The Zoook InfraTemp non-contact infrared thermometer offers results in less than a second The Telegraph

Finger on the trigger, sweat bullets on the forehead. That’s roughly the feeling one gets while entering any place, from a market to an office. As lockdown is slowly easing across the country, almost every housing society, grocery store and salon is arming itself with an infrared thermometer gun. It is sort of becoming representational of the era we breathe in — Covid-19.

The first time, one of these devices was pointed at me was at a booth in a tech consumer show a few years ago. It was from Withings and it looked something out of a sci-fi film. It looked cool but it definitely didn’t seem like something one would have on the shopping list. Cut to 2020. WhatsApp groups formed by school friends and family members are flooded with queries for one of these no-longer-fancy gadgets. There are plenty of options on Amazon, some come for as little as Rs 1,899 or as high as Rs 8,999. Frankly, like for any gadget out there, price is just a number and the pandemic has just pushed it up, up and away. We tried out InfraTemp from Zoook and the TCL Infrared Thermometer.

Zoook InfraTemp

We have used products from the French consumer technology firm Zoook before and one thing is for sure: the products last and deliver on promise. Out of the box, the product looks sleek. Instead of having several buttons, only a screen and trigger greet the audience. Simple and to the point.

Everything on the InfraTemp is labelled properly. And this is important because the product will be used by people with varying levels of tech knowhow. Below the grip is a clearly marked compartment which can be opened and two AAA batteries need to be pushed in. With the supply chain hit across industries, it would have been a thoughtful gesture to add a couple of batteries to the box.

Let’s move to functionality. Once you pop in the battery, hit the trigger, which is the power button. There are several options you can go through. The first screen shows the last four recorded temperatures. If you keep pressing the trigger, more recorded temperatures are shown.

A long press takes the user to the menu. To activate or change parameters, a long press is needed or a quick hit on the trigger takes one through the list. The first thing we needed to change was ‘unit’, which can be toggled between Celsius and Fahrenheit.

But what we liked the most is ‘mode’. It can be switched between body and object. Body obviously would mean the person in front of you. And object can be anything. It was fun to check the temperature of things around the room — coffee cup to the CPU.

What matters most is accuracy. We have to remember that infrared thermometers measure the surface temperature of the skin, which is absolutely fine. Just knowing that the surface temperature of a person is within permissible limits eases one’s worry to an extent. Imagine sticking a thermometer in the armpit or indulging in rectal thermometry on every person walking into an office... it is unrealistic, unfeasible and unworkable!

Besides the temperature of every member in the household, we checked it on a pissed eight-month-old kitten. We are happy to inform that readings remained constant. As for battery life, this is a perfect choice for use at shops and in housing societies.

Should you buy it? My wife said it would be lovely to have a couple of them while my mother has upped the demand to the power of two. The Zoook InfraTemp is hardy, handy and a practical device for 2020.

But remember...

Guidance on containing Covid-19 from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says workplaces, health care providers, and assisted living facilities may consider temperature checks. So how effective are infrared thermometers? We have to remember that these thermometers determine temperature by measuring the heat emanating from the surface of a person’s body. There are occasions when people with the device don’t hold it close enough to a person’s forehead, which can give low temperature readings; at the same time, holding it too close can result in a high reading. Also, we have to remember that there are scenarios when the temperature reading may be slightly on the higher side, like if you are entering your office after a long walk on a sunny day or say you have to run to catch a flight. Thermometers and complex cameras can measure the heat coming off a person, so it’s a practical — not the ultimate — checkpoint tool.

The TCL Infrared Thermometer comes with multiple switches near the screen, which makes it easier to work the device The Telegraph

TCL Infrared Thermometer

How different can two infrared thermometers be? It’s the little additions that matter. The TCL Infrared Thermometer — with Segun Life — has a premium feel when the box is opened. It comes in a cloth pouch, suggesting that it can be a handy device for the long haul.

The most striking aspect of the device is its look. Even without reading the manual provided in the box, a kid can start using the thermometer. After popping in two AAA batteries, the screen comes alive. There are three buttons below the screen. One to switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit, another for toggling sound on and off and the middle button allows the user to switch between what the thermometer gets pointed at — humans or objects. Like on almost every other infrared thermometers, there is a trigger, which when pressed, records temperature and after a few seconds the device automatically goes into sleep mode.

For the more complicated features, like recalling past readings, one has to long-press the ‘M’ button. The fever alert threshold value can also be checked. Though rarely would the user go into these modes.

Accuracy? It offers pretty accurate surface temperature. We tried taking the temperature of the forehead time and again, the reading was constant. When the thermometer was moved to the temple, it varied by 0.1 degrees while — just for fun — we tried taking a reading of the inside of the mouth and it was a few points higher.

The device looks hardy and doesn’t fail, but there are two things we want more from it, or for that matter most of the choices in the market. It would be great if the device prompts you to move closer if it is positioned too far away from the head. Second, an age precision setting would also be welcome. The normal body temperature range of a newborn, an adult and an ageing person may not be the same.

Looking at the bigger picture, with more people becoming aware of infrared thermometers — and buying them — traditional reading devices may fall out of favour for some time. As for the TCL Infrared Thermometer, it’s easy-to-use and a handy companion in an era which we want to be done with.