Well My ThermoPro Failed Me


 
Ahh, the old tamper resistant screws under the label trick. hahaha.
It is bound to happen that a quality product has a lemon every once in a while. Usually they are caught well within the 2 year warranty period. But unfortunatly yours took a crap a month later. That seems to happen with car warranties as well. It is almost like they program the vehicles to take a dump the first few months after the warranty ends.
But, I am sure, for every 100 of those they sell, 98 of them are still working fine after 3 years.
 
Bruce said:
That seems to happen with car warranties as well. It is almost like they program the vehicles to take a dump the first few months after the warranty ends.
Click to expand...

From a bean counting perspective.... manufacturing a product to be used forever makes no financial sense. It needs to last just past warranty, then die, so the user has to buy another, thus gaining a recurring sales model. Or, failing recurring sales, at least repair parts.

All about the money. Never about you or your needs.
 
J: I understand your reasoning there, but with all due respect, I do believe it is a bit short sighted. If car manufactures used that mentality, they would go out of business really quick. Most warranties now are for just a few years or a minimal amount of miles. If they engineered their vehicles to only last three years or 30K miles with no thought on longevity, it would doom them. Clearly, they have no incentive to make a product to last forever, but then it probably wouldn't matter. Many products become obsolete long before they die. There are still a lot of old school phones out there, but no one uses them any more. Think about all of those cell phones stuck in a drawer in your house that you have replaced over the last 20 years even though they still technically work. Many products are made to last longer these days than anyone expects them to have value.
If Thermoworks put out a $80 product with a 2 year warranty and one could only reasonably expect to last 3 at best, they would sell very few. But, as we know, they have revised and re-engineered their instant read thermometers over the years making upgrading being more reason to replace them than would a malfunction.
 
Their only incentive, Bruce, is to make money. It's never to provide us with products, or services. Competition will drive the longevity factor out from warranty, agreed. Planned obsolescence is a thing, and remarkably prevalent in a lot of industries. My brother in law used to work for one of the Big Three automotive manufacturers in logistics, and there was always a huge push to maintain the minimum legal required parts & inventory and as little as possible beyond that. Capitalism at work, and for it to work at all in the consumer's favor, it requires competition.

Nothing is built, or lasts forever.
 
Point taken. And I agree that Capitalism/competition is the one thing that makes it all work.
 
JKalchik said:
Their only incentive, Bruce, is to make money. It's never to provide us with products, or services. Competition will drive the longevity factor out from warranty, agreed. Planned obsolescence is a thing, and remarkably prevalent in a lot of industries. My brother in law used to work for one of the Big Three automotive manufacturers in logistics, and there was always a huge push to maintain the minimum legal required parts & inventory and as little as possible beyond that. Capitalism at work, and for it to work at all in the consumer's favor, it requires competition.

Nothing is built, or lasts forever.
Click to expand...
I agree with you to a certain degree. Yet long term durability well past the warranty does regularly happen with certain products and certain manufacturers. Toyota is a prime example of that. Their vehicles regularly last hundreds of thousands of miles past warranty expiration. Do I think that is altruistic on their part? No I think they build their cars with that durability in mind as a selling point. People expect reliability and longevity when they buy a Toyota even though the warranty isn't longer than a big three vehicle. And they are willing to pay more for that Toyota vs something from the big three. There are other examples too of products that last much longer than their counterparts. I really would have thought thermopen would have been one of those but that's unclear without more data. And the failure reported by a member here is concerning.

And while it's true most products don't last forever. Some come pretty close. Things like lodge cast iron pans and stainless safety razors will pretty much always last a hundred years or more. Decades past their warrant expiration.
 
Last edited:
Boy if I thought simply noting the unit had broken would have started a war here I would have never posted. Bottom line I still feel it is an excellent product with performance that either nearly equals if not equals the "other" one. And, at $15 with EXCELLENT warranty support whay would I want to spend more? NOt meant to start a pixxing contest or war of words. I was simply noting it happened. BTW my new one arrived within 1 day after my call to them! I spoke to an actual English speaking support rep as well. I cannot remember the last time THAT happened and I cannot remember the last time I had service this good from anything..................ever.
So if I break another I will buy another. I see value in it. So why not?
I never meant for any noses to get out of joint and for that I apologize. Was never the intent to be ANYTHING but informative
 
Larry I don't think you started a war? Just a lively discussion. I appreciate you posting your experience with a product i use so frequently.
 
Yah, the way this took off, you would think it was the middle of winter with a huge cold wave where everyone is stuck inside with nothing to do.
But, what the heck. it is all good grill talk.
 
Yep just fun talk.

So, Larry, did I understand you bought the orange color ThermoPro as a replacement for the red one you originally bought? If so, what is your initial impression of the new orange one in comparison to the red one you previously bought?
 
I think Larry bought this one originally:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R18W3W1/?tag=tvwb-20

Then I think he bought the one that I have as a replacement before ThermoPro offered to replace his:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XXSYLL8/?tag=tvwb-20

ThermoPro is coming on strong with some impressive looking products. Here is a new instant read thermometer that seems aimed right at Thermoworks:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CX7FP1R/?tag=tvwb-20

And here is their answer to the "Smoke":

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081J6T3BZ/?tag=tvwb-20

I am not saying that any of these products are as good as Thermoworks, but they can't be dismissed as junk either. Certainly compelling for their price points.
 
Yep, I bought the TP19 (red with red display first). Love it (still do), Then when I saw the TP19H (orange with orange backlight LCD) I bought that to replace the 1st one (which broke the probe support). Then however someone was kind enough to remind me the red one had a 3 year warranty. Well I contacted the company and within 36 hours I had a brand new TP19 on my door step! Amazing service and warranty for such an inexpensive product (note I did not say "cheap"). Cheap has a whole different meaning here and the product is NOT "cheap". It is VERY fairly priced
On Sunday I tried both units out side by side and I could see no discernible difference in accuracy or performance (speed). I know one indicates a read in 2 to 3 seconds and the other 3 to 4 seconds. I am here to tell ya I can't find any difference.
Now this new 3rd device comes along (TP29) and promises to be even better and still only $29! I may have to buy one just to try it.
My brother bought the TP27 wireless device. He LOOOOOVES it. Uses it all the time. So I may have to buy one of those as well. So for the budget of one of the high priced ones I can have all 4 products LOL. Bot honestly the $15 TP19H is an amazing product.
Again not taking anything away from the other one(s). I just find this to be a better value to me.
 
Yes, that SMARTRO ST49 that I posted above sure looks compelling at $29 and even a discount off that when I last looked! It seems to have the latest technology a bright display and sharp looks all in one package.
 
I just bought this one 20% off coupon not sure how long they will have that so $25 bucks in change. This pretty well tracks the MK4 specs .07 accuracy the only thing that bothers me a bit is it requires 2 batteries the Mk4 one and I have had mine from Sept 2018 and the battery is still fine but after reading Rich's buying 2 assures my MK4 will last forever I figured what the heck. :)

I will do some testing against the Mk4 and report back probably gonna give this to my daughter after I am done with it so its not throwing money away. I would not give up my Mk4 and Thermapen has a program now where they will fix it for a flat fee of 35 bucks if anything goes wrong with it since my warranty is gone also. But never say never.

Larry you did not start a war I would also call it a lively discussion and Scott if I offended you I really apoligize.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CX7FP1R/?tag=tvwb-20
 
Last edited:
Brian B Atlanta said:
I just bought this one 20% off coupon not sure how long they will have that so $25 bucks in change. This pretty well tracks the MK4 specs .07 accuracy the only thing that bothers me a bit is it requires 2 batteries the Mk4 one and I have had mine from Sept 2018 and the battery is still fine but after reading Rich's buying 2 assures my MK4 will last forever I figured what the heck. :)

I will do some testing against the Mk4 and report back probably gonna give this to my daughter after I am done with it so its not throwing money away. I would not give up my Mk4 and Thermapen has a program now where they will fix it for a flat fee of 35 bucks if anything goes wrong with it since my warranty is gone also. But never say never.

Larry you did not start a war I would also call it a lively discussion and Scott if I offended you I really apoligize.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CX7FP1R/?tag=tvwb-20
Click to expand...

Brian,

I am glad you are trying that new one out. As an experienced user of the Mk4 you will be in a great position to give an accurate comparison and assessment. If it pans out to be good, it is definitely not something that Thermoworks wants to see being sold for $29.99 and even less as you found with the current discount.
 
I guess I didn't look carefully enough. It seems that this new instant read thermometer for $29.99 (less possible discount) is NOT a ThermoPro but rather from a company called Smartro.

smartro.co

Meat Thermometers and Outdoor Thermometers | SMARTRO

Meat Thermometers and Outdoor Thermometers | SMARTRO
smartro.co

How important that is to you probably depends on what you think about imported electronics. I know ThermoPro does seem to give good support and has been selling for at least a few years. Don't know anything about Smartro. ThermoPro has a competing high-end product - the TP19X, but it is priced at $59.99 and doesn't seem to be available on Amazon at this point. That's twice the price and getting very close to an MK-4 when on a good sale. It does LOOK really cool, though. I like the style and anti-slip grip. But the Smatro one also looks sharp. The case looks so similar to my orange ThermoPro TP19H that it is pretty easy to believe they both are coming from the same factory.

Here's the high-end ThermoPro. If I needed a replacement, I would be willing to go a little higher for this than the Smartro, but not TWICE as high!

buythermopro.com

[Official] ThermoPro TP620 Instant Read Meat Thermometer with Thermocouple Sensor

ThermoPro TP620 Digital Instant Read Meat Thermometer with Thermocouple probe. With an accuracy of ±0.9 °F and an ultra fast, 2-3 seconds response time, the ThermoPro TP620 thermocouple food thermometer will ensure the perfect temp every time you're grilling or cooking, giving you the...
buythermopro.com buythermopro.com
 
Jon, I noticed that it was not a Thermopro as well. I thought maybe I had missed something in the thread earlier so I did not bring it up.

I agree, that new ThermoPro 19X looks nice, but I am not sure it does anything better enough than the 19H to make it worth the almost triple price.
 
Damn I did not notice that either. They're sure trying to piggy back on the success of an excellent product. Imitation is flattery LOL
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top