That fancy meat thermometer I bought on a whim paid for itself in one cook
Picked up a $45 wireless probe setup last spring because my old one kept losing signal through the smoker walls. Used it on a 14 hour brisket overnight in El Paso, and it hit temp right at 6 AM with zero babysitting. Anyone else had one of those digital readers actually work out?
A $45 probe that survived a 14 hour brisket in El Paso is basically a medal of honor in the BBQ world. My cheap one gave up the ghost somewhere around hour 6 last summer, so it spent the rest of the night as a very expensive paperweight. Sounds like you finally got your money's worth instead of just buying another gadget for the drawer.