Product Review: Exergen Temporal Thermometer

Up until about 2 months ago I was able to use a regular ole' digital thermometer on my son with an accurate reading. However, I have found just recently that holding a 12+ month child down for over a minute to get a body temperature reading wasn't going to happen at all. My son absolutely hates to be still. He freaks out completely when he has to be restrained for doctor's appointments or shots, so finding an easy accurate way to take his body temperature was very important. Recently he developed some sort of virus and I could tell that he was burning up. My husband and I tried to hold him down to get a reading under his arm but was not able to because of his moving and screaming. I was told by my doctor that ear thermometers are not as accurate as digital "rectal" thermometers and did not purchase one because of this fact. But, because of our situation and how my son was acting, knowing how important it was to know his accurate temperature I headed out to the store to buy a more convenient product for our household.

Upon arriving to the store I found I had several options to choose from. From stickers to ear thermometers to pacifier thermometers. Finally a product caught my eye that looked to be almost too convenient and upon reading the package I found myself happy with what I read. The product I found was called the Exergen Temporal Thermometer. I quickly bought it and rushed home to my son.

When I got home I read the instructions thoroughly. And placed the temporal thermometer on my sons head and drug it to his temple as it had told me. The reading, read 97 degrees. I was quite surprised as my son was hot his cheeks were red and I knew without a doubt he was feverish. I tried again and got 101.1. Interesting? I was shocked to find there was nearly a 4 degree difference! I tried one more time thinking to myself "third times the charm". I got a reading of 93 degrees. At this point I was becoming frustrated! This was not a cheap piece of equipment I had purchased. Costing just under 40$ with tax. I found the overall use of the product ineffective. I tried the device out on myself and my husband thinking that my son was moving way too much for a correct reading. The readings I received for me were between 93 and 99 degrees, I think this was unacceptable! The product was huge waste of time. This is an important piece of equipment and I couldn't believe that it would be sold on store shelves being that it was completely incapable of performing the task it was created to do.

I would not recommend purchasing this product. Looks are definitely deceiving! I returned this product the very next day and purchased an ear thermometer. It worked much, much better than the Exergen Temporal Thermometer ever would.