The Lavatools Javelin gets excellent reviews. Considered the best instant read thermometer for the money. Does take a "button" (coin) battery but reports up to 4000 hours usage with a single batt so about 6 months worth.

Another vote for the Thermapen, love mine. It is over 7 years old and this fall it stopped working. I called the company, they asked me to send it to them for inspection. I sent it, they diagnosed the problem, repaired the unit for a reasonable fee and returned it to me. Good as new. Very customer oriented company and the units are made and serviced in the USA.

MJ

Love my Thermapen. First one I got didn't work right and they replaced it , no questions asked, and they paid the shipping. Service was amazing.

Thermapen for me all the way

I've had a Thermopop almost instant read thermometer for about 4 years. It does have a coin battery but I haven't had to replace it yet. I use it quite a it, probably at least 3x a week on average.

It costs about 1/3 of what the the Thermapen costs...$29 vs $87. I'm perfectly happy with it and don't regret not getting the more expensive Thermapen.

I feel your pain. My Thermoworks died on Christmas Day. I have the Thermopen, but liked the leave-in digital thermometer with an alarm. I had to run downstairs and open the oven way to many times to poke the prime rib with the Thermopen for my liking.

Another happy Thermapen user. I've bought them for almost everyone in the family who might need one. Mine is a hand-me-down. I have no idea how old it is, but I'm guessing 15-20 years old. I've had it for at least 10 years.

If you register at their website, you'll get notices of sales!

Seems like there is not much point in me adding yet another endorsement for thermopen....but I do!

Thermapen is an excellent thermometer, but there are others around at 1/4 the price.

The maker Thermoworks is not a manufacturer, they just assemble parts made by others, probably China.

Thermoworks gives excellent "customer service" because at the price they are charging, they can afford to. You can probably get better "customer service" by buying insurance or extended service contract.

Not knocking Thermapen. It is a good quality thermometer. But I am not paying for good marketing.

dcarch

Agree with that. I have a few. Favorite is my Thermopen but hard to push that buy button at that cost. Similar ones at the checkout counter in SurLaTable. Bought one for less than 15 for the vacation home. (removed the disc battery when not there.) An old one with the probe that sits on the counter is fine. Not more than 10-15. Have had it for years. Works like a charm but awkward. Thermopen i use all the time for even basic temp check for bread h2o or cheese making or Kombucha. Quick, wash, rinse, back in drawer.

Before a holiday or randomly, you can check their accuracy by setting in hot tap water and using a back-up temp thermometer. I check my reverse osmosis filters bi-monthly and water tap temps. Easy to check thermometers as well.

I enjoy my Thermopen, but I also have a couple of other Thermoworks thermometers. I have been through a number of others, but stuck with Thermoworks since I discovered them. The pocket instant read is what I think my sons have now and it's on sale for $16. DH and I have a Dot, a chef alarm and the Thermopen. They are all on sale right now (The classic if $71). I recommend Thermoworks - just get one that fits your needs and budget. I think all models use button bateries, but most have an auto off feature so the battery lasts a long time -- and if the one you get doesn't have auto-off, you learn quickly to turn it off.

Thank you all! dcarch, any others you recommend? I'd like to compare before buying.

I took a quick look at the Thermoworks website.

I had not considered buying one with a separate probe. Are there any advantages? Though I will probably opt for a very simple model. My use will be limited (Or so I think now).

The ones with a separate probe can be left in a dish while it is cooking. There are different probes and cords that work better in the oven, with a grill, etc. You can generally set a temp that you want it to reach and it will signal when that temp is reached. Avoids having to open and check. There may be other advantages -- I have to be honest that I haven't used them as much as I could.

I bought the Thermoworks pocket model that is now $16 for my sons -- well, after I startd with one myself. It is a best buy kind of thing, but I do like the backlight on the Thermopen.. That makes reading the temp much easier with the lighting in front of my oven at times. With a probe and cable, that's not an ssue. LOL

Having surfed the Thermoworks site for a while, I’m now changing my plans. We had to take out the roast so many times. Plus, with the new oven it is not as high top to bottom or as deep front to back. We had to put the roasting pan in the oven in a direction that meant we could not read the leave-in meat thermometer without pulling the roasting pan out. Considering our $ 40 roast did not turn out, even though I don’t roast meats often, maybe looking for a cheap instant read is not where I should be going.

Now I’m leaning toward a thermometer with a probe. (lascatx, I had typed this reply before seeing yours above! Computer froze and I had to come back to it. ESP)

Plus, a few days before Christmas when making cheese, a probe model could have spared me the lengthy wait for a couple of quarts of cream to come to 190F on the stove, standing over it, without constantly having to dip my candy thermometer in. Plus when I make yogurt.

Between the Thermoworks “DOT” and the Chef Alarm, which would you recommend?

Thanks again.