Customer Reviews

Polder Dual Probe Cooking Thermometer, Black

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

If you cook meat, you need a thermometer like this one. Turn off the barbeque and/or smoker. Buy one.

I've tried the wireless models, and they're great but unreliable in our setting - some RF source appears to mess them up from time to time. I bough this one to have a failsafe.

My only complaint with this particular model is that the probes are a bit fragile. One probe failed almost immediately due to heat damage at the point where the cable enters the sheath, and there's no stress relief to avoid the obvious threat of damage due to flexing.

I added a heat shrink sleeve to protect the cable/sheath transition, and the second probe is doing well after a year of steady use.

This thermometer works great at monitoring internal food temperatures and simultaneously monitoring the temperature inside my smoker. I have not used the alarm feature so I can't comment on that but I would recommend this unit based on monitoring temps alone. You will have to switch between probe 1 and probe 2 to see the different temps as they are not displayed at the same time but for the price paid, this is a bargain.

First, we've had Polder digital temperature probes for years. We like them, which is why this item was such a surprise.

Our normal procedure was, buy one or two, use them until they die. Buying two let you test two pieces of meat, or have a replacement part when one probe died.

We thought, Hey, buy two of this, we have four probes, we have spares! Too bad this is such a POS. BTW, we bought from Amazon, but I don't hold this against them...

I expected what I've always gotten from Polder, a reliable probe that lets me set my desired temperature, and beeps when my food gets there. I've used them on the grill, in the oven, and they've been reliable.

Problems with this:

First, it took two probes to get through one steak. They just don't last. I'm used to a year and a half; I got maybe a minute and a half. Disappointing...

Second, it lets you choose a meat and a doneness, not a temperature. If you want, say 143 degrees, tough. You can set it for 140, or 145, but not in between.

Third, you'd think it would sit there, and beep when your food hit the temperature you selected. Wrong. It starts beeping when you are 10 degrees low, and goes to a more insistent beep when you hit your target. So you get a long, annoying period of "Hey, your food isn't done yet. Hey, your food isn't done yet." This was just the icing on the cake, the machine was already deep in my regret pile.

I've used and loved Polder for years; I will no longer assume their name means quality. I hope their profit on these two items was worth it to them.

I had this thermometer for a very short time before I threw it out in disgust. First the probe did not function causing me to ruin some expensive steaks. The preset food temperatures are a nuisance and trying to program in a temperature is very frustrating. On one occasion it told me that fish which was taken from the fridge was over 200 degrees.

To make matters worse the quality of the whole item is very poor. I stuck the thermometer to the fridge and after hanging for a few days the magnet, which was glued in cheaply, came out and the whole thermometer crashed to the floor. The plastic stand is very flimsy and holds the item at a weird angle on the countertop which is hard to see. It practically stands at 90 degrees so you either have to bend down or tilt it back to see the screen. You can see this on the picture of the item. Imagine it sitting on the counter and you standing above it.
Overall I am extremely disappointed with this item. I expected better quality and performance.

Received this item and returned it after reading the instructions. Can not be used on the grill, which is what I wanted it for.

This probe cannot be used with an outdoor smoker or grill. It's in the fine print at the end of the instructions. Didn't see it in the description of the product and some how I missed it in the reviews. I must do a better job at my due diligence to avoid wastes of money like this was. Pass on it if you are into BBQ it will not "meat" your needs.

Cooked my pork tenderloin loaf to perfection using both probes, one in each side of the tied-together tenderloin strips. At first I was a little apprehensive about closing the oven door on the wires, but it worked as advertised, no problem (just keep the temp at 392F or below as per the instructions). This device surely beats the heck out of those stick-in instant temperature probes that require opening the oven door and dragging the meat out. With the Polder THM-360, you open the oven door when the dish is done (and/or for basting of course).

New York, January 21, 2008

A defective probe has been identified as the culprit in the destruction of a roast turkey. The probe in question, made by Polder, and used in the THM-360 Cooking Thermometer, failed to register the correct temperature of the doomed bird. In fact, the probe did not register anything but "LL". When substituted with a second probe, it was too late. The poor bird was already over 250 degrees fahrenheit. Diners wept.

I bought this thermometer to replace an earlier Polder that had gone bad after a couple of years. I was hoping the replacement would be at least as good as the old one. It was, for a month or so. Knowing that the probes were the "weak" spot, I was extremely careful in handling and positioning of the probes. I never heated the probe wires, I never pulled the wires or bent them sharply. Regardless of my caution, the THM-360 started behaving erratically after a month or so. For a while, I was able to use one of the probes, but eventually neither would work.
The warranty is useless because they don't warrant the probes, which is probably what failed on mine. I'll never know for sure because to get service, you have to prepay shipping both directions, and if the probes are bad, I'll have to pay for new probes too, which will cost in total more than a replacement unit. Bottom line: I, for one, will not buy anything from Polder again.

---------Update--------
After posting the above, I read more of the reviews and found the one that recommended calling customer support, so I did. Customer support was great! She said my problem wasn't the probe--it was most likely the unit itself, and she would send a replacement. So I've raised my rating from one to three stars, since Polder takes care of its customers. Still, the unit was useless when I needed it, so I can't rate it very highly. I would much prefer that the unit didn't break in the first place.

==========UPDATE---Dec 3, 2010---UPDATE=============
I have been having trouble with this device for a long time and finally figured out one part of the problem. I have a cooktop with induction burners, and when I try to use the probe in a pot on an induction burner, the unit acts as if the probe were faulty. These things don't work right on induction cooktops. Too sensitive to the induction magnets, I guess. Anyway, I made it work by connecting a grounding clip from the metal portion of the probe to a ground socket on a nearby outlet. That seems to have fixed the problem.
I'm not changing the stars, because this thing has been a real headache, and I can't recommend it very highly.

With one probe in the meat and one probe next to the meat you can monitor the cooking (smoking) without opening the grill. there may be others with more features, but this one does well what it does and is relatively cheap. recommended...

UPDATE: I still like this thermometer, but the probe wires ARE fragile. I have had to replace them a coupla times, and they arent cheap or that ez to find. the last time, I just bought another complete unit as it was about the same price as 2 probes. The lid of the smoker tends to pinch/crush them, maybe a hole drilled thru the top would help them to last longer.