Etekcity Lasergrip 774 Non-contact Digital Laser IR Infrared
Etekcity Lasergrip 774 Non-contact Digital Laser IR Infrared Thermometer, Temperature Gun, -50°C~380°C (-58°F~716°F), Yellow/Black (Not suitable for measuring body temperature)
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| Weight: | 181 g |
| Size: | -50°C~380°C |
| Dimensions: | 7.32 x 3.94 x 1.57 cm; 181 Grams |
| Model: | 004 |
| Part: | Lasergrip 774 |
| Colour: | Black |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | Yes |
| Batteries Included: | Alkaline |
| Manufacture: | ETEKCITY |
| Dimensions: | 7.32 x 3.94 x 1.57 cm; 181 Grams |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | -50°C~380°C |
Easy to use
Bought to measure the temperature in a Ooni pizza oven. Easy to use. No idea how accurate it is, but it allows to monitor the temperature accurately enough to cook consistently banging pizzas
A Must Have For Cooks
I’ve had mine for nearly 3 years now and was so impressed, I bought one as a gift for a friend.
This is really a must have for cooks and particularly home bakers.
It’s up there with Wand Blenders as a really useful tool.
No more guessing when proving your dough.
Highly recommended
So apparently I like to know the temperature of things. I regularly ask random questions no one can answer like ‘How hot do you reckon this garden chair is’, or ‘ I wonder which bit of the heated trolley is the hottest’. I hadn’t realised how much this was a thing of mine until DH bought me this for Christmas. What fun! Absolutely no practical applications I’ve found so far but now I can have a ball going round the house and garden taking the temperature of random things, so what’s not to like.
Infrared Temperature Reade
Nice quality unit. Not too big and easy to use.
Bought to check and balance my central heating radiators. Another useful job was to check our oven temperature to discover one of heating elements was not working. A not too expensive tool.
Amazing gadge
I used around every corner of the house to find where cold was coming in. Draft under the front door was worst by a margin.
Doesn’t give you a thermal map picture but you don’t need one with a tiny amount of patience and pointing the laser at hundred different areas.
Versatile
I bought this for a DIY project and finding cold spots on doors & windows where heat escapes, I also use it a lot in the kitchen for hot pots, pans & pizzas. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it’s more than good enough for what I use it for.
A little miffed my boss wouldn’t allow me to put the brand name probes on expenses, he recommended this one instead!
Actually surprised how easy to use this is, the display is clear, the laser pointer works (the cat loves it). Temperature readings aren’t dead accurate, they never are on these things, even calibrated models.
Try to be around a meter away from the object and hold in position for 5 or more seconds for best results. I use this for reference / comparison only, so don’t be worried if you’re taking a car temperature for example and a reads a little out, however it is within a few degrees at temperatures below 100c a good way out above that on heating elements etc, but as long as you know, you can work with it and compares well with brands more than 10 x the cost.
I purchased this product to help me balance my central heating system. It was easy to use straight out of the box (apart from having to install the battery) and provided me with accurate readings which helped me complete the task. Since then I have found numerous uses for it, kitchen, garage, etc.
Overall, a good product well worth the money.
Bought this to balance my central heating radiators. Not sure how accurate the temp readings are but it gives me a rough guide probably more accurate than using the hand to feel the radiator. Also handy for checking room temp and inside fridge as well.
I bought this to use with our Ooni pizza oven as some of our pizzas were inconsistently cooked. It turned out that we were not leaving enough time for the oven to get back up to temperature between pizzas.
Using the thermometer is a piece of cake. Pull the trigger to turn on, pull again to get a reading, which is clearly displayed and easy to read. Theres even a little laser pointer that tells you which spot you are measuring.
We now always use this device to check the heat of the stone before cooking and have produced some of our best pizzas to date. I recommend it for this reason alone but I guarantee that once its in your hand you will end up measuring the temperature of other random objects around the house!
Not for small surface areas. Used for balancing radiators.
I bought this IR thermometer to help me balance radiators.
Sadly it is no good whatsoever for measuring temperature from the copper pipes or the radiator valves. I think it is because the surface area is too small/narrow. Sticking bits of masking tape to the surface as suggested by the user guide didn’t help. The displayed readings are ridiculously too low.
It is fine for checking the corners of my white enamel painted radiators to get an idea of flow and return temperatures.
Similarly, I can read the return temperature of the water flowing through the magnetic filter, located above the boiler, by aiming at the plastic body.
Works as expected
This has been working fine for about 3 years of occasional use now. I have a similar one from a different make that was more expensive and they work the same.
A few comments looking at other reviews: Please note that the laser pointer is just a pointer, the actual temperature measurement is invisible (it’s infrared, IR). Also note that the readings can be completely off on some surfaces, especially on shiny surfaces. That’s because shiny surfaces reflect light (including infrared light!) and so you’ll be measuring whatever is reflecting off the shiny object. Same goes for transparent surfaces, e.g. windows: If IR light can go through your window (many windows allow this partially), then your measurement will measure what’s on the other side of the window (or a mix).
In summary, the thermometer works fine, just think “IR light” and “reflections” when measuring shiny surfaces: Measure objects in different places and at different angles to gain a sense of how IR thermometers work.
Got this device, like others, for testing the heat of a portable pizza oven.
However, have tested it on other items around the house. Saw a few complaints that it wasn’t picking up the correct temperature of fridges / freezers, so put a digital thermometer in there for half an hour then tested with the Etekcity.
Freezer (DT / Etek): -23.4C / -23.6C
Freezer (DT / Etek): 6.0C / 5.5C
Note that the description says the accuracy is 2% or 2C so this is well within that so overall I think it’s safe to say this is pretty accurate and can handle the colder temperatures as well as the warm.
Also worth ignoring the 1-star reviews on here from idiots who bought it to measure body temperature – it clearly says in the description that this isn’t for that purpose, and with the margin of error stated above wouldn’t be much use anyway. Not only that but some of them have complained that they are getting readings of 34C so that would apparently mean they have hypothermia. 34C is actually a fairly normal surface temperature on the human body… I presume they are expecting 37C as this is the most quoted core / internal temperature.
Car interiors, smartphones, radiators and more
So many things you find that it would be so useful to check it’s temperature.
If a dashcam gives a maximum temperature it can cope with, you put it in the window but in the sun all day how sure can you be you’re not going from baking to breaking? I was surprised that in a mild spring day the albeit black dashboard got to over 60C so I now take it down for the day. Actually use Magnetproa’s circular neodymium countersunk magnets in the car’s footwell to snap them quickly out of the way.
For not much money, this is accurate, easy to use and a pleasure to see explicit empirical values for temperatures you’d find impossible otherwise to check.
Point and shoot, let go to hold the temp onscreen and flip back and forth from C to F and vice-versa.
Backlight and laser add to the quality.
Battery included.
(It’s overcast now with the windows open, car dashboard is still 42C (107F), acting like a radiator, no wonder a foil screen helps (search for “Freesoo”, it’s a winner for sun and frost).
If you’re a racer, maybe go to Rye House kart racetrack, this would be great for testing tyre and track temperatures, for info down below the tarmac in the golf car park is 27.6C/81.6F.
My palm is 34.9C/94.8F…. addictive!!
Dashcam is 30C/86F and it’s max operating temp is 60C so all safe but it’s back on it’s magnet holders when I get out.
Parts of a car engine can be checked.
See how hot the exhaust air of an air-con vent is, then how chilly the air is.
I point out at the sky and it changes when it’s a cloud, blue sky or the sun!!! -20C for the sky, 10C underside of a cloud and 100C+ for the sun .
Decent distance-to-spot ratio…. 12 to 1, so you need an area that is at least a twelfth of how far away you are from it. From a foot away, the spot needs to be an inch across, at least.
Bought 2!!
Can turn the backlight off and on, only 3 buttons needed…. Point and shoot, so easy.
Internal fridge items to test.
Solid construction, Etekcity, never heard of them but they’ve a brilliant product here.
Purchased to replace the last of a series of dial-type oven thermometers used until very recently (both from the same brand but purchased at different times) which invariably need frequent replacement as either the glass or the dial beneath darken with repeated, extensive exposure to heat. The problem is that every oven takes a certain time to reach the set temperature and when there is doubt, the thermometer may need to stay in place during the warm-up and cooking periods as it is then too hot to handle. The “Etekcity Lasergrip 1080 Non-contact Digital Laser IR Infrared Thermometer, -50C ~ 550C ( -58F~1022F ), Instant Read Temperature Gun, Rubber Paint Technology, Yellow/Black” never needs physically to be in the oven but is used externally via the open oven door, and from a short distance from the food or utensil within it, to check the temperature.
It clearly cannot check internal temperature of a joint of meat or poultry and a probe thermometer may be additionally required to verify that both appropriate levels are reached; while appearing cooked on the outside, it is possible for it to be almost raw inside especially if improperly thawed from frozen. The desired temperature levels for different meats, fish etc can usually be found on-line but are often printed in cookery books and sometimes in food-related articles in newspapers and magazines.
It has an extensive temperature range from -50 to 550C which will cover everything from the fridge and freezer, which should be among the coldest, and almost anything beyond including temperatures of different sections of a running vehicle engine, domestic radiators or almost anything else. It takes a standard 9v flat battery (included but not actually connected) which is held within the grip and which are readily available and not overly expensive to replace when required, although that provided is expected to provide a year or more’s service when often used. The battery is protected by a thick plastic film that needs be removed before first use and then connected. The fit within its compartment is tight!
It is claimed to offer an accuracy of +/- 2-deg, far better that the +/- 5-deg suggested by the best of the analogue rotary ones which in practice may be much greater. Their reading accuracy may be imprecise, adding further problems. Sometimes two such thermometers were used side-by-side (normally on different oven shelves) and they can easily differ from each other by 30-deg or more. It was impossible to know which of them, if any, was the more accurate. It is now known that one read slightly high and the other consistently very low! Under- or over-cooking within the normally used time for a dish, or as suggested by a recipe, can therefore be effectively avoided. This provided readings closely similar – a couple of degrees C lower – to one, that long thought to be the more accurate.
As the thermometer includes both laser and IR-sensing technology, although the laser is low-power and relatively safe when not misused, proper safety precautions should be taken and use by young children should never be permitted. Equally, it should never be used to check body temperatures or pointed towards vehicles on the road or flying aircraft.
Very good little gadget. I need to measure the temperature of water in our village hall showers system for Legionnaires monitoring. Without spending thousands you can only measure the temperature of pipe surfaces. But with a couple of tricks you can use this to find the water temp.
I’m measuring 22mm pipes. Stick masking tape to the pipes where you want to measure (as suggested in the instructions). I tested 4 or 5 different paints and materials and masking tape was best. Use about an inch square well stuck down. Test your IR thermometer from different distances and to check whether the laser spot is aligned with the position where it measures temp. On mine the measurement position is about 1cm below the laser spot, and about half a centimetre to the left when the gun is held between 10cm and 20cm away. Work out what yours is doing and aim it accordingly. You need to hold the gun no further than 20cm away for a 22mm pipe otherwise it’s measuring a cooler area round the pipe as well as the pipe itself, and the alignment matters at these relatively short distances.
This gives you an IR measurement of the surface temperature which is somewhat cooler than the water in the pipe. You can find out the correspondence between the IR surface temp and the water temp in the pipe e.g. by filling a piece of 22mm pipe with boiling water, putting a jam or laboratory thermometer in it and comparing the internal water temp with the IR surface temp as it cools. Mine showed the internal water temp to be 10% higher in deg C at an IR measured 40C, rising to 15% higher in deg C at an IR measured 70. Ie if you measure 40 C on the pipe surface the water is at 44 C and if you measure 70 C the water is at 80.5 C. You need to be confident of the calibration of your water thermometer. If it’s a lab thermometer – fine; my jam thermometer gave exactly 100 C (+/- less than 0.5C) in boiling (soft) water and I’m assuming it’s reasonably reliable below that.
So for 15 I can get accurate monitoring temperatures of the actual water in the pipes.
So I blame the Prime day “sales” for the purchase of this product – don’t get me wrong – it was cheap and a good bit of kit, but I’ve never needed to use a thermometer before and I certainly didn’t need a non contact one – so I’m not sure why I ended up buying this ! On the bright side – If I ever need one – I’ve now got one !
Having said that – it’s a good bit of kit – soft grip textured handle which opens up to find the battery compartment complete with a shrink wrapped 9V battery inside waiting to be connected. If you haven’t connected a 9V battery before then don’t panic it’s very easy – on the connector you will see two types of connector – one for each terminal – you will see two matching ones on the battery – what you need to do is make sure the opposite looking ones connect (one on the battery and one on the terminal) and if you’ve got it right then the battery should audibly SNAP onto the connector.
Once this has been completed, you can GENTLY but firmly place the now connected battery and connector back into the empty area – don’t worry if you have to push slightly firmly against the pad at the top of the compartment – this is normal – just make sure you don’t rip any of the cables loose.
Similarly when it comes to disconnecting the battery from the connector (to stop accidental battery run down), use gentle force to pry them apart otherwise you might rip the wires from the connector.
For the couple of times that I used it the temperatures that were returned seemed accurate, but I didn’t have any type of calibration items to check and this isn’t one of those highly accurate units that would cost a lot more to buy, so use judgement when taking measurements.
Informative fun for the kitchen geek
Very pleased with this. I’d wanted one since I saw Heston Blumenthal use one in his ‘In Search of Perfection’ TV series in 2006, but prices were much higher then – something to do with patents, I imagine. I don’t operate on his plane but I do like to know as much as possible about the environment I’m cooking in, and temperature is a critical parameter. I now know that my gas oven really can – as its maker claims – achieve 300’C, and that my fridge could do with being a little colder. It really does help with managing cooking temperatures – far more than the crude controls on the appliance itself can do – and I’m looking forward to using it outside once barbecue season returns.
What it isn’t, of course, is a replacement for a clinical thermometer – not least because it contains a laser pointer and pointing that at a person (even though it can be switched off) is a no-no.
It doesn’t come with a case, but mine fits neatly into an old airline toiletry kit purse. As a bonus, the plastic surface is nicely tactile – difficult to describe but almost velvety while still being hard; very pleasant to hold. And the packaging comes with a space for the 9V battery that is alarmingly empty. Fear not; the battery is already in the handle, but it’s a snug fit, so connecting it and closing the compartment took a bit of fiddling.
Small criticisms, though, of a useful and sensibly priced little instrument.