Product Review: Scythe Kama Thermo Wireless

For an easy way to read temperatures without wired sensors the Kama Thermo Wireless from Scythe is a must have tool for computer enthusiasts.

Ease of Use, Performance: 24/25, Look & Feel: 24/25,
Features 22/25, How much I enjoy 23/25

Total: 93/100

The Scythe Kama Thermo Wireless Thermometer is a great way to get accurate readings of temperatures from any surface. The Kama Thermo Wireless will have you reading temperatures of things like your memory sticks, North Bridge and other components inside your computer that are just not going to be read any other way.

This accurate device measures temperatures using a wireless sensor that is point and press simple. Just point the cone shaped end at the device you want to measure and press the button. The device will read the temperature with a + or - 2 degrees Celsius accuracy for a surface temperature. The Kama Thermo Wireless measures both Celsius and Fahrenheit by simply holding the button for three second when power is off to switch from one to the other.

I have used a few of these devices in my time with the United States military and found them to be a bit out of my price range, by several hundred dollars. Now the technology has caught up to me and you can purchase one of these handy units for about twenty dollars. The Kama Thermo Wireless is a nice looking little thermometer in the White much like Wii or iPod white. It also comes in a black version for those with a darker style in mind.

The battery is a button battery about the same size as a motherboard BIOS battery that has a bit of a problem on the model I have. The battery was a bit low for the readout to display correctly so I had to buy a new battery. I think this device needs to have a pretty fresh battery as the battery that came with the unit reads 2.668 volts with a multi meter which is not that low for a 3 volt battery. Not much of a problem but if you want to do a lot of measuring without the Kama Thermo Wireless plugged in to the USB of your computer you should have a spare fresh battery handy.

This worked perfectly well with the new battery as well as with the USB connection and the readout is very nice to have using inside your computer with its blue backlight. The Kama Thermo Wireless is backlit with a bright blue on the LED display when plugged into your USB connection. The Kama Thermo comes with the Thermometer itself, a battery, a USB cable and instructions, which are pretty sparse.

The Kama Thermo works very well regardless of the lack of detailed instructions; I have noticed that Scythe does not have many long winded instruction manuals with their products. Most of the products they sell are very simple to use and instructions are equally as simple and mostly pictures to boot. The Kama Thermo Wireless is no exception and works very easily without much instruction.

Simply plug in the USB or go completely wireless and point the front cone shaped end where you want to take a reading and push the button for a second. Doing readings and getting accurate results is a matter of taking several readings at the same object. From long experience in the military I learned that testing electronics is done by taking several readings and averaging them and this is no different.

To make sure you're getting accurate readings as well as the correct thing you are trying to measure you should take several readings and average them. Also point the meter at the object you want to read and read the meter, then move it away and do another reading. This way you're sure to get accurate readings of the part you want.

The Kama Thermo Wireless works very well and I found some things using it that only reassured what I had read on the internet such as memory sticks are very high temperature devices. Memory and other components that do not have an easy way to measure like internal sensors are very easy to measure with the Kama Thermo Wireless.

Of course these are not going to be internal readings like a sensor would get but it does give you a very good reference for things like trying to cool your computer. You can simply take some readings of things like memory sticks and then move fans, or other components and take more readings to see if you improved circulation or made things worse.

For testing this little gem works great for things like me telling if one heat sink works better than another on memory sticks. Also like I said for general cooling to figure out the best way to cool off components like memory sticks the Kama Thermo Wireless is great.

For some computers, like mine, the north or south bridge are not read by programs like Speedfan so this would be the only somewhat accurate way to measure the bridges and heat on them. You can see how well the heat sinks are cooling by measuring the heat sinks themselves and seeing how hot they are.

The lower their temperatures are the lower the temperatures under them against the chips will be. Or at least in theory it works like this but in some cases things like a bad thermal bond with lousy thermal compound would make this a bit inaccurate but you get the idea.

The Kama Thermo Wireless from Scythe is a great way to find out temperatures of things inside your computer from 0 to 100 degrees Celsius with an accuracy of + or - 2 degrees. The Kama Thermo Wireless is a great little test instrument and a fantastic tool for computer builders.

I highly recommend the Scythe Kama Thermo Wireless for a great thermometer and a quick and accurate way to measure temperatures.