While most thermometers provide an accurate body temperature reading, the best ones are also fast and easy to read—so you can quickly figure out what to do if you or a member of your household may be sick.
We’ve tested over 30 different thermometers since 2016, including through pandemic-related supply disruptions that left many people unable to buy any thermometer at all.
Through all this time, the reliable and readily available Vicks ComfortFlex Thermometer has remained our top-pick stick thermometer. It’s faster and easier to read than most others, and at a comparatively affordable price.
Contactless forehead thermometers, increasingly preferred in settings where the same thermometer is used on multiple people, abound. Among the many options in this category, we recommend the Hetaida HTD8813C—sold as the Homedics Non-Contact Infrared Body Thermometer, iProven NCT-978 Contactless Thermometer, and Mobi Digital Non-Contact Thermometer, among other names—which has remained reliable over four years of testing.
And if you prefer an in-ear option, the Braun ThermoScan 7 Ear Thermometer performed best in our tests. But it takes far longer to operate than our other picks.
Top pick
Fast, accurate, and reliable, this thermometer has a flexible probe and a backlit, easy-to-read display with a clear fever-alert feature.
The same thermometer, but with a rigid probe.
In our testing, the Vicks ComfortFlex Thermometer was faster than any other stick thermometer in its class.
Its clear, backlit display is larger than those on competitors and delivers easy-to-read results.
The fever alarm—which lights up the display in green, yellow, or red depending on the temperature reading—is a straightforward guide for anyone unsure of what may qualify as a fever.
The ComfortFlex has a flexible probe, which can enhance comfort, especially when using it under the tongue.
The Vicks SpeedRead Thermometer variant has a rigid probe, which some people prefer for use in the armpit, especially. Both can be used as oral, axillary, or rectal thermometers and can switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius.
The ComfortFlex and SpeedRead are covered by one-year warranties, although all our original test models have outlasted this coverage—sometimes by years.
Replacement CR1225 3V batteries are inexpensive and relatively easy to find.
Top pick
Sold under many names, original equipment manufacturer Hetaida’s HTD8813C is a serviceable contactless forehead thermometer. Get whichever version is available and cheapest: They’re all the same.
Sold under many names, original equipment manufacturer Hetaida’s HTD8813C is a serviceable contactless forehead thermometer. Get whichever version is available and cheapest: They’re all the same.
Sold under many names, original equipment manufacturer Hetaida’s HTD8813C is a serviceable contactless forehead thermometer. Get whichever version is available and cheapest: They’re all the same.
Interest in contactless thermometers has exploded since the pandemic.
“They’re faster and more sanitary than other options,” said Shaun McClure, an emergency medical technician and the founder of The Set Medic, which provides medic services to television and film sets.
When choosing which to test in 2020, we found three well-performing and similar-seeming models that turned out to be the very same.
The Homedics Non-Contact Infrared Body Thermometer, iProven NCT-978 Contactless Thermometer, and Mobi Digital Non-Contact Thermometer—also known as the HTD8813C from original equipment manufacturer Hetaida—are reliable and have backlit displays.
Like our picks from Vicks, these thermometers light up green, yellow, or red depending on the reading.
All three of these noncontact thermometers can double as surface or object thermometers, can switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and can function with the volume turned on or off.
The Homedics and iProven models are covered by one-year warranties by default; the Mobi version has a warranty of only 90 days unless you register it.
These thermometers use two AAA batteries.
Top pick
This in-ear thermometer performed exceptionally well in our tests and has an easy-to-read backlit display with a clear fever-alert feature.
Accurate, reliable, and fast, the Braun ThermoScan 7 Ear Thermometer is an easy-to-read in-ear-only thermometer with a backlit display that glows green, yellow, or red depending upon the temperature reading.
It is bulkier and takes longer to use than our other picks, and the sound cannot be turned off, but it is the most accurate in-ear thermometer we’ve tested in its price range, it can switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and it has a three-year warranty.
This model uses two AA batteries.
