Let's see - in my thermometer collection I currently have 1 freezer, 3 or 4 instant read, 2 wireless Oregon scientific (both dead), 2 oven, 3 candy. I've discarded about 6-10 Taylors, Polders and various others - some basic, some fancy, some wireless, some wired. None of them is worth a d*mn. They are inaccurate, take too long to come to equilibrium, fail unpredictably and fatally. The only thermometer which I have found to be reliable is the thermopen. Having typed this I am afraid that it's going to die tomorrow when I have to smoke a huge load of ribs and chicken. I had high hopes for the Oregon Scientific units which are very nice wireless thermometers. They have silly presets which can be ignored. The first one lasted the longest of all this sad lot - perhaps 3 years? Then it failed Thanksgiving eve and I was forced to use the instant (not!) thermometers to roast my turkey. The replacement Oregon Scientific lasted a year. I kept all the pieces thinking I would get a third, but I can only be suckered so many times! As I understand it, the problem is the thermocouple, the most expensive part of the thermometer. Making one that can stand up to regular abuse in home kitchens just isn't that reliable. The maddening part is that once in a while someone gets a gem and tells the world how wonderful it is. Perhaps you can tell this is a fetish with me. I am a scientist by training and nature. I like my data to be precise, accurate and repeatable. Right now I have a probe thermometer which is a feature of the Electrolux oven. It plugs into a socket inside the oven at the top so can't be kinked, twisted or otherwise mishandled. So far (8 months) it's been reliable and reasonably accurate. I check on it with the thermopen because I'm obsessive. BTW dcarch, the thermopen works perfectly well when used in a pan over induction. I used it to check how long the cooktop took to bring water to a boil. It's pretty cool (sorry to sound so geeky) to watch the rate of temperature change as the water heated (2 minutes and change to bring 1 quart of water to full rolling boil). Cheryl

HmmmÂ.funny I should read this as I'm in the final hours of cooking a pork butt on the grill for pulled pork. I have a fairly decent instant read thermometer at home but I'm at my weekend lake place for Labor Day and the one I have here (just bought this year because the other one I had was a POS) leaves something to be desired. So far I haven't been able to bring myself to buy a thermapen but maybe I should just end the chronic misery of an unreliable meat thermometer once and for all. I could put it in the tote bag I carry back and forth with me - as I'm sure once I have one I will never want to use anything else and I surely do not want to buy two of them.

Maverick ET-84. Count-down timer wildly inaccurate, actual thermometer function fairly useless as well. I guess there's a reason BB&B doesn't seem to sell it anymore, nor does Wms Sonoma who used to sell it rebadged as their own. Sorry, I realize your request was for best, not worst. Here is a link that might be useful: Maverick

Here are videos showing the factory assembling components into Thermapens. I don't know if they have the facilities to manufacture any components. I assume all the other products they sell are all imported. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvP0GXD3fcI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gspPLB4B1KY And this is from their WEB site: "ThermoWorks ----------- While a few of our products are manufactured here, many are made for us by partner factories in Europe, Asia and the USA. Most of our in-house staff is engaged in marketing, technical support, product definition, design, and operations. -----------" Thermapen is a very good product. I have one. I also have one I bought on ebay 15 years ago for $2.00. It is still working fine. Slower, but same accuracy as Thermapen. Amazingly, the same one is still selling on ebay, but inflation! $2.78 now!!!! dcarch