Change the battery. Call or e-mail thermapen. Good company and will probably send you a new one after battery changing does not fix it...

Don't they only have a one year warranty though? I've had it for a while now. Yes, I did change the batteries but it's still acting buggy. When I turn it on the temps go up and down wildly. I have even tried two new sets of batteries thinking the first set could have been crummy since I got them from Dollar Tree so I went and bought good ones from Walmart today. It's better but still not right.

Call em and see what they say.. https://www.thermoworks.com/returns-repairs. They may attempt to repair, replace, or possibly give you a discount on a replacement. Thermapen is the gold standard that the rest try to live up to.

If it is an older one, it might not be water/moisture proof.

Get a sealed container, put a few cups of snow melting salt in it, then wrap the Thermapen in a few layers of paper towel and put it inside the container for a few days. The snow melt salt will extract any moisture away from the thermapen, if that is why your Thermapen is not behaving

dcarch

There is no reason for me to think there is moisture in it unless it would be just from the humidity in the air because it doesn't get anywhere near water. I only use it to poke into something for testing the temperature...there is nothing wet that I test. The closest thing to wet would be steam coming off a pot of something. I would like to think that water wouldn't get in it from just poking it into a bowl of chili? But, I am very careful with it, it never has been in or near water or splashed with water. It isn't waterproof but I think it's "splash proof". I have a bunch of those moisture removing pillows that come out of pill bottles, I could put it in a container with those just to see.

What about a recommendation for a new instant read thermometer that isn't so pricey? Anyone?

A year or so ago my thermapen starting "acting up". I also tried changing the battery without success so I called the company. It was several years old and the company asked me to send it to them for inspection. I did and they fixed it and sent it back to me. I think they charged a small fee, but paid for shipping. Their service was very prompt. It works fine again.

MJ

Again, the cheapest option here is to call Thermopro, there's a good chance they'll help you out.

And sorry, there are no cheap recommendations. In the grand scheme of things, $100 for a device that you use all the time for years is money WELL spent. You can get cheaper options from thermopro which will still be accurate, but they'll be slower.

I have a 15$ one I picked up at SurLaT a couple years ago for the beach house. It is fine....works.

OK, I will contact them. Now I wish I would have bought another one when they had that great sale and they were like $59!

Mine sometimes does that “swings wildly” thing, then it stops. Who knows. I’ve owned two and have decided they’re better than $15 thermometers but not six times better.