Laser tachometer?

[Elkins45]

I need to verify the accuracy of the tachometer on my boat engine. I know that there are cheap tachometers for small engines that use a wire to count spark impulses, but I also saw one that uses a laser. I presume you shine to at the flywheel or something like that? Has anyone used one and is it a better solution than a cheap hour meter/tach combo?

 

[cronk]

I have one I bought from Harbor Freight. It comes with a strip of reflective tape you just cut off a small piece and stick it to a flywheel, pulley etc. Point the laser at it, and it displays the rpm on a digital display.
Mine has worked great, use it on small engines to set the governed speed to 3600 rpm.

 

[joegreen]

Yeah I have one of those laser ones from Amazon and it is fantastic. It's so easy and much safer around spinning parts