The Best Thermometers

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.