IR heat gun thermometers any good for heat treating?

[xil3]

I was just curious what you all thought about the IR heat gun thermometers for checking the temperature when heat treating.

If they actually work, it's be a pretty easy way to tell if it's at a specific temperature.

 

[12345678910]

Not that useful on hot metals

Google emissivity

They are calibrated at a specific emissivity and it changes for different metals, finishes and temperatures.

thermocouples are the way to go .

 

[Mudbug007]

The ones I'm most familiar with (Raytech) only go up to 500 or 600 degrees. These are the ones in the $40 to $80 range. I do think that the ST25 model goes up to 1000 degrees though but cost a little more. I think to be useful you'd need one that would read up to 2000 degrees or more. But that's just my opinion on the matter!