Wasted $60 on a fancy thermapen knockoff that lied to me

Bought some off-brand instant read on Amazon for my brisket cooks. First time I used it on a pork butt it said 180 but the meat was still cold inside. Anyone else get burned by cheap thermometer gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahs8226d ago

Hold up, gotta push back a little on this. $60 isn't exactly chump change, but it's also not "fancy" territory in the thermometer world. That's still firmly in the budget knockoff zone. A real Thermapen runs like $100 plus and has that instant read down to a science. You could have just gotten a bad battery or a lemon, which sucks, but doesn't mean all cheap thermometers are trash. I've used a $12 one from a hardware store for years and it's never lied to me once as long as I let it sit for a few seconds. Don't throw the whole idea of a non-fancy thermometer out the window because one cheap part was a dud.

sean_foster5226d ago

Wait, don't you think a $60 thermometer is right in that weird middle ground where you're paying too much for something that's still basically a toy? Like, you could get a perfectly functional $12 hardware store special that'll last years with a little patience, or you could go all in on a $100 Thermapen that gives you that instant read magic. The $60 one is just a trap, man. It promises you "fancy" without actually delivering the speed or accuracy that real fancy thermometers are known for. Sounds like noahs82 got unlucky with a dud battery or something, but honestly, even if it worked perfectly, that price point is just paying for a label that doesn't mean squat. I'd rather trust my beat up $12 one over a mid-range gamble any day, 'cause at least I know what I'm getting.