Customer Reviews

Orka Fridge and Freezer Thermometer

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

 

 

After recently having a refrigerator/freezer go out on us, my wife and I wanted a reliable way to monitor the new refrigerator and freezer temperatures, without needing to open the doors of the device to check an internal thermometer. We also wanted a device that would sound an alarm if temperatures exceed those that are safe for perishable food items. The first product we tried (which was highly recommended to us) was a Chaney Instrument 00985 Wireless Refrigerator Freezer Thermometer. Our experience with that device was nothing short of horrible, so we decided that we would have to resort to a thermometer with wired probes. After looking all over the Internet for a thermometer that seemed reliable, we decided to give the Orka A75014 Refrigerator and Freezer Thermometer (designed by Mastrad, in France, but made in China) a try.

This product is packaged very nicely and includes an instruction manual that is easy to read and understand. Two AAA batteries (included) must be installed in the back of the main control/display unit. There are two temperature sensor probes, one white and one blue, which have suction cups attached to them. The white sensor, which has a single snowflake icon on it, gets installed in the refrigerator compartment. The blue sensor, which has three snowflake icons on it, gets installed in the freezer compartment. I quickly found that the suction cup would not stick well in the freezer; something that Mastrad/Orka should have discovered during quality testing of this product. The instruction manual suggests that you just let the freezer probe dangle or sit amongst the frozen food items in your freezer. Hmm...sloppy but it appears to be the only other alternative to the non-sticking suction cup. The instructions advise you to leave the alarm function disabled for the first 30 minutes, after installation, to allow the temperature probes to adjust to their new environments. I found that it took about 35 minutes for the display unit to show the correct temperatures. When tested against a trusty analog temperature gauge, I found the Orka A75014 thermometer accuracy to be spot on.

The main LCD display unit measures roughly 5-1/4" W x 1-3/4" H x 3/4" D. As you look at the display, there are two buttons on the left side. The top button toggles between showing the minimum and maximum temps of the fridge compartment, and the min/max temps for the freezer compartment. The bottom button is used to clear the min/max settings. On the right side of the display is a little window, which shows the selected alarm mode. The alarm mode switch is on the far right edge of the control unit, and can be switched between Off, LED, and Beep modes. On the back of the display/control unit is a switch, for selecting Celsius or Fahrenheit temperature display. The back of the device also includes two magnets, for attaching the display unit directly to your refrigerator/freezer, and a little flip-out stand, if you prefer to sit the display unit on top of your fridge. The kit also includes two small squares of Velcro, for attaching the device to a non-magnetic refrigerator. The sensor probes are hardwired directly to the display/control unit, so there is no way to disconnect them. To install the probes into your refrigerator and freezer compartments, the manual suggests that you feed the probes and attached wires between the door and the body of the refrigerator/freezer, on the hinge side. The wires are very thin and flat, so they do not interfere with the door seals at all. Since the wires are permanently attached to the display/control unit, I would suggest mounting the device close to the area where your wires are running into the refrigerator and freezer compartments, so that you don't have wires strung across the front of our refrigerator door.

Although I am quite impressed with the overall design and accuracy of this device, it definitely has some very strong shortcomings. Here is a list of the Pros and Cons for this product.

Pros
****
- Digital LCD Display, Shows Refrigerator Temp on Left and Freezer Temp on Right
- Displays Min/Max Temps for Fridge and Freezer
- High Temperature Alarm Has Selections For Audible Beeping or Visual Blinking LED
- Has Temporary (less than 30 minutes) and Permanent Alert Modes
- Switchable Between C° and F° Temperature Display Modes
- Visual Low Battery Indicator
- Easy To Install and Use
- Measures Temperatures Down to -40° F/C

Cons
****
- Temperature Alarm Set-Points Are Factory Set and Cannot Be Changed By User
- LCD Is Sometimes Hard To Read (No Backlight Option)
- Alarm Is Very Soft (No Volume Adjustment) - Sounds Like Cheap Travel Alarm Clock
- Magnets On Back Are Not Strong Enough (Slides Too Easily On Refrigerator Door)
- Suction Cup Probe Mounting Doesn't Work Well, Especially In Freezer (clips would be better)
- No Time/Date Stamp for Alarm Events

The pros are self-explanatory but I wanted to explain the cons in further detail. First, the low temperature alarm set-points are factory set at 0°C (32°F) and 8°C (46.4°F) for the refrigerator, and -18°C (-0.4°F) for the freezer. There is no way to change these, which is very unfortunate. 32°F makes sense for the refrigerator minimum temp, but 46.4°F for the maximum temp is dangerously high. Also, -0.4°F is a little low for a maximum freezer temp, in my opinion. Most self-defrosting freezers can show an increase of up to 20°F during the defrost cycle. This means that your alarm will be going off any time the defrost cycle is running. Therefore my wife and I have deactivated the beeping alarm and only have the blinking LED selected. Unfortunately this means that we may not notice a problem with the refrigerator/freezer right away. Also, the LCD display can be difficult to see, depending on how much light is in the room when you are reading it. Although I know it would drain the batteries quicker, a pushbutton backlight option would be a welcome addition. The alarm beeper is also extremely quiet and has no volume adjustment, thus making it very difficult to hear from a couple of rooms away. It sounds a lot like one of those cheap travel alarm clocks. The magnets on the back of the display/control base are fairly week, allowing the device to easily slide down the refrigerator door. The suction cups that are built onto the temperature sensor probes have proven to be inadequate, especially in the freezer compartment. Suction cups do not hold well when wet and especially in extremely cold temperatures. Obviously these conditions are common in refrigerators and freezers. Spring clips would be a far better mounting option, in my humble opinion. And finally, there is no time/date stamp for alarm events, so it can be very difficult to track down exactly when a specific high temp event occurred. However, the unit does count how many hours and minutes have accumulated since the displayed alarm event was activated, up to 99 hours and 59 minutes (about 4 days and 4 hours). So if you go on vacation for a week and a power outage occurred while you were gone, it is very possible that the alert time will expire by the time you return and check the display.

Overall I am extremely happy with the Orka A75014 Digital Refrigerator & Freezer Thermometer. I have learned to deal with most of the shortcomings of this device, but I am not happy with the fact that I cannot leave the audible alarm on, due to it going off every time my fridge/freezer goes into self-defrost mode. The factory locked alarm settings are too restrictive and should be user programmable. This device is obviously not designed to work well with self-defrosting refrigerator/freezers, which is what the majority of these appliances are in the U.S. But the ease of installation and accuracy of this device helps to ease the disappointment of this design oversight. Considering the relatively low cost and the dependable accuracy of this thermometer, I do recommend it. However, hang on to your receipt and original packaging, in case you find that you cannot live with the cons and decide to return it. Hopefully Mastrad will design an Orka digital fridge/freezer thermometer that offers user selectable alarm set-points in a future model release.

Needed duel thermometer for separate fridge & freezer units on our boat. Needed to make sure that temperatures were maintained especially when we switch from 12V to 110 power. Display is easy to read. Have been using this for almost 5 months now & am pleased.

I looked for a thermometer to monitor my freezer and judged this one would be the best to buy. Am pleased with my choice. It does much more than what I want or need as it records highs and lows and has other functions. Be mindful of the instructions on setting it up.

Overall I am very pleased with it after 5 months of usage.

Other reviews have explained the pros and possible cons of this unit, so I'll just mention what I needed to know but couldn't find out until it arrived.

The wire leads are more than long enough for use with a side-by-side refrigerator. I put the main unit on the right outside of the box, ran the leads past the gasket and along the interior walls to positions half-way back in both compartments, and still had surplus wire. (The instructions say to coil excess up inside, not outside, the refrigerator.) I held the leads in place with packaging tape, including some right by the suction cups, to make sure the probes won't fall down when the cups detach from the walls.

UPDATE: I should have given it 5 stars, not 4. Originally, I thought the only way to "reset" the memory was by removing the batteries, but in fact, the "C" (clear) button can reset the memory, even when there has not been an "alert" condition.

I got this for a freezer at work that needs to be monitored. Believe it or not, as simple a thing as being able to just walk by a freezer to glance at the thermometer is a tremendous time and hassle saver. (Otherwise, I have to get key, unlock, read thermometer, lock, replace keys!) Big numbers make it easy to read just on walk-by glance. Easy to set up. I have alarm feature turned off (which was easy to do), so I can't address some of the issues and hassles discussed by other reviewers. Looks and feels very sturdily made.

I bought this thermometer about two weeks ago and it works great. I am still trying to figure out why I need it though. As someone else said, the frost free freezer will set the alarm off. My freezer appears to get as high as 20 degrees during this process. After reseting the alarm every morning I finally gave up and turned it off. If you are concerned about the temperatures then this is a good product. If you want an alarm to warn you of high temperatures then forget it.

Do not buy this product if you want to use the alarm. The alarm can not be changed. For the freezer it is set at -0.4F. As other people have said, new freezers get warmer than this (mine goes to 5F) each day for the defrosting cycle setting off the alarm incorrectly.

One reviewer already pointed this out, and I wish I had read more carefully:

* "Temperature Alarm Set-Points Are Factory Set and Cannot Be Changed By User"

This will be a big problem for some users. For example, the Orka's pre-defined freezer set-point is -18 C (about -0.4 F). However, freezers or refrigerators with digital controls do not necessarily save the user's setting if the power goes out. Suppose the power goes out for just 1 minute, and the freezer/refrig comes back to life with ITS default temperature settings (which might be warmer than -18 C)... this will cause the Orka to start counting "out of range" until it maxes out at 99 hours, even though the freezer perhaps came back to and stayed at -17 C! In this case, you can't tell if there was a real problem or not. The same issue affects the refrigerator function. Refrig/freezers with analog temperature controls (or digital units that FOR SURE save the user's lower than -18C freezer setting) should have no problem. Orka should have made it possible for users to adjust the set points, but no doubt liability issues sank this option!

I was extremely pleased with this thermometer until two or three months ago. I purchased it in July, 2010 for my RV refrigerator. As someone else mentioned, the alarm settings are factory set and they are much higher than I need to be concerned with, so I just turn the alarm off and look at the display every once in awhile.

My discontent with this thermometer is that it worked fine until May. I came home from a trip in March and since I wasn't going to be traveling for a few weeks, I pulled the batteries out. There was no sense in wasting battery power if I wasn't going to be using it. When I put the batteries back in two months later, the bottom half of the display would no longer light up. The LED's came in and out for a few weeks and now they're completely gone. I changed the batteries multiple times and they don't make a difference. Half of the display is apparently burned out. I am very disappointed that this thermometer lasted less than a year.

I was going to purchase a different brand or type, but when I logged in to Amazon.com to find out exactly when I purchased it, I noticed that the price came down nearly $10.00. I guess I'll try again and the next time I come home from a trip, I will just leave the batteries in and replace them when necessary.

Happy with the product. I like that I can monitor both the freezer and fridge. Forget about the little suction cups holding to the walls, they just don't. The only thing I can think of that would make this product 5 stars is a high temp alarm.