Fluke 572-2 High-Temperature Infrared Thermometer with Dual Laser

I should preface this by saying I am a bit enamored by Fluke. As someone involved with technology and engineering for the past 30 years, I've found the quality of their products to be outstanding.This product appears to be in line with that expectation; it is well built and (as much as I can tell) performs very well. Temperatures around the house (cast iron on stove, oven, lizard cage), in the lab (a few concentrating solar collectors, Stirling engine models, high-power electronics), car engines, catalytic converters, etc all seem to be report reasonable values. I have no standard against which to judge this, so I am trusting Fluke on this.This product has two stand-out features. One is the very large temperature range, up to 1652F, and the other is the high distance to spot ratio of 60:1. It also has a dual-laser sighting.The distance to spot ratio is important because you need to have the entire spot (the area seen by the temperature sensor) on the item whose temperature is being read. If the spot is bigger than the item then the reading will be inaccurate. So at 60 feet, the spot size for this would be about 1 foot in diameter. The dual-laser sighting is nice in that it shows two points that are on opposite sides of the spot and so indicates how big the spot is at any distance. You can use that to determine if you are getting an accurate reading.The Fluke 568 Infrared Thermometer, -40 to +1472 Degree F Range has a somewhat lower temperature range and a distance to spot ratio of 50:1, but is almost half the price. However it lacks the dual laser sighting.The Fluke 62 MAX Plus Infrared Thermometer, -20 to +1202 Degree F Range does have the dual laser sighting and is much less expensive. However it has a 12:1 distance to spot ratio, so you have a 5 foot diameter spot at 60 feet.There are other features which might be of value to you, such as the data storage and the ability to change the emissivity. The on-board emissivity table just has a handful of values (Default, Ox Aluminum (0.30), Ox Brass (0.50), Ox Copper (0.60), Paint (0.93), Plastic (0.95), Ox Steel (0.80), Water (0.93)) but you can also put in whatever value you want. I imagine this would be of high value in industry where you might make the effort to measure this. Unfortunately I see no way to update the emissivity table on the device.For data storage you have to use the FlukeView software. I don't see a way to recall the data from the device itself. The FlukeView Forms Basic software is a bit old-style and very limited. It downloads the data in a table which you can then save. I use copy and paste to paste the data into Excel. You have to keep track of the time of each reading to know what the reading is. It would have been very nice if the thermometer had GPS or other means to also provide location info, which could be very helpful in interpreting the data later and not unreasonable at this price point.Clearly, this is a business decision; if the extra few hundred degrees is critical for you, then this is a must have. I image most others will be able to do fine with one of their other models.For fun I compared the BAFX Products (TM) - Non Contact - Infrared (IR) Thermometer (-58F - +1,022F) to the Fluke and it reads about 5 degrees lower pointing at things near room temperature and a bit more when we get to the several hundred degree range (cast iron skillet on stove.)This is an excellent product. I give 4 stars because I expect a little more at this price range (editable emissivity table, GPS or saved point naming, wireless), the software is antiquated, and there are products within their own line that are very close in performance for a much lower price.

I have experience with quite a few temperature measuring devices from a keychain laser thermometer freebie, to my own Kintrex ~$40 unit from here on Amazon, to a Fluke Thermal Imager, and a previous model of this device (I think the 568).When I bought my Kintrex a while back to help install a split-unit AC, I figured I couldn't go wrong. How much more could an infrared thermometer do for a substantial price increase? Soon after, I worked with a contractor who was doing communications sites and their associated cooling systems. Said contractor breaks out the 568, and I am immediately both impressed and jealous. I'll get into the details in a moment, but suffice to say, that small foreign company made themselves look real good by having the best equipment. It's true - as the inspector in that scenario - I was simply more confident in them knowing that they had the money and were willing to make the investment in the proper tools.* First of all, the ability to use thermocouples are a great confidence booster when you are doubting your reading for whatever reason, whether it's just too far from what you expected or when you can't guess the material (therefore the emissivity). This wired solution - the basic thermocouple comes with the package - is something even a doubting cynic can rely on. Many other thermocouples are available to include pipe clamps and various probes.* You'll soon realize just how reliable the infrared readings are, when you realize that they always match up with the wired readings.* A note on emissivity. The built in chart is greatly helpful, but you'll soon realize that for many applications, the default of .95 is just fine. When you change the E factor, the temperature number on your screen also changes, so you can view the difference it makes on your already taken reading. To give you an example, if I measure something at 26.0 degrees C @ E=.95, and then change E to Ox Aluminum (.3), the reading changes only to 26.4 degrees C. It's easy to use and is worth using for the most accurate readings, but won't be necessary when you need only a good estimate.* The three soft keys that provide access to this and other menu items are very intuitive and the menu items are very worthwhile. You can turn the dual lasers on and off (the area between them is what you are measuring), allow you to have max, min, and average on your screen all at once, E changes, backlight settings, memory access (99 slots available on the unit), alarms, etc.* Slide button locks battery compartment, and unit takes (2) AA batteries (included). Case (excellent) holds an extra pair of batteries nicely. Since the unit hooks to computer via USB (cable included), it would be great if the unit had an internal li-ion battery; the tradeoff would be that you'd have to recharge instead of change-out when your battery is dead.* Speaking of computer connectivity, the included software is fairly basic, but can be very useful with its logging feature and to provide tangible results to a customer. Comes with two forms (both in A4 and the American equivalent): one for charting results and another for graphing/logging constant readings (with differential ranges as applicable). The forms will always say Fluke (vice your company's name) unless you buy their upgraded software package; in that case, you'll also get additional forms.That logging feature would be extremely useful for trying to find a temperature related fault in machinery (must be hooked to computer), and the on-board storage with timestamp (which you can use independently) is similarly useful.The premium features shine through on this device (I don't have enough familiarity with the 568 to know what has been upgraded) and makes it clearly superior to any other infrared thermometer I've ever used. I can also see that this device is necessary in some cases even if you already have a thermal imager. Having both with the correct accessories should take care of every temperature monitoring application life could throw at you. It's great to own the best.