Bought a $200 Thermapen and now I see why everyone raves about them

I used to think $20 instant read thermometers were good enough until I pulled a brisket at 203° and it was actually 190° inside. Has anyone else had a cheap thermometer mess up a long cook?

3 comments

3 Comments

holly7093d ago

Wait, did you calibrate those cheaper ones at all before using them? I had a similar thing happen with a pork shoulder last summer, spent like 14 hours smoking it and when I checked with my old $15 thermometer it said 198 so I pulled it. Turned out it was barely 175 when I sliced into it, had to throw the whole thing back on the grill and tell everyone dinner was delayed an hour and a half. The Thermapen is just consistent out of the box, no second guessing yourself. Plus you don't have to wait 30 seconds for the reading to settle, it just pops up instantly. Honestly surprised more people don't talk about how much time you save with the fast read, not just the accuracy.

robinp892d ago

@holly709 nails it, the instant read saves more time than people realize.

julia_carter612d ago

That thing about waiting 30 seconds for the reading to settle really hit home for me. I read somewhere that a lot of those cheap probes actually have a much bigger margin of error than people realize, like plus or minus 4-5 degrees at high heat. Thats a HUGE difference when you're trying to nail a 203 brisket or a 195 pulled pork. Honestly, losing sleep checking a brisket every hour only to have a bad reading mess up the whole plan is just soul crushing. It makes the thermapen feel like a bargain when you think about how much money you put into a single packer brisket.