Anybody have any experience with reasonably priced (not lab quality) infrared thermometers? Are they any good - reliable, reasonably accurate?  What I'm looking at is those infrared units small enough to wear on a neck lanyard.

I keep pretty close tabs on surface water temp; in the boat, I use the sonar; from the bank, I'm using a mercury thermometer. I'd like to get something faster to use, and handier, than the mercury thermometer.

They work alright, We have a high-end infared thermometer and I just don't trust it. It is usually very close to what the other thermometers are reading but we have had some problems with ours. I would recommend a digital cooking thermometer. You can pick them up for close to $20 and they stabilize pretty quickly.

They work alright, We have a high-end infared thermometer and I just don't trust it. It is usually very close to what the other thermometers are reading but we have had some problems with ours. I would recommend a digital cooking thermometer. You can pick them up for close to $20 and they stabilize pretty quickly.

Thanks for the info. That's a good idea about the digital cooking units - I guess that would be faster than waiting for the mercury unit to hit the temp.

I'm going to edit my original post to add that what I'm really interested in is those infrared units small enough to wear on a neck lanyard.

I have used them for years as a tuning aid for my radio-controled vehicle's nitro-engines.

There are a number of types like some have laser dot so you see a red dot show where the temp is taken.

This is a reliable inexpensive one

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXEMG5

These smaller ones dont have long range need to be a foot or so, the closer the better.

Thanks for the info!