Taylor Classic Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer
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List Price: Our Price: $2.99 You Save: $7.00 (70%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Taylor Classic Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer
Customer Review: Excellent for a great French pressed coffee
Summary: 5 Stars
Everyone talks about how convenient, versatile and simple this little thing is. It's great.
Information you might wonder about, and my coffee method:
- Size: It's about the length of a ball-point pen, and comes with a holder that looks like one. The head is about the size of a quarter.
- Speed: The needle moves a lot faster than the liquid in a candy thermometer. Instant-read it's not, unless you mean that you can instantly read the temperature after the needle stops moving. But it's still pretty fast, and as you see the needle slow down, you get a pretty good idea of where it's going to stop. Kind of like knowing where you'll stop when you hit the brakes. So, it gets more useful as you get used to it.
- Accuracy: I tried it with boiling water, and with an ice-water mix that had been shaken around. It's pretty accurate - accurate enough for most uses.
- Coffee: I use it mostly for making French pressed coffee. If you put boiling water in coffee grinds, you will likely get a bitter brew. I pick the pot right before it reaches a boil and use this little device to read 205 degrees F. Drop the water into a french press containing coarse grounds, and four minutes later you have excellent coffee. Thanks to this little guy I discovered that eyeballing the water in the kettle is not a good way to figure out the right temperature.
Customer Review: Not accurate from freezing to boiling water.
Summary: 1 Stars
Same problem as what another reviewer had seen. It reads 40 half-submerged in water and 200 in water at a roaring boil. I calibrated the thermometer to the ice water and, surprise, now it reads boiling water at 190. I wanted it to measure water temperature for french press, so i re-calibrated it for boiling water and it now reads ice water at 50.
I think it will be accurate enough for measuring my boiling water, but if a product shows a dial ranging from 0F to 220F, it should be accurate in that range, no excuses! Sure it is cheap, but truth in advertising is important, because I would have just passed up this item if I knew it would not be accurate.
You know, I could sell a wooden block with a dial painted on it pointed to 212F for $1 as a thermometer and say, "Hey! At least it accurately measures the temperature of boiling water, and look how cheap it is! Don't be so demanding of a cheap product." But it wouldn't be very useful and you'd be out that money. Sure it would be cheap, but if it doesn't do what should be expected of it, then it is still a waste of money.
Customer Review: Reading not consistent.
Summary: 1 Stars
My thermometer will not stay calibrated. Might be user error, I don't know. I have tried checking temps in ice water and boiling water(even allowing for barometric pressure and altitude for boiling water). Here is what happens...I insert the probe in the water then adjust the face using the handy tool molded into the thermometer case. Holding the thermometer in the water for awhile to verify that the reading does not change, maybe 2-4 minutes. I remove it, let it cool and reinsert it and the temp is off by as much as 6-7 degrees. Sometimes, the temp is correct. When I received it almost two months ago I calibrated it, but never reinserted it multiple times into the water to check it. Just a couple weeks ago, I was measuring some temps when some friends disagreed with my results. I told them I was confident the temp was accurate as I had calibrated the tool. Kind of embarassing to double check it and find out that I was incorrect. Hopefully, I can exchange it for one that is consistently accurate. If I can, I will update this review with the exchange process.Customer Review: Awesome for the price
Summary: 4 Stars
Just as the description says... this thermometer should not be left in the oven. If only I read them.. Regardless.. having melted the plastic on the top of my first one of Taylor Instant Read Dial Thermometer (there's a mouthful), I've quickly discovered I couldn't live without another one. It works pretty quickly and is very easy to use. Can't be beat for the price. It also comes with the case that can also be used as a holder (think inserting the probe into the hole in the case at a right angle), plus the case can also be used to calibrate the thermometer. The only reason I'm not giving this 5 stars is because it feels like every time I take it out of its case (pretty snug in there), it twists and decalibrates itself (is that a word?) - easy enough to adjust, plus keeping it in a case is really more of an affectation and not a necessity. On top of all this, it's cheaper via amazon (with free shipping of course), than picking it up at my local Bed Bath and Elsewhere store, even with a 20% off coupon.Customer Review: just terrible - virtually unusable!
Summary: 1 Stars
1. very small dial - i have perfect vision but still can't see. especially when you are cooking meat on the grill or other hot surface, you don't want to stick you face to close to it so you can finally see the temperature.
2. very very slow. it's not even close to be instant. it takes over a minute to get some kind of read and even more if you want to be precise
3. inaccurate - never showed the correct temperature for boiling water.
i got rid of it out and bought Thermapen Super-Fast Instant Read thermometer. it's much more money, but there isn't any other thermometer on the market ( believe me, i've done my research) that compares with it. not even close. it takes 3 seconds for a very accurate and fast read. i love it. if you are spending so much money on a stake, you might as well spend money on a good product so you finally learn how to cook a stake to perfection.