Glossary

Thermometer

A device for measuring temperature though some models also combine relative humidity as well.

Analog thermometer

A simple thermometer that measures and displays the temperature using a simple dial.

Digital thermometer

A digitally controlled thermometer giving greater accuracy than an analog thermometer with a LED or LCD display. More functional digital thermometers include features like min/max readings and limited memory recall

Data logger

A thermometer designed to log temperature values over an extended period usually using battery power. Blind data loggers have no display capability though for a small premium units with a LCD display are available. Some data loggers are available with rudimentary alerting capabilities. All data loggers have some mechanism for connecting to a PC so that the temperature readings can be downloaded for storage and analysis purposes.

Environmental Monitor

An environmental monitor is a fully featured system capable of monitoring a number of different environmental conditions like temperature, humidity, wetness, smoke, dry contact, power presence/power meter and so on. Environmental monitors are completely stand alone devices that can record and alarm without external intervention. The more sophisticated environmental monitors are capable of complex visualization such as temperature maps.