is very useful in the kitchen for determining temps of foods as they cook and how hot my stove burners and oven is running, things I've always wanted to know but didn't have a good way of measuring them. I cannot wait to test it on my Big Green Egg!I am using this thermometer to find air leaks all around my home as the temperature falls in order to repair them. I also believe it will be very useful on my RC model airplane engines to determine if they are running too hot or too cold (lean or rich). I want to try it on automobile tires as a quick way of determining a low pressure tire.I believe this thermometer was the best in its class and for the price, and it was definitely a great bargain. Since I am not conducting scientific experiments with it where absolute critical accuracy is needed, I believe this tool, for the vast majority of us, will fill the bill quite nicely for the uses we can put it to around the home or business.

You know it guys -- your wife is HOT -- and what are you going to do about it? You've heard it before (cue up nagging wife sound effect): "There's something wrong with the A/C - its too hot in here." Well, the Mastercool MCS52224A is here to (hopefully) put an end to all of that: just aim the pistol-shaped thermometer gun at the A/C vent and get a super-accurate read on the air temperature being emitted from the vent near-instantly (seriously, in like one-1/2 of a second).I think I used the gun for a week straight: pointing it in my dog's ears (93 degrees), the wine fridge (56 degrees), the AC vents (77 degrees), the freezer (28 degrees), the upper-most corner of my entry foyer (25' away) (84 degrees), the plasma television screen after an hour of TV viewing (90 degrees), and countless other tangible and intangible surfaces.Unfortunately, that's where the Mastercool lost its 5 star rating and was reduced to a 4-star rating. To those of you that have read my other reviews, you would know that I enjoy cooking over hardwood charcoal chips - something that was introduced to me by my expert "braai-masters" (South African for BBQ). Anyhow, I bought the thermometer to put an end to the debate as to when the hardwood was the "perfect" temperature for grilling kebabs. Well, despite Mastercool's declaration that the thermometer is usable for temperatures up to 932 degrees, my device threw an error after the coal temperature exceeded 750 degrees. I tried changing the batteries to make sure this wasnt an error because I used the device so much over the week before. Unfortunately, even after inserting new batteries, and testing the device on different parts of the grill, the heat was just too high to give a good reading.I still kept the Mastercool device for the upcoming winter -- I wouldnt want to have a frigid wife, after all, and neither would you !