Review on 🌡️ Enhanced Temperature Monitoring with Extech SDL200 Four Channel Thermometer Logger by Joz Lowe

I took this data logger to monitor the transmission temp on my 2003 Honda Odyssey to see how high it was (the Odyssey is notorious for overheating the transmission). I attached a couple of K-Bead thermocouples to the metal part of the fluid lines that run between the gearbox and the radiator using aluminum foil (which can handle the heat) and thermal mastic to ensure good heat transfer between the lines and the TC ensure. I am very happy with this setup so far. As for the data logs, I import them into Matlab for plotting, but Excel works fine too. What's good: 1) Turns on and displays the temperature fairly quickly. If you just use it as a 4-channel thermometer, you're done. 2) Data recording is started/stopped by pressing the button. Couldn't be easier. I would recommend having a USB->SD card adapter handy for easier data transfer to your computer. They read 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and they were all less than 1 degree Fahrenheit from freezing, with a difference of about 0.1 to 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit between TCs. Try to get this match between sensors on a standard PTC or NTC type temperature sensor (without a bunch of calibration resistors)! 4) Saves in .XLS format, which is easy to open on most computers, unusual for this type of Devices, but the setting While straightforward when you have the manual in front of you, the device has many settings that are so abbreviated on the display that it's not intuitive what that setting is. Even after doing this once, I still have to go to the manual if I want to change any settings. 2) A cumbersome way of writing data to a file. I'd rather have the device create a new file each time I start a new protocol. Instead, it keeps writing to the same file, simply adding another set of column labels between the previous and current logs. Not that big of a deal, but creating a data chart is a little annoying. Presumably the device can only write up to 30,000 points to a file. I haven't yet figured out what it does when it hits 30,000 points, but I suspect it creates a new file and starts a new log. All in all I am very happy with this device and would definitely recommend it. Since TCs are fairly inexpensive I plan to use them on other car transmissions and see how the readings compare. I also work with car air conditioners quite a bit and will use them to monitor vent and ambient temperatures to quantify how well the air conditioner is performing after a repair.