Polder Dual Sensor Thermometer and Timer
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List Price: Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Polder Dual Sensor Thermometer and Timer
Customer Review: An Inferior/Defective Design
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought mine at Bed Bath & Beyond as a gift. What a mistake, I wish I'd read the reviews here first.
It worked great the first time. The second time a couple of weeks later I plugged it in and got temperatures of 230+ degrees sitting on the counter (both oven and food temperatures). So, back to the old dial thermometer.
After leaving the proble plugged in overnight it seemed to work okay but I no confidence that this will last any time at all. My guess is the thermistors and wiring in the probe are of very poor quality.
Other problems.
1. The manual is poor. It doesn't tell you how to shut it off. Basically hold the alarm button down (reverse of startup).
2. If you set the alarm point higher than you want you can't scroll backward. You have to go all the way past 572 degrees. Sort of like the early digital clocks. Again, not a hint in the manual.
3. Polder doesn't answer their e-mail.
4. I finally got hold of a rather grumpy customer service person on the 800 number. All they could say was that I may have gotten water in somewhere during cleaning the probe....I don't think so.
5. You won't find this model on the website. (894-90). They probably don't want to claim it. The only reference is to a replacement probe. So my guess is this questionable probe is used in other Polder thermometers. You're warned
I won't buy another Polder product...thermometers, scales, etc.
Customer Review: Didn't last a month, not user-friendly
Summary: 1 Stars
This was purchased around Christmas to replace a Williams-Sonoma probe style thermometer that was several years old and finally stopped working. After using this Polder thermo-timer for less than a month, I will be going back to Williams-Sonoma to purchase a replacement for it and will not buy Polder again.
First of all, the oven and food temp settings only go up. There are no +/- buttons, if you overshoot the temp you have to hold the button until you cycle all the way through 500+ degrees and back to where you need to be. God forbid you overshoot again, time wasted in the kitchen can cause food to burn or otherwise affect your cooking plans.
Second, the probe suddenly started registering 200+ temps while sitting on my kitchen counter after taking it out of my drawer to use. The probe and cable have been cared for as described in the manual, and in no way mistreated. Sorry, but if the ambient room temp registers incorrectly, how am I supposed to trust that it is accurately reporting my cooked food's temp? This is no minor issue, it is a complete failure of the device in less than a month of normal household use.
I've read the other reviews and similar problems have occurred for other users so I don't think this is a limited problem or an issue of my not using it correctly. This product is not reliable, and when it comes to determining if your meat is safely cooked to temperature, reliability is crucial.
Customer Review: Dual readouts--best of both worlds!
Summary: 5 Stars
Although this is a few bucks more than some other probe thermometers, there is a nasty little secret those others usually keep hidden until you buy them and start reading the fine print in the manual: they can only be used up to temperatures of something like 375. That rules out the whole reason I want the thing--roasting, where I pretty much always have at least some period of cooking above that temperature.In contrast, this beauty has a range up to 572, along with a much heavier, less kinky cord than my old Taylor.
Just that would be plenty to sell me on this model, but wait... there's MORE! In addition to telling you the temperature of your food, it has a separate sensor that gives a readout of the oven temperature. Since home ovens almost always run a bit off from the set temperature, this is critical. It's a real joy to get the temperature reading from the *outside* of the oven, rather than trying to read it off a grimy, unreliable dial thermometer that you probably knocked to the bottom of the oven when you put your pans in anyway.
On top of all that, it also includes a timer. No more accidentally clearing your timer when you go to use the microwave!
Because this replaced two separate thermometers in my oven, it actually works out to be the cheaper option. But even if it were more, I'd still recommend it for the convenience and because it (so far, at least) seems to be of a markedly higher quality than the competitors.
Customer Review: Thermometer & Timer
Summary: 1 Stars
Actually, I purchased the Polder Thermometer & Timer, apparently a predecessor to the Polder Dual Sensor Thermometer & Timer.My unit worked well when used in the conventional oven. However, when I used it with my barbecue grill, it became intermittent and failed. Apparently the insulation in the wiring from the sensor to the readout was fried.
The concept is great. Polder or a competitor needs to use a high temperature insulation such as Teflon on the sensor to readout wiring. I look forward to buying one of these things when the design is fixed.
BTW - My thanks to the review writers. I was tempted to order another unit since the model has changed and the first change, I thought, would be incorperation of a fix for a fault in the current design. As I found from reading current reviews, Polder thought more features in a faulty device was the way to go.
If this or a competing unit is marketed that can be used in an outdoor grill, I will buy 10 of them. One for each kid and four more for friends. The sensor does not have to stand the high heat. It is in the meat and a warning to the user to bury it in the meat would be sufficient. Only the sensor to readout wiring has to stand the heat.
Take Care,
Radar
Customer Review: Great Idea... Product Needs Work
Summary: 1 Stars
After seeing how Alton Brown talked up the benefits of using a probe thermometer, I purchased a Polder. It did work great when roasting a chicken in the oven, and was great for a crock-pot roast, too. After about 4-5 uses, it suddenly decided to go haywire and tell me that everything was 200+ degrees, even the room air! I sent it back to Polder, and they were kind enough to return the unit with a new probe, but stated that the wire was subjected to too high a temperature and that this was a one-time courtesy replacement. Too high? I never cooked at temperatures that exceeded the stated levels. Of course, after 3-4 more uses, the replacement probe quit as well. Since retail stores do not stock replacement probes, I decided to buy the less expensive Taylor probe thermometer. That too quit working just as the Polder did.I believe that this product has some real design/engineering problems. The concept is great, and I would pay much more for a professional-quality unit that would work consistently and accurately for more than 4-5 uses. ... much too expensive for a device that tells me the internal temperature of my chicken. For that money, I'll do it the old-fashioned way!