The electronics that makes a digital thermometer work is not very complex. Basically a voltage stabilizer to maintain constant battery voltage as the power is slowly used up and voltage drops. There is a temperature compensation circuit to automatically adjust operating lineal response whether your room temperature is very low or very high. The sensor, typically a thermocouple, which provides the measurement, is read against an internal reference to give you the readout. The entire package is inexpensive electronics (less than $10.00) which gives you response time in milliseconds. Why some thermometer reads faster than the other? The response time is highly dependent on how small they can make the thermocouple sensor /probe. The smaller it is the shorter the response time. The problem of making it too small is breakage and difficulty in manufacturing. They need to have the metal casing to be very strong so that when you push the probe into the meat it will not break too easily. When you push the probe into food, the metal probe travels thru different temperature zones, typically from high (212F) to low, and the metal will carry the heat from high temperature to low temperature and heats up the food in the low temperature zone. It will take time for the temperature to reach equilibrium, depends on the weight (mass) of the probe. dcarch

Thanks for thinking of me Cathy. I think the ones I have now will be enough to get me by until I find the ones I love... I don't want another intermediate set! I go to Big Lots every 6 months or so... great place for cleaning supplies. Some of my slotted spoons and spatulas came from there as well. Good place to buy them cheap since I always end up melting the handle or the business end of such things. Never paid much attention to the dishes, but I'll have a look next time just for fun. Thanks, Joan. I was wondering if I should just buy a few good knives instead of a whole set. I'm relatively pleased with my Farberware Santoku knife, but I did see a Henckles Chef's knife at Target for 30 dollars last night. How do I know if that would be a good one? I'd like a good chef's knife because I can rock it when I slice. Apparently, Santoku kives are made to be sliced straight down with, I want something I can rock easily. If I got a good chef's knife and a good paring knife, I think I'd be fine as far as knives go. Even though I can buy a whole set of nice knives, I don't want to spend excess money unnecessarily given this economy. I'd rather have the security of longer term savings! I know I wouldn't every knife in a set. I saw the Miracle Blade commercial the other day and was pretty impressed until I read reviews that they rust! I do love a good infomercial gimmick though!

I have a purple one that I bought recently for $98 and have found it very useful, and have used it instead of my candy thermometer when making creme Anglaise, which I cook to a temperature of 170 degrees. The digital candy thermometer I have will no longer stand up in the pan by itself, and so I had to hold it with one hand. I with the Thermopen had a holder so that I could use it more like a candy thermometer. I used the creme Anglaise to make double chocolate hazelnut Frangelico ice cream. I only used two tablespoons of Frangelico, and next time I will add two or three times that amount. Lars

If by "dealt directly" you mean ordered from Thermoworks directly, yes, I have. Since I've never had a problem with any of the tools I've bought from them, I've never had a reason to talk to their customer service. Even if a few of the Thermapens are "refurbished," they still carry the full warranty. For the price, I'd buy one, if I needed one. I've already given them as gifts to everyone I know who might have a use for a Thermapen. Back during turkey cooking season, someone was lamenting the fact that they didn't have an instant read thermometer to check the temp of the turkey. They were reluctant to purchase a Thermapen at full price. I was hopeful they might see this post and plan ahead for the next turkey cooking event.