Polder Digital In-Oven Thermometer/Timer, Graphite
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List Price: Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Polder Digital In-Oven Thermometer/Timer, Graphite
Customer Review: Very reliable thermometer
Summary: 4 Stars
Bought this thermometer 2 years ago based on the Cook's Illustrated recommendations because their review process is impeccable. I've been very happy with this thermometer overall. The main unit has no on/off switch, so to conserve batteries I take them out in-between uses since we only use this a dozen times a year (this is the only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5). The probe is a good length with a very long wire, so placement in the oven is simple, and the control unit is very easy to use. I've calibrated this once a year and it's remained very accurate.
This unit gives very reliable temperature readings although you do need to be careful where you place the probe when cooking large cuts of meat. In fact, for really large cuts where exact cooking is critical (roast beef, prime rib, etc), I'd recommend two of these placed offset at both ends of the meat. Most larger cuts are not perfectly symmetrical, so one end of the cut may cook faster than the other. Choosing the right placement for the thermometer is difficult for first-timers.
I even used this thermometer with a jerry-rigged set-up on my cheap Weber grill for smoking pork roasts and loins. My Weber doesn't have a built-in thermometer and slow cooking requires careful temperature control. I came up with an admittedly wacky set-up, but it works and the probe handled the low temperature readings off the ambient air in the grill perfectly (I double-checked the readings with my Polder digital thermometer, another excellent buy). Yeah, it's goofy, but it worked.
Customer Review: Probe is Improved
Summary: 5 Stars
A common problem with previous Polder thermometers I have owned is that if you get the bare, metal probe cord wet, water can get into the probe itself and ruin it by throwing off the temperature readings. I have thrown away several probes because of this, especially since I use these thermometers for beer making.
Some reviewers complained that the cord was rubber and not metal like in the picture, when in fact this is a HUGE improvement over the old probes and that it appears to still be the metal, braided cable only it's now covered in the watertight rubber seal. Us home brewers used to go to great lengths to try and waterproof these cables ourselves. Thankfully now Polder has done it for us.
I can assure you that the temperature reads accurately since I used it in conjunction with a candy thermometer the first couple times I used it. The alarm and timer functions are invaluable. The pan clip is what prompted me to get this in the first place; the watertight probe was just a pleasant surprise.
Although you cannot technically turn it off, the amount of power this thing uses from a single AAA battery (included) is negligible and single AAA batteries are not going to break the bank. Overall, this is the best Polder thermometer I have owned yet, mainly thanks to its new watertight probe cable. Thanks Polder.
Customer Review: No ON/OFF switch, seriously?
Summary: 2 Stars
It is beyond me how a group of electronic designers built a battery powered device without an ON/OFF switch. I haven't left this on overnight to see if there's a nifty self-timed power-down, but somehow I doubt it.
I bought the item because it looked like the one Alton Brown uses, and I've had good luck following that trend. It also had a wide temperature range (32F - 392F) which was hard to find at the retail stores I visited. I was interested in using this as a fry thermometer also.
I have only inserted the battery, tested the functions, and searched like crazy for the non-existent ON/OFF switch (including searching the net, which brought me back here).
I believe Polder has other digital thermometers that actually do have an ON/OFF switch ... maybe the engineers are learning as they go.
I really wish I had read the reviews before buying this. I would not have bought a battery powered device without an OFF switch. I guess I'll be removing the battery to turn it off, and I'm sure I'll destroy the delicate little battery case as often as I turned my last digital thermometer ON/OFF (BTW, the temp range on that one was too narrow, and I dropped it in a pot of near boiling beer wort so it's a goner).
Customer Review: Timer feature is limited
Summary: 2 Stars
I should start by saying that I have not used the thermometer itself yet, and so I assume that it will work as described, but I was disappointed to learn that the timer cannot count up. If the thermometer probe breaks, I would be hesitant about paying $10 for a replacement probe so it would be nice to be able to use it as a stand-alone timer that could count up as well as down.
The panclip that I received did not look like the one pictured. It looked like this one here, as shown on the company's website: [...]. At first I could not insert the probe into both holes, leading me to believe that I had received a defective clip. Several emails later, I find out that I had to bend it a bit myself to make it fit. The panclip design itself is not the most efficient. You would have to insert it carefully on your cookware to avoid scratching it.
By the way, this product also lacks the following features, which I knew about before I bought the product, but it might be more important for others shopping for a cooking thermometer: an off-switch, multiple timers, ability to control the seconds, and the ability to detect a decrease to the desired temperature.
Customer Review: No stress cooking. (potential improvements could be made)
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love these probe thermometers. It takes all the stress out of cooking. Everything is intuitive and it hasn't failed me yet.
Some things that could be improved (by everyone making probe thermometers, not just this model since I haven't found all the features on any model regardless of price):
1) on/off switch
2) being able to see the minimum temperature since reset and maximum temperature (to see how high the temperature gets while the meat is resting)
3) instead of a countdown timer, a stopwatch like feature so that you know how long it took you to get to the desired temperature (would be nice for ballparking cooking time when you make the same dish next)
4) a few memory buttons so that the temperature setting buttons don't have to be held down each time. for example 3 buttons that could be set by the user to common temperatures like 140 for beef, 160 for pork etc.
5) (perhaps this is a suggestion for Amazon) put a link to the exact replacement probe that is needed for this model... there are so many models and so many different probes that it's hard to know what goes with what