Anybody have experience with these thermometers?


 
Jon:
Happy New Year to you and the family. My wife likes Amazon, but I am totally unimpressed. Often sellers are supposed to be in the U.S., but end up being in Asia. I had a couple of Ryobi 18V batteries on my Christmas wish list this year. I ended up getting two Chinese knockoffs which are 75% capacity of the Ryobi battery model I was looking for. Amazon has a bad habit of listing items which say they are the same model, but are not. I kept them since they were outside the return window and we didn't have any shipping packages left. Fortunately, they were not the price of the Ryobi batteries. I can see how the wife was misled by the way Amazon posts things on their webpages, can't blame her for trying to get the right model. I'll work the daylights out of the knockoffs to see how they hold up. I've noticed on some Amazon listings that resellers are selling grill items at higher prices than the manufacturers have posted as list price. Enough about Amazon, I'd rather see what I am spending my money on.
 
Last edited:
DaveF in IL said:
I do think my Thermapen will probably be working still 20 years from now, but then again the Thermopro probably will as well.
Click to expand...

The big question is....................will you? I'll lay odds the actual circuitry and internal stuff i.e. sensors, circuit board and so on are the same between the high priced spread and low priced spread. I have seen this many times before. A company selling a premium product actually sources the guts from the same place the cheaper alternatives do. Only the wrapping is different in many cases. I don't know for sure because I don't have $125 doing nothing to buy both products and tear them apart the way AVe on YouTube does. (for those who don't know he is a guy from Canada who does just that). Bottom line, the Thermopro has a 3 year warranty on a $20 class product. So you buy one even if it breaks in that time they send you a new one. If it doesn't and it lasts say 5 years you're still $$$ ahead. I have no doubt they'll last. Hell I bought some stupid little el cheapo in a pinch one day from Menards for $4.00 IIRC. LCD, non folding, on off button, no backlight. Yeah it's slow taking 10 seconds or so to get a read, but I bought that stupid little thing I think maybe 8/9 years ago. Since then I have dropped it, broke the case (it snaps back together), Forgotten it outside in weather ranging from sub zero, snow, ice storms, torrential rain and more. Dumb little thing will not die. With my ThermoPro I feel I have stepped into professional grade territory. My guess is wife and kids will be using it long after I am gone.
I can respect someone wanting or thinking they need only the absolute top of the line BUT in the end does it really make that much difference?
All I can say is bottom line maybe the ThermoWorks at $100 is 1 second faster to read. Unless I am trying to cook 50 roasts or steaks at a time what does it matter? For $20 range you can buy a top notch tool with professional grade performance and accuracy. And if in 10 years time you have to buy 2 so what? You're still WAY ahead IMO. Bottom line, if I really thought for one second dropping $100 on this tool would make my life easier at the stove/oven/grill I would not hesitate to spend it. But it won't so I won't
 
Even if both products came off the same PCB fab line, they're built to customer requirements. Using tighter tolerance components should result in a different performance, faster acquisition, finer resolution, etc. There may also be different QC specs, resulting in different product performance.

Short story is that it's at least as much up to OEM customer specs as the fab it comes out of.
 
Car batteries are a prime example of that. They are all made in one of a few factories. They are all just made to the specs that the company requires and then they get slapped with a label for that company and shipped to them.
 
JKalchik said:
Even if both products came off the same PCB fab line, they're built to customer requirements. Using tighter tolerance components should result in a different performance, faster acquisition, finer resolution, etc. There may also be different QC specs, resulting in different product performance.

Short story is that it's at least as much up to OEM customer specs as the fab it comes out of.
Click to expand...

Again do you think your food will be better if you got the temp in 2 seconds vs 3? Or if the actual temp of your steak is 124 instead of 125? Cooking is an inexact science (well some is baking is not). More times than not we judge it by the smell or visual cues than anything else. I'm not trying to make anyone feel badly because they spent $100 on a thermometer, but by the same token I refuse to be put down because I feel in my skilled hands I can do very well with what I chose to buy and saved the $75 for a nice roast to measure with it. I have been around the sun MANY times. I know and understand the finer points. I'm just not going to lose sleep over say a second faster time or a 1 or 2 deg tolerance. Nothing IMO is really going to change by it so it's not worth it to me. And just because company A may have a spec from the oem producer does not mean they're not selling that same thing to company B. In any case I am happy and if something happens to the unit that makes me unhappy with it believe me you WILL hear about it. I make no bones about calling people or companies out. Reminds me of a regional manager at a car rental company. She told me that I am so well spoken and so direct that she found me "intimidating". I said well you hired the total package :D
 
11 pages of discussion on thermometers. I think this one has run it's course 4 or 5 times already. It is clearly the grilling and rehab off-season right now.

t0sG1c6.jpg
 
You got that right. Well there's no baseball, no football to speak of (well you Packer guys maybe), but I pretty much hate football, the Blackhawks are not doing well, so THERMOMETERS are on the docket. So the big discussion Temporal, Oral or "the other kind" :D
 
I may as we beat the horse a little since it's ded it shouldn't protest much. I used my new mk4 for the second time last Sunday. Along with the inexpensive thermometer I've been using for some time for comparison.

Pros:
They both work within a dagree of each other, if no the same reading.

Cons:
The inexpensive one took a couple seconds longer to settle in.

I believe they are both accurate enough to get the job done. As Larry said, a dagree or two isn't going to matter much.

And there you have it.

Now for the disclosure.
The mk4 was gifted to me because someone found out I was interested in it. Would I have spent (got it during one of the sales) $80 for it.

After directly comparing it to the inexpensive one it is not necessary. But it is a bit nicer.

Conclusion:
You don't need it
If you want one and have the money go for it.
If you think it's too expensive don't.
That's my ¢2 even if it's not worth that much.
 
Yep, 2 cents isn't even worth the non-copper metal it is stamped on. But, I think your "Conclusion" pretty much sums up the entire 100 plus posts.
 
LMichaels said:
You got that right. Well there's no baseball, no football to speak of (well you Packer guys maybe), but I pretty much hate football, the Blackhawks are not doing well, so THERMOMETERS are on the docket. So the big discussion Temporal, Oral or "the other kind" :D
Click to expand...

No football to speak of? There is in Missouri! Our Chiefs are on a ROLL!

It's kind of long but I've enjoyed this discussion on thermometers. I do think a good thermometer is important. I didn't use one at all until 3 or 4 years ago and my grilling improved immeasurably once I started using one. Will a really cheap one do the job just as well? Maybe but I'd rather have a good one for something that important.

I'm pleased with my thermopro tp19. Quality at a fair price. My wife even likes it. She used it yesterday when making us a prime rib for new years eve. She made the remark "this thing is really nice". That's high praise from her LOL.
 
I have to agree. Since I purchased my thermometer, it has taken my grilling to a new level. A must have with a price range open to everyone.
 
I never expected this post to get so many responses. I have to admit 12 pages of thermometer talk is probably more than enough, but I wanted to finish with my first impression of ACTUALLY USING my ThermoPro TP-19H. In a New Year's sort of resolution to cut back on fried food and saving by not eating out quite so much at Chick Fil A, I bought a ton of chicken breast on a BOGO and grilled it all to make frozen ready to re-heat lunches since I am fortunate enough to be able to easily eat at home. (Yes, but it is SO easy to plan a run to Lowe's, etc. around lunch time and since I am then far from home just HAVE to stop at Chick Fil A:rolleyes:!!!)

Anyway, I made strips out of the large breasts and did them on my daily driver Platinum. The TP-19H did a great job of helping me not way overdue my chicken like I often do grilling by sight. A LOT easier to use than my smaller ThermoPop, which is still a good little tool and was getting used inside at the same time by my wife!

yTeIY2B.jpg


PY3crCV.jpg


zlY4gcT.jpg


So, I am a happy purchaser, regardless of "thermocouple" or whatever. It responds fast enough for me. Very easy to read with a readout that flips when you turn it over. Seems very solid to me. Much more so than I ever expected. Easy to clean. I loved using the magnet to stick it to our fridge. My wife didn't:eek:. I am happy to recommend this unit.
 
Thanks for tying that up for us. One question: What kind of seasoning/sauce did you use on those? THey loook great.
 
Bruce said:
Thanks for tying that up for us. One question: What kind of seasoning/sauce did you use on those? THey loook great.
Click to expand...

I used a rub I got at a place in SC called JB’s Smokeshack. It is a good traditional reddish rub strong on brown sugar and paprika. Truthfully, I was trying to use it up since I have had it a while. When that ran out I switched to Lambert’s Sweet Rob o’Mine a similar blend. I put a little sauce on half of them, using up the last of a bottle of Phil’s Dream Pit (Kingsport TN) Original Sweet Barbeque Sauce - my favorite for barbecue pork unless I am doing North Carolina style in which case I make my own Piedmont/Lexington style vinegar sauce.
 
Big question to me is how you can eat Chick Fil Et. Damn they're AWFUL with a capitol A. I have tried it numerous times and ways. Take out and eat in. Always the same. Limp, flabby rubbery pieces of protein that MAY be chicken but might as well be stray cats and or other types of yard animals. Soggy, greasy "fries?" How does that company even stay in business?
 
Larry,
You sure are a contrarian! I have had a bad meal once or twice from Chick Fil A, but most of the time it is great - OK, well really good for fast food. Our restaurant in Stuart, FL is so busy that between 11 and 2 you are lucky to find a seat. That, with a double lane drive-through going full speed ahead with a second kitchen. I guess more than a few people agree with me:rolleyes:. It's what makes the world go around.

The other big thing to me is that the quality of their service - again relative to fast food chains - is amazing. Once when traveling with my family we pulled off the interstate into one of those "outparcels" with restaurants. My wife, who shares your lack of enthusiasm for Chick Fil A told me to go inside and get what I wanted and then we could go on to another place. I went inside and thought, "this is the dirtiest Chick Fil A I have ever seen!" A quick trip to bathroom revealed more of the same. I was pretty disappointed, but my shock arrived when I stepped back out of the bathroom to see a sign Roast Beef Sandwich! I had zigged when I should have zagged and wound up in Arby's:confused:. So, a quick jaunt across the parking lot and I went from Mars to Venus. Clean restaurant. Nice, friendly help. No excuses about the neighborhood or whatever. These places were ACROSS THE PARKING LOT from each other but couldn't be more different. It is the management and philosophy that makes the difference.

Not everyone likes peanut oil fried chicken, so you are very entitled to not like my favorite high calorie place to take a break. Sometimes I wish I didn't like it so much either!
 
I have never eaten at one. I guess there are a couple in Madison, WI, but I have never seen them. I guess I should make it a point when I am down there next. I hear mostly good things about them though.
 
Jon I'm with you regarding chick fil a. I love their food and service. We limit the fast food to a couple of times a month or so but when we do its usually chick fil a. The 2 in our hometown are unbelievably busy.

I love their original sandwich but the healthier grilled version is very good as well. Love the waffle fries too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top