Re: Infrared Tachometer vs. Laser Non-Contact Tachometer vs. Stroboscope - Difference
A strobe-a-scope is adjusted to match the speed of the rotation. This has it's own errors, as is obvious. It is more difficult in time and effort to get a reading, and the last choice. The optical, non-contact tachometer detects differences in light/dark, to develop a counting of pulses. The other laser, and IR would trigger on the variations also. I would avoid the strobe-a-scope, and pick the one which meets your accuracy needs. In your case, unless you have special requirements, all other options sound OK. They are all point an read. Your application might not allow the optical tach to work. This device works well with bright flashes of light and darkness. Pointing the optical tach to a room's floresent lighting gets a 7200 reading. This is 60hz * 2 * 60 for 7200RPH.
Closing question/comment: is this device being used in a medical environment? (spinning blood or other fluids).
Some devices have rear pannel monitoring points. Connection to a frequency counter is possible then.