Thermoworks Super Fast Water-Resistant Digital Pocket Thermometer

by ThermoWorks

• 5 second response time
• Improved accuracy & battery life
• Adjustable calibration & Big Digits
• Range: -40 to 302 degrees F (-40 to 150 degrees C)
• Super-Fast thin-tip probe leaves tiny hole

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B002GE9S8I
• Item model number: RT301WA
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (146 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711 in Kitchen & Dining (See Top 100 in Kitchen & Dining)
  • #8 in Kitchen & Dining > Kitchen Utensils & Gadgets > Thermometers & Timers > Instant-Read

Product Description

Top rated by a leading Cook's magazine, this Super-Fast ThermoWorks Pocket Thermometer reads temperatures in just 5 seconds. Big digits are easy to read. Fits in a shirt, apron or chef-coat pocket. In use at thousands of restaurants, food plants, labs and by health inspectors world-wide. Perfect affordable choice for home or commercial use. IMPROVED ACCURACY Upgraded to ±0.9F up to 212F. This accuracy is only found in professional instruments. Thoroughly tested against NIST-traceable standards. SPEED Faster than any other thermometer in this price range! The reduced tip is only 1/16" diameter to comply with USDA meat thermometer requirements. Fully speed-tested in ThermoWorks Standards Lab to reach within 1 degree of the final temperature in only 5 to 6 seconds at any temperature in the range. LONGER BATTERY LIFE Uses a reliable CR2032 battery with circuit improvements to reliably allow 5,000 hours of continuous use between battery changes. Auto-off shuts the unit down if you leave it on for more than an hour. ADJUSTABLE CALIBRATION Under the sealed SS screw in the front panel is an adjustment screw to re-zero the thermometer in an ice bath. Remove minor error if ever needed. However, readings should remain within the ±0.9F spec without adjustment. TOUGH COMMERCIAL DESIGN Minimal food and grime traps. Rubberized button panels are sealed. Big display is protected by a molded-in, hard plastic window. No welded or braised joints on the probe that would shelter microbes or create likely breakage points. Designed to survive short term, shallow immersion - you can wash the thermometer under the tap or use it with wet hands. Rated to IP65. Fully NSF approved for use in commercial food applications. WARRANTY One year coverage on material and workmanship including any failure in the circuit.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 93 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Works as billed, fair price. March 12, 2010

By JR

Amazon Verified Purchase

I still like my Splash-Proof Thermapen better but this is from the same company and it is actually pretty fast. The Thermapen is more accurate and faster but this one is much cheaper. And, it is still better than the CDN or Mavericks that I have tried. I'll use this in my tailgating kit so I won't risk losing my thermapen. I see Cook's Illustrated rated this as recommended.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Really can't recommend it September 21, 2011

By Dante

Amazon Verified Purchase

I now have three of these thermometers. Let's explore the fate of each of these:

#1 - The first one I purchased came out of the package malfunctioning. It had some kind of short in it that made it flip between an accurate reading an a totally inaccurate one (at room temp, for instance, it would flip between 75 F and 50 F, and for hot water it would flip between 170 F and 120 F). Tapping the unit would sometimes fix it temporarily. I called Thermoworks and their customer service is excellent. They sent me a replacement at no charge.

Thermometer #1: broken

#2 - The second one came, as above, at no charge from Thermoworks to replace the malfunctioning one. This one still functions.

Thermometer #2: good so far

#3 - Since the customer service was exemplary and the thermometer has all the features I want, I decided that the broken one was a one-off. I needed a second thermometer so I could keep one at work and use one at home, so I bought another. This one worked for about 2 months and then the "change battery" light came on. It seemed strange for the battery to run out so quickly, but hey, batteries go dead. So today I changed the battery and now the display reads LLL.L. The user manual tells me that this means that it needs to be sent back for repair.

Thermometer #3: broken

Maybe I should call Thermoworks and send the third one back for repair as instructed, but this is a 2 out of 3 failure rate in less than 5 months. At this point I'm just waiting for the third one to conk out on me, too. It's time for me to cut my losses, I think, and go with another company.

So. Thermoworks. Great customer service, lousy product. Really, really lousy product.

EDITED: The battery on Thermometer #2 eventually gave out and I replaced it without it giving up the ghost. However, it was extremely difficult to re-calibrate and I never got it to read 0 C in ice water and 100 C in boiling water again. I recognize that water not at sea level is not going to boil at precisely 100 C, but I used distilled water and the deviation should not be 6 degrees (C!). I don't live on Mt. Everest. ??? What gives? I never did figure it out. I eventually calibrated it to 100 C at boiling since I measure hot things more often than cold things, and I just live with the variance in the cold range.

55 of 61 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Kills Batteries WAY Too Quickly September 5, 2010

By Weird Ralph

Amazon Verified Purchase

My previous meat thermometer was a two-prong combination meat fork and thermometer. It took at least 30 seconds to check the meat's temperature, so to save time, I usually pre-heated it by holding the prongs against the outside of the grill to get them close to the ideal temperature. This worked... but it wasn't ideal.

Eventually, the prongs kinda melted a little. That tends to happen when you leave the thermometer too close to the side of your grill. Who knew? At any rate, I found myself in need of a new thermometer. The ultra-fast pocket thermometer looked like an awesome product, but I couldn't justify spending that much for casual grilling. I could, however, drop $35 on a fast thermometer that had the kind of reviews that this one had received. So I did.

As many of the other reviews have stated, this thermometer's very fast. It also appears to be very accurate. It might take a smidgen longer than the 5-6 seconds claimed, but not by too much. You can probably get a good final temperature within 10-12 seconds. Sometimes less.

For the price, this one's tough to beat.

EDIT: I originally deducted one star because the thermometer, while fast, was not as quick as advertised. I had to take away another star because the battery died about 4 months after I received it. This might have been understandable if I was using the thermometer on a daily basis; but since grilling season was just about over, the thermometer was turned off and kept in a drawer for most of this time. I guess I'll track down a new battery for it, but I'm pretty disappointed that it ran out so quickly.

EDIT (1/14/13): I've had to replace the batteries far too often in this thermometer. Given that I turn it off before putting it away for storage (and I think it's even got an "auto-off" feature), the batteries should last at least a couple of years (based on previous electronic thermometers I've used) seeing as how I only use it about once a week during the warmer months. The thermometer itself works fairly well... WHEN it works! But for those times when you press the power button and nothing happens, that's just a little too frustrating for me to recommend this product to anyone. Especially since it uses batteries that you won't find just lying around the house.