The iProven Forehead and Ear Thermometer DMT-489 was the most impressive thermometer tested with one-second reads, accuracy, versatility, comprehensive instructions and quality packaging.
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What we likeThe iProven DMT-489 is a two-in-one infrared thermometer, as it allows you to switch between reading via an in-ear probe and a forehead setting, the latter of which is safer for infants under 3 months old.
It was the most accurate thermometer in my tests, reading within 0.5-1.0 degrees again and again for forehead readings and within 0.5-0.8 degrees for ear mode. It also displays the temperature within one second.
There are separate buttons for "head" and "ear," and to change from one to the other, you need to snap on or off the thermometer's top cap, which I found a little difficult but still doable.
To get an accurate ear temperature, you have to insert and place the probe top correctly, so be sure to read the instructions thoroughly. It took me a couple of tries to feel confident taking my temperature this way.
I liked that it has a fever alarm and color temperature indication to take the guesswork out of interpreting the readings. The manual also includes a very comprehensive comparison table on how to interpret measurements based on age and method. The thermometer can also store up to 20 past readings for easy comparison.
The devices come with two AA batteries, a soft pouch for storage (great for travel and diaper bags), and cleaning instructions. It also comes with a two-year limited warranty and the option of an extended-year warranty for free.
On Amazon and iProven's website, there appears to be two different versions of the DMT-489. There's no noticeable difference (both share the same model number), but it's possible to pick one up at a cheaper price. The thermometer comes in white or black.
iHealth No-Touch Forehead Thermometer PT3The iHealth No-Touch Forehead Thermometer PT3 reads in only one second and makes it easy to accurately take anyone's temperature.
What we likeBefore testing the iHealth No-Touch Forehead Thermometer PT3 myself, I'd already seen it in action for pre-screening at both my dentist's office and my daughter's daycare. It seemed like a good product that offered quick readings.
When I tested it myself, I found that it was the best temporal thermometer of the bunch. Instead of a beeping alarm, the device vibrates once it has a reading, which also lights up the LED display. This is nice if you don't want a loud noise, and upon testing, I found the precision and repeatability varied only by 0.5 degrees.
At the time of testing, I also had Cindy Mrotek, whose clinic A.C.E Therapies screens people upon entry, try it out. She said the iHealth was a faster read compared to other infrared thermometers. However, she added that it was a bit difficult to use on kids who can't sit still. I found the device wouldn't read if it was too far away from the skin.
The iHealth comes with a user manual in English and Spanish, a quick guide with pictures, two AAA batteries, and cleaning instructions. It also has a one-year limited warranty.
Exergen Temporal Scan Forehead ThermometerThe Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer with Smart Glow was the most accurate and consistent out of all the thermometers I tested with over 80 peer-reviewed clinical studies to back up its use on children.
What we likeNext to rectal thermometers, temporal artery thermometers are the most reliable way to get an accurate reading on children and babies over 3 months of age. (Use a rectal thermometer on infants under 3 months.)
With the Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer, a gentle stroke across a child's forehead captures the naturally emitted heat waves coming from the skin over the temporal artery to give a reading in 2 to 3 seconds. It can store up to eight readings.
When tested repeatedly, the Exergen thermometer delivered the most consistent and precise results of any model tested on myself and my kids — within 0.3 degrees.
However, unlike other models with backlight displays, the Exergen has a relatively small LCD screen with a dim readout. It may be hard to see if you are in a dark room.
However, unlike others, this thermometer wasn't as intuitive to use, despite having instructions printed directly on the back of the device, I wasn't sure if I was correctly stroking the top of the unit across the forehead. However, the instruction manual had a QR code which led to videos demonstrating how to use it, which was helpful.
The model comes with a 9V battery already installed, cleaning instructions, and a five-year limited product warranty.
Kinsa Quick CareThe Kinsa Quick Care Thermometer makes it easy to keep track of your baby's temperature, symptoms, and what steps you should take next.
What we likeWhen I had to self-certify that my kids are free of COVID-19 symptoms before sending them off to school, a smart thermometer like the Kinsa — which stores all the readings for each family member on my and helps me monitor their baseline temperature — makes that daily routine much easier to manage.
The Kinsa Quick Care Smart Thermometer connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and uses an app, which I found easy to set up. I then created profiles for each member of my family, which included inputting their birthdays to help the app's algorithm provide appropriate care instructions from person to person. You can also add notes and symptoms, and track medication doses within the app.
After each reading, the thermometer displays not only the temperature but a happy, neutral, or sad-face emoji corresponding with fever status.
You can check the temperature orally, under the armpit, or rectally (they also make a separate model specific for in-ear use). Although the box says the response time is 8 seconds, I found it to read a temperature between 2 to 3 seconds when used orally. The precision varies between 0.8 and 0.5 degrees.
Kinsa sits in a unique space for both thermometers and smart equipment contributing to public health: As Hilary Brueck, Insider's Health corresponden, laid out back in , the smart thermometer has helped forecast outbreaks of both the coronavirus and the flu, including detecting fever spikes weeks before hospitals and clinics start to see an influx of patients.
Vicks Comfort Flex ThermometerThe Vicks Comfort Flex Thermometer is not only affordable, but it's also accurate, easy to use on the whole family, and has a large screen with color-coded readings to take the guesswork out of fever.
What we likeThe Vicks Comfort Flex Thermometer is easy to use right out of the box: There's only one button and you have the option to use the device orally, rectally, or under the arm. It runs on an included coin cell button battery.
I found the large digital display to be the easiest to read of all the thermometers I tested. It also beeps the loudest of the group, which is especially helpful for seniors with visual and hearing impairments, but also could be a nuisance for some considering the beeping lasts a full eight seconds.
The LCD screen uses a color temperature indication alongside displaying the actual number, which is generally helpful but fever isn't the same for everyone so this could be alarmist if you run hot.
The precision and repeatability of the thermometer were quite good in my tests and only varied by about 0.5 degrees. Although the box says the Vicks Comfort Flex Thermometer takes 10-12 seconds to read your temperature, I found it was much quicker with a response time of 5 to 6 seconds orally and 6 to 7 seconds rectally.
It's a little annoying you have to turn it off and back on to take a second reading, and it is only able to recall the last reading you took. But I did like that this model comes with 100 disposable probe covers and a protective holder, along with a one-year limited warranty and instructions in English and Spanish.
Braun Thermoscan 7 Ear Thermometer: This is a fantastic in-ear thermometer with much peer-reviewed research to back it up, and not only do we recommend it but many parents I spoke with already own it. The downsides are it takes 10 seconds to read a temp, and it's the most expensive option I tested — especially when you factor in the disposable lens filters that need replacing for accuracy and hygiene.
Dr. Talbot's Infrared Forehead Thermometer, Non-Contact: This device has comparable precision and speed to the iHealth and is designed for contactless reading of infants over 3 months, including adults. I liked this device and it was easy to operate, but it's more expensive than the iHealth, and was difficult to change the settings using only the trigger.
Kinsa Smart Ear Thermometer: The Kinsa is super sleek and easy to use on yourself, which can be tricky for the ear. I also found the app to be tremendous in terms of content with very helpful instructions. Even though the readings only took a second, the precision tended to vary by 1.5 degrees.
I reached out to several pediatricians for their expert opinions on thermometers and read journal articles, reviews from reputable publications, and customer reviews. I also spoke with 20 parents about their temperature-taking experiences.
I narrowed down the final list of thermometers by testing each model myself nine times over three days on myself and my two kids, as well as a handful of times on my sister and two of my nieces, one of whom is an infant.
I also handed off two of the infrared thermometers to Cindy Mrotek, owner of A.C.E Behavior Solutions, an essential business screening adults and children with special health care needs upon entry, for testing over one week.
I looked at each product's speed, size of the display, mute options, memory recall, batteries, warranty options, and storage containers. I also looked at:
Accuracy, precision, and readability of thermometer instructions
You have to use a thermometer correctly for an accurate reading, so I evaluated the information on each product's box and inside its user manual from a health literacy perspective, including how helpful and easy to read the instructions were.
Models varied, with some having a quick guide with pictures (great), information in Spanish (big bonus), or a QR code for video instructions, while others had printed so tiny you need a magnifying glass to read it.
Cost and availability
Since thermometers are an essential part of an at-home health kit, they need to be affordable. Some on our list are the price of two cups of coffee, while others are upwards of $30, but we also lay out how you can save money on a thermometer by using your health savings account or flex spending account.
Your basic digital thermometer options to choose from are:
All thermometers sold in the United States must meet federal standards and are already calibrated for home use at the time of purchase.
Only a rectal temperature offers a true outpatient reading, says pediatrician, Dr. John Vann. "Everything else is an estimate," he said.
"Luckily, the exact number is not usually as important as how the patient looks," he adds. This is to say, there are other indicators of how severe someone's illness or condition is other than an optimally accurate temperature reading. There are also reliable methods for checking your temperature even if you don't have access to a thermometer.
No matter if you opt for an infrared thermometer or a strictly ear-based model, it's important to know fever isn't the same for everyone and that it varies by age, gender, and time of day, among other variables. Using a thermometer at various times of the day when you're feeling well gives you an idea of what's normal for you, or your baseline temperature.
Among at-home thermometers, medical research hasn't determined an exact correlation between oral, rectal, ear, armpit, and forehead temperature measurements. But Kaiser Permanente notes that an ear (tympanic) temperature is 0.5 to 1 degree higher than an oral temperature and a forehead (temporal) scanner is usually 0.5 to 1 degree lower than an oral temperature.
If you have an HSA or an FSA account, know that over-the-counter digital thermometers are eligible for reimbursement without a prescription.
Here's how it works:
To figure out what's a fever for you, you want to find your baseline temperature (i.e., what's normal for you) by checking your temperature at various times of the day when you are feeling well.
While many Americans think anything over 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit is a problem, what constitutes a fever is different from person to person.
Rik Heller, a biomedical engineer, and thermographic expert, told Insider, "Age, gender, and even time of day impact normal body temperatures."
Some children's temperatures especially run higher than others, points out Dr. Jesse Hackell, a practicing pediatrician with New York-based Pomona Pediatrics. Any reading of 100.4 F or higher in a baby younger than 3 months is a reason to call the pediatrician. "Another reason to call is if the fever persists for more than 24 hours in children younger than two and more than three days in a child 2 years of age or older," he said.
Meanwhile, older adults tend to have lower baseline temperatures than younger adults, and fevers in the elderly are sometimes completely absent.
4 years ago I published a video comparing 6 different Red Light Therapy Panels. Sure there were a few product reviews on YouTube, but no one had done such an in-depth comparison between the available products.
This was a time when unique features in a red light panel were rather limited. Things such as a built in timer or the ability to connect multiple panels together were seen as premium additions.
Price, power output and those premium features all varied between panels, but when you boiled it down to the basics – choosing which product to purchase wasn’t that complex of a decision.
Fast forward a couple of years and my latest panel comparison is going to include over 15 products with a wide range of specs and product features.
Prices for a panel range from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of thousand.
The feature lists are lengthy, with touch screen control panels, wifi connectivity, pulsed light options, dimming capability and we’re even seeing panels emitting wavelengths outside the red and near-infrared range.
Not to mention the range in panel shapes and sizes, the various stand options, and the fact that we now have red light therapy companies located all across the world.
Even with my in-depth comparison videos (be sure to join our mailing list to be notified when the next one goes live!) and vast collection of reviews it has become quite an involved process to decide what panel is best for you.
And that is why today I am very excited to announce the launch of the Red Light Therapy Shopping Tool. This is something I have been working on for the last 6 months and it’s going to change the way people shop for a red light device.
This web-based tool allows people to search, sort and filter products based on their criteria. Effectively allowing you to find the best red light therapy device for your own situation.
If you want to find the most powerful panel under $, you can easily do that. Apply the price filter to stop at $, and then rank the products from highest powered to lowest.
What if you want to find a Wall Panel with 300 LEDs that has 810nm light? That’s doable as well. Select the ‘Wall Panel’ option in product class, then tick the 810nm box under wavelength.
The table will update to show only the products that have met this criteria.
Want more information on medical infrared touch monitor? Feel free to contact us.
Even better, with this example you can tick the wavelength button to see a breakdown of how many LEDs in the product actually have 810nm light.
What about location? Perhaps you want to buy from a local company for local support, faster (and cheaper) freight options and to know you’re protected by local consumer laws? Well with the Red Light Therapy Shopping Tool this is also possible.
Simply select your region from the company location dropdown and let the tool filter the results. You can even filter the data based on where the company has a warehouse – as some companies have warehouses located across the world.
The options really are endless, here are a few more examples of what you can do:
I have included the most important product metrics to allow you to easily find the best products.
It really is quite a powerful tool and you can see why I'm excited to share this with the world. The best way to understand how useful it will be is to simply play around with the tool. And you can do this by simply heading to https://products.lighttherapyinsiders.com/
But for those who want to learn more about my new Shopping Tool, read on.
As you will see there are a lot of data points used in this shopping tool. And some things do need a bit of an explanation. So let me cover these things below:
The are two ways you can sort the products by nnEMF output. The first is by ticking the 'Ultra Low EMF' box.
What this does is removes any product that had a Orange or Red nnEMF measurement (in Electric or Magnetic fields) as per the Building Biology standards.
These readings were taken at 6 inches. So please note if you are EMF sensitive, just because a product may fall under the 'Ultra Low EMF' category it doesn't mean it will be a zero reading right next to the device.
The second option is to simply display the nnEMF figures and then analyse the results.
To do this you simply tick the EMF box under 'Show Columns'. This will reveal the EMF data for each product.
You will see two icons - a lightning bolt which represents the electric reading and a magnet - which represents the magnetic reading.
Next to these icons you will see a light - green, orange and red.
Green means the product tested with safe nnEMF readings at 6 inches (and will remain if the 'Ultra Low EMF' filter button is ticked).
Orange or Red mean there was a higher amount of nnEMF detected at 6 inches. To see the exact reading, simply hover your mouse cursor over the color to see the reading.
Like the EMF data, there are two ways to filter or analyse products based on the wavelengths emitted.
The first is to use the 'Wavelengths Included' filter box. If you only want products that have say 810nm NIR, then tick the 810 box.
This means only products that have 810nm (plus or minus 5nm) light will be shown in the shopping tool, everything else will be hidden.
You can do this for multiple wavelengths. Maybe you want a panel with 810nm NIR light, 630nm Red Light and some blue light. You would then tick 810n, 630 and 480. At the time of writing the only product that meets this criteria is the new BioMax & SaunaMax panel.
The next method to analyse the wavelength data is by ticking the wavelength box under 'Show Columns'.
When you do this, the wavelengths emitted for each product will be displayed.
The breakdown is pretty straight forward. You will see the wavelength followed by an x followed by a number.
For example - 630x75
What this means is that the product is emitted 630nm light and has 75 LED chips emitting this wavelength.
This is handy as earlier we used an example where we wanted to only see products with 810nm light. But now with this extra column on display we can see how many LEDs are putting out 810nm light. Some panels only have a few LEDs emitting 810. Others have a lot more.
So by setting your criteria (using the Wavelengths Included option) and then display the actual Wavelength Data (by showing the Wavelength Column) you now have the information to make a better informed decision.
❗Notice the ! mark beside some products? Click this to reveal any discrepancies between the marketed wavelengths and what we tested in the real world. Sometimes panels don't emit exactly what the website says they should emit!Flicker is simple - if the LED's emitted flicker during my testing, then this is noted when the product is entered into the shopping tool database. If you don't want to consider a product that has flicker, simply tick the 'Flicker Free' button
There are two shipping figures, the first (which shows by default) is shipping to continental USA. You will see the American flag next to this figure.
If you click the > next to the Shipping label, this will show figures for international shipping options (and you will see an image of the world).
Please note that the figures provided may not be accurate - a lot of companies frequently change their freight costs and actual costs to your location may vary. For the international shipping I have looked at the cost to send it to Australia and the UK. I use these figures in the shopping tool but note the '+' icon beside the figure - as again your actual costs may be much higher.
Assume the shipping cost does not include VAT or Taxes as well.
There are two power figures displayed in the shopping tool. Here is what you need to know about them:
When I first did my red light therapy comparison series I referred to the panels as 'Body Panels'.
Fast forward a few years and two things have changed. Firstly, the 200 - 300 LED panels of yesteryear are now rather small compared to the panels currently on the market.
It's now possible to buy all in one panels with over LEDs for instance.
Secondly, I have learnt that a smaller 300 LED panel doesn't provide adequate treatment beyond the size of the panel (Watch more on this HERE).
So for these reasons I have decided to change the labels I use on panels to tole following:
I apologise for the confusion here, but the market has changed a lot and I think these new definitions do a better job of explaining what the panel size actually is.
There are also the following classes:
Please note, the data entered was believed to be correct at the time it was inputted into the database. These are not real-time figures. Prices do change, products are modified and companies do stop selling products.
Ok so you've used the Red Light Therapy Shopping Tool to find the product best for you, now what?
Well there is a neat feature embedded into the tool that is going to help you here. Next to the product name you will see a red circle with an 'i' inside it.
If you click this an info box will appear:
In this info box you will see:
So if you want to learn more about it, click the review link. And if you want to buy it, take note of the discount and then hit the product link and grab your credit card!
The tool is pretty straight forward, apply the filters, show the columns that interest you and use the sort function.
But there are a few tips and tricks that I wanted to share with you:
If you look at the Shipping label and the Value label you will see a red arrow. Click this arrow to reveal more data. For shipping you will move from USA shipping rates to international shipping rates.
For Value, you will move from $ per watt to $ per LED.
I have coded the nnEMF readings either green, orange or red. For readings that are orange or red, you can click or hover your cursor over the circle to see the actual measurement.
By default only some columns are on display. EMF, Dimensions, Warranty, Sound Level and Wavelengths are all hidden.
But you can easily turn these columns on by ticking the box under 'show columns'. You can also hide columns that don't interest you.
Above the product name you will see a search bar. Here you can search product and company names to find a particular product.
Though you can use this tool on your mobile , it is going to be easier to use on a larger screen. There are a lot of data points to be displayed. If you want to geek out on the data, use a larger device.
At the top centre of the Tool you will see a 'reset' button. Be sure to click this to clear filters.
Finally, all prices are in USD. This may mean some of the prices on the non-USA based companies in the shopping tool may not match the website price due to exchange rate swings.
I have a lot planned for this tool. So be sure to jump on the LightTherapyInsiders list, or keep an eye on our website as I will be announcing big updates through these channels.
But here is what I have planned for this tool:
Of course every time I review a new product, the data will be updated in this database.
The export and print features will be improved, as well as providing you a way to share your filtered results with friends.
I want to add more products to this database - even products that I haven't tested yet. Of course such entries will be missing a lot of data (no power figures, no EMF or sound data etc). But it will still allow you to see what options are out in the market.
What else? What would you like to see added with this tool?
I really do value your feedback. Please send through your ideas. I am keen to hear them!
You can do that by heading to our Contact Us page, or leaving a comment in our Light Therapy Insiders Facebook Group, on one of my YouTube videos or leave a message in the comment section below.
Likewise if you see data that is wrong or if you discover any bugs!
Are you interested in learning more about infrared touch overlay? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!