Fwiw, the SE article I posted recommends the thermapop specifically. Even their eyes and ears can chg over time.
The technology behind the thermapen isnât new, theyâre just thermocouples unless you consider hundred year old technology to be way too new and ineffective. I think having a faster read item is a substantial value to cooking (hell I rather not stick my hand in the oven for too long). I think most people on the website do not cook off the grid, and I can tell that this thermometer is probably not right for you (probably no electronic thermometer would be good).
You denigrate the idea of having bluetooth or wifi technology in electronics as way of adding complexity without value. Consider the aspect of roast, if I am hosting a dinner party and my wifi/bluetooth enabled thermometer allows me to engage with my guests away from the kitchen and I can just stare at my phone and go the roast is ready by all means this sounds wonderful. Sure the product my breakdown but boy I think that would be pretty neat to spend more time with friends.
The only issue I have with this statement is that you are already maligning the product without any basis. Are there articles that have showed that the thermapen has poor performance? Is it worth the cost? Thatâs another story, but you clearly just donât care for it in the first place.
Iâm glad that you calibrate your Taylors thermometer there are instructions in the thermapen that can also show you how to self calibrate. https://blog.thermoworks.com/2014/11/check-thermometers/ Heck this applies to all thermometers.
Whatâs the basis of it not being accurate or not precise?
Boy, I do hope our research and development teams donât go with this approach. Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM said in 1943: âI think there is a world market for maybe five computersâ.
Isnât that a problem with most probe thermometers?
I can adjust the thermapen on the fly to different varying depths and it locks in the temp at a faster period. I am using scientific principle with that.
They recommend it on a cost/basis ratio from the article. Iâd probably go get the thermapops now since I wouldnât want to pony up another high cost thermometer. However, I think the use case for the thermapop would not be too useful for Asupciousâs case as you still need a battery.
Since this thread serves all readers, I added my original thoughts and personal exp. a few days ago. Its helpful to know the options out there since use varies person to person.
If we are using third party sources, its helpful to know that a source can and will write reviews and make recommendations from many diff perspectives. SE even announces sales on the therma brand.
Happy shopping all!
Cheers!
My point about technology for its own sake has nothing to do with something being new. Our spiffy home thermostat based on thermisters (v. thermocouples) by the way) remembers and controls house temperatures based on a schedule we program in. It sets the house temperature based on time of day. It also responds to power-line signals (probably BPL but I honestly havenât checked) to adjust the duty cycle during designated âhot days.â We saved $10 in one day last week. The program provides cost savings and quality of life benefits. The âhot dayâ capability provides regular cost savings (the thermostat paid for itself the first month after we installed it) and is a societal good by reducing peak energy consumption for the community and reducing capital investment in power generation.
I have a small flashlight in my pocket. It is objectively better than a candle in many respects. This particular one uses an LED that leads to smaller size and longer battery life than an incandescent bulb flashlight. The value proposition is clear.
I see no such clear case with regard to the Thermapen.
So I went back to a review of thermometers I remembered by Michael Chu, a fellow engineer who I happen to respect (check out his lasagna recipe and read the two part bacon cooking methodology review). You can see his thermometer review here http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/95/Kitchen-Thermometers . Like you, Mr. Chu is a big fan of the Thermopen.
Which returns me to my question that can be worded as âjust because you can, does that mean you should.â
ThermoWorks specifies the Thermapen as accurate to ±0.7°F (0.4°C). Their user documentation says ±2°F (1.1°C) meets spec. So much for that display that shows tenths of a degree. Taylor does not have a published specification I could find for their 3621N dial thermometer. Based on my experience the actual accuracy of the Taylor is on the same order as the Thermapen. The two degree (F) marks can be read to within a half a degree. In both cases precision exceeds accuracy.
The upshot is whether an $80 thermometer (sometimes on sale for $55) that reads a lot faster and that stops working when the battery dies is âbetterâ than an $8 thermometer (often on sale for $3.50). In my case I stick the thermometer in a product and get my hand the heck out of the heat until it stabilizes. grin The value proposition of the small dial thermometer is higher than the Thermapen. Obviously you feel differently.
Now if you want to talk about probe (remote) thermometers for a use case where opening an oven has an affect on the result you may have a case, but that wouldnât be a Thermapen would it?
With respect to WiFi and Bluetooth (BT) the issues are different. For products on the market today WiFi doesnât work well. Most manufacturers make their devices servers instead of clients. It is ahem stupid to have to associate your device with a different WiFi server for each device you want to follow. Personally I donât need to monitor my freezer temperature from my phone. I sure donât need to change access points for that. sigh Printer manufacturers, set-top boxes, and others have figured out how to find their devices even on secure networks without doing that. Bluetooth is more accommodating but I shouldnât have to drop my phone headset and streaming audio (which coexist quite nicely thank you) to check the temperature of a roast. It is faster to get off the couch and go look. In this case it is less the technology per se than the engineering of the implementation. In your scenario you may be better off with a timer to remind you to excuse yourself from your friends and go look.
I wonât bore you with one device I have that is an absolutely brilliant concept that just plan fails on implementation. Good ideas donât always work out. Just because an idea doesnât work out doesnât mean the idea is bad, a better engineer might do better. Sometimes unfortunately it is marketing and not engineering as in the case of VHS v. Beta video tape.
At one point I wrote âpricesâ when I meant âprecise.â My apologies.
I donât think I suffer from the lack of vision of Mr. Watson (who was pretty darn smart). Faster just to be faster isnât better. There are all kinds of benefits of supercomputers including weather forecasting and really anything based on complex numerical models. Now I surely donât need all the spiffy stuff I can do today on my phone but it sure is handy. That goes back to value proposition. Do I benefit sufficiently from a slightly faster response time in a thermometer to justify paying ten times more money for it? I donât particularly given the potential for a battery dying when I canât replace it. You obviously feel differently.
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Believe what you like. Opinions are not facts.
Agreed!
Wait - Are you talking about me, or You? 
Well I label my opinions as such and facts have footnotes available.
Ok so this board isnt cookware, its cookwar?!
Noted.
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As I quote from his blog:
"The Taylor dial thermometer was so slow that I was afraid that my gloves would start getting too hot for me to hold the thermometer. Its thick probe also makes it useless except for large roasts, except youâll need to open the oven door for a full minute before you could guess if your roast was between medium-rare or medium. "
Iâm not exactly impressed by this outlook. At any rateâŠ
I tend to like reading Cookâs Illustrated, I think they have a fair and rational scientific methodology.
Yes? I think advances in new technology is good and if people choose to buy it by all means go for it. Making a faster, more accurate, more precise thermometer is a good thing. Just like all increments of technology, it might not be the best value, but that doesnât mean there shouldnât be advances in it. I swear youâd rather have horses and proclaim they make better fertilizer than cars. Better yet, fixed gear bicycles probably break down less than mechanical cars, lets stick with that.
Which documentation? Iâve yet to figure out where.
I see on the website, for the classic, its range is: ±0.7°F (±0.4°C) from -58 to 392°F (-49.9 to 199.9°C), ±1.8°F (±1.0°C) from 392 to 572°F (200 to 299.9°C)
For their newest model,
The spec sheet:
Range -58.0 to 572.0°F (-49.9 to 299.9°C)
Accuracy ±0.7°F (±0.4°C) from -58 to 392°F (-49.9 to 199.9°C) otherwise ±1.8°F (±1.0°C)
Are you referring to the temp ranges outside of -58 to 392?
Out of sheer curiosity at the greatness of the 3621N Dial thermometer, I looked it up at Taylorâs website:
This item that has specs of âa 1â dial that displays temperatures from 0-220° Fahrenheitâ
Iâm not even sure how you can read the dial within half a degree (each intermittent mark is 2 degrees) if anyone even looks at that picture. Additionally a 1" dial is rather small so if you leave your thermometer in the roast in the oven, its even further back. Point being, the digital thermometer is easier to read.
Regardless, do you not have a use for a thermometer past 220F? I deep fry things and on occasion play around with sugary syrups to attempt to make some sort of candy.
Also regarding that dial thermometer, its not too useful if you want things to be in Celsius (for whatever reason, I tend to cook with celsius and bake with farenheit). Though I presume due to your engineering background, that can be calculated on the fly.
I can have a sun dial on my wrist rather than than a casio, no batteries! I can have an abacus rather than a battery powered calculator, reliable! I think your fixation on the possibility of the batteries dying is remarkable.
Like a vat of oil? Not sure how you even stick that into the pot and let go.
Look the whole point of the topic is that the thermapen is on sale. It has a far wider range for cooking applications than your taylor thermometer while giving a quick, accurate reading. The price of the thermapen is on sale, which increases its value. You obviously care about batteries, so I cannot help you with that.
No, I think you came into the topic with a denigrated view of the thermapen. It is clear that the main concern is regarding using a thermometer on a boat that has no batteries and that electronic thermometers will instantly be dead.
How often does everyoneâs thermapen die due to batteries?! Good god, I hope you use a stick to change the channels on a television so that the remote doesnât run out of batteries.
In any case, for those that like to have things temperature controlled, hereâs a little article.
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No, its about batteriesâŠ
Wrong again Iâm afraid. Batteries, you pop one out, put a new one in. One and done. This conversation could go on for many battery lifetimes. To what end.
KISS is a smart mans best friend.
I have yet to encounter a cookware forum that WASNâT a cookwar forum. I just sit back, eat my snacks, and enjoy.
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First timer here. Clearly Iâve missed outđ
I always enjoyed the cookware-war back in Chowhound because most of them were not as bad as the other kind of wars which then can get even more emotional as people look about traditional/authentic/lifestyleâŠetc.
Granted that I have completely tuned out what is happening here.
We want plates!
Or metal plates.
Iâm going to go with the bone china over metal even though the metal is more durable in a sense and shouldnât crack. I think food served on metal will get cold too easily.
