Customer Reviews

OXO Good Grips Digital Leave-In Meat Thermometer

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I am an extensive user of meat thermometers. I have bought more than a few over the years.

This thermometer stores its probe inside and wraps the cord around it. Therefore, it does not make a mess in the drawer. Also, the cord is wrapped in a rubber instead of the metal on traditional thermometers.

The meat doneness is available in USDA or Chef's preference (note, you should always use the Chefs setting). The timer function is easy to use and can count up or down.

Like always, OXO has taken a traditional kitchen product and greatly improved it.

Unfortunately, I left my OXO thermometer a bit close to by 600F grill and it melted. It looks a bit less pretty, but it still works.

Instruction manual says it is safe up to 482 degrees. Sounds pretty specific. First time we used, we were roasting at 425. The silicon sheathing caught on fire in two separate places within 15 minutes. Returning this with severe predjudice.

The probe stopped working and we realized where the wire wraps around and bends to be stored, the wires broke through the rubber. We now can't get a temp reading because the wires won't connect. otherwise, it works great. i just wish they would sell replacement probes for it.

Having used (and broken) a few different probe thermometers is the past, I can see both the good and the bad in this product. I'll almost always give OXO points for good design and this no exception. I love the fact that the probe stores in the body and that there is some place to wrap the cord, something that is sorely missing on other products.

Unfortunately that is where my love of this product ends. I find the display hard to read. Although it is big enough, the contrast is really bad and it gets really difficult to get into the right position to read it (even with new batteries).

The buttons can be hard to press at times, especially if your hands aren't really the cleanest. That gets me into the other setup issues. For both the thermometer and the timer you can not preset them while you get things ready because it resets after only a minute or so meaning you can't set them ahead before you start to actually get your hands messy.

It will give you a warning beep 10 Minutes before the set temp. and it will do that for the entire time that is at that degree, unfortunately if you are doing a slow roast that means it will be beeping for a long time.

I have a problem with the timer for doing repetitive task like baking cookies or timing a steak. You have to reset it after every time it counts down to zero, and at five second increments that can be a real pain.

Luckily this is not one of those it came all broken or late so I'll never buy one of their products again reviews, I'll just think twice about something with so much programing involved.

The first thing that caught me was the vast big display with easy to read numbers, the other thermometers I've had all had small screens with cramped numbers on their display's. The next thing that I liked was the ease of use interface, 5 buttons makes it easy to get around which was different than what I was use to with other thermometers. Next thing is that it is a well thought out design, it has a opening on back where you can put your probe and a slot you can rap the cord around so you don't have the probe dangling around when you don't use it. For the alarms you can either use it as a timer, set the temperature, or go by the meat type and temp suggestions. The only drawback was the price but I don't mind paying for quality stuff.
I've had this for around a year and a half and still love it, if you have owned the others and then use this one you will be happy too.

Slick design. Includes probe cable storage. It's a bit complicated and I have to remember how to use it after it's been awhile. The probe cable is rubber. Don't use it on the outdoor grill. I burned up a rubber cable on my latest Polder and this one costs a lot more so I'm being careful. I think it will be fine with some care and only indoor use. A lot of thought went into the design. OXO is good at that. But they didn't think enough about programming use. I agree with another reviewer, it is annoying. It could be much simpler. Why 4 stars? There's enough to admire. I might not buy again if it breaks down but I still like it for now.

I only give this a two because it worked perfectly with pork. However, with chicken, steak, turkey, etc it never was able to get the right temp. I always ended up with the thermometer stuck straight into a chunk of still-raw meat.

At room temperature, the thermometer would sometimes read 150 degrees F, even though it was only 70. The rubber part around the end (where the wire comes out of the thermometer) is really fragile and was starting to come off after less than 10 uses.

I like the idea of a thermocouple probe that wraps up in the control unit. I think the unit is pretty easy to use and to read (no worse than Polder controls). But our probe has failed, a victim of its own design. You have to exert a decent amount of force to wrap the line _just so_ so that the ends meet up, and I believe that strain damages the electrical connections.

Next step is to see how good OXO's customer service is. I'll upgrade the product if I get good response.

Should I warn the people who I gifted this to, so they don't suffer the same problem? Timing is everything, of course: the thermometer failed when I needed to test the steak roast for a dinner party...

This works quite well, and I love the leave-in aspect and the various programming options. However, my main review is about their amazing customer service. My husband used this on a grill (don't) and melted the rubber on the probe which ruined it. I couldn't find a replacement probe to order, so I emailed the company. Within two days, they had shipped out a replacement probe for free - without charging me shipping or anything - even though it was not OXO's fault, since they explicitly say not to use it on a grill.

Easy to use, nice features. Used once at 425 and probe failed - only showing consant 285 from then on. We'll see how customer service handles warranty.