Thermopen refurb $69.99

[lmckenny]

Not mine but didn't know the best place to post this. Thermoworks is selling factory reconditioned thermapens for 69.99 + 5.99 shipping.

http://bounce.fatwallet.com/redirec...apen/splashproof_thermapen_open_box_sale.html

 

[strumke]

Best. Thermometer. Ever.

I use this at least once a week

 

[bitmask]

Thanks for the tip. Couldn't pass it up -- now to receive the package before swmbo comes home...

 

[cosmatics]

Sweet, def going to pick up another one or two. Thanks for the link. Easily best thermometer bang for buck in mankind.

 

[bgs8884]

why is this thing so good for brewing?

 

[TyTanium]

why is this thing so good for brewing?

Speed and accuracy. Really nice for mashing where temps matter.

 

[NervousDad]

No only is it good for brewing but for cooking super fast reading you get the temp of the meat and not the temp of the grill. My grilling has gone up about two notches! What I always thought was perfectly done was about 40-50 degrees over cooked. Well worth the money IMO.

 

[digitalhifi]

Just bought one in British Racing Green. This is a super deal.

 

[Zen_Brew]

That is a pretty nice discount on these. I may have to pick one up in a groovy color.

 

[Bobby_M]

Like I keep saying, it's a really nice thermometer but you don't have to spend that much for speed and accuracy.

 

[mikeysab]

The speed is nice, but not sure speed is worth the extra money. I own two other cheapo thermometers that I bought for around 15 bucks, and there temps are off by less than half degree compared to the thermapen. I might actually look to sell/trade mine in the near future

 

[cosmatics]

Yeah I am a chef, hence this is a very nice durable unit that you can move around easy and quick. Personally I've blown through alot of thermometers in my day, and this one has survived the longest. For home brewing this is most likely overkill. But why kill, when you can overkill.

 

[hefehawk]

Very costly, but the best you can buy. I love the small diameter hole it creates, the speed and the accuracy. I can pull something out of the oven and have the temp checked and back in the oven in under 10 seconds.

 

[evandena]

Like I keep saying, it's a really nice thermometer but you don't have to spend that much for speed and accuracy.

Agree with Bobby on this one. for $60 cheaper, you can get one that reads 2 seconds slower. Not a big deal.

 

[Silverbullet]

Thanks for the tip. Couldn't pass it up -- now to receive the package before swmbo comes home...

LOL So I'm not the only one that does that? Good!

 

[america]

Thanks for the tip.

 

[TBaGZ]

Thanks for the tip. Couldn't pass it up -- now to receive the package before swmbo comes home...

LOL So I'm not the only one that does that? Good!

I try not to be like this, but sometimes you just need to keep the peace!

 

[dcHokie]

ThermoWorks also makes this one. I love it, its a great thermometer for a lot less coin. $19 on Amazon right now

http://www.amazon.com/RT600C-Super-fast-Water-resistant-Digital-Thermometer/dp/B002GE2XF8

 

[onipar]

Like I keep saying, it's a really nice thermometer but you don't have to spend that much for speed and accuracy.

Thanks again for this info, Bobby. I ended up going with the one you recommended, and shot an extensive video about thermometers too.

 

[greenbirds]

I bit on this deal. I have purchased 4 Taylor 9842 digital thermometers in 5 years of brewing, and 3 of them have failed, with the second unit being last man standing. I should have learned my lesson after 2, but I always want to have a backup. From what I've read, it seems to be luck o' the draw with these thermometers; some cheap ones last forever, others fail quickly. I am admittedly tough on my equipment, but that kind of failure rate for an object with no mechanical parts (aside from buttons) irritates me.

Although I don't own the CDN DTQ450 and am impressed with BobbyM's test results, I will offer an observation on digital thermometers as a product category: failure rate. I believe to get a rough assessment of that metric, online reviews such as those on Amazon are valuable, especially with a large N, i.e. a few hundred reviews, but you have to take them with a grain of salt -- people with a negative experience are more likely to review than those who had a positive one, which skews the true failure rate. As of this writing the CDN has 141 positive (4/5-star) reviews, and 43 negative (1/2-star) reviews. The Thermopen has 229 positive reviews, and 6 negative reviews. IMO your failure rate has to be extremely low (or customer service extremely good), for the ratio to be as clear-cut as with the Thermopen. You just don't see that very often.

My .02

 

[onipar]

As of this writing the CDN has 141 positive (4/5-star) reviews, and 43 negative (1/2-star) reviews. The Thermopen has 229 positive reviews, and 6 negative reviews. IMO your failure rate has to be extremely low (or customer service extremely good), for the ratio to be as clear-cut as with the Thermopen. You just don't see that very often.

My .02

I agree, you don't see stats like that often, even with the best of products. When you're selling something for that price, you better have a quality product with killer customer service.

A couple things to add to this.

The CDN would have to break 6 times before you spent the same amount of money on it (replacing it every time) as one thermapen. (Not that I'd continue to replace it f it did!) :cross:

Also, some of the 1-star reviews aren't due to failure, rather, just PO'd customers. Some complained about it not being waterproof, and so on (just from looking at the first couple pages).

I'll say what I said in my video on the subject: If you have the money and don't mind spending it, hell yes, go for the thermapen (I sure would, even if it is overkill). If you're looking to save money, there are other options.

 

[NervousDad]

The Thermopen will read in 2 seconds if you set the reading to whole numbers only. It would make your thermometer a little less accurate, but within tolerance. I had a CDN and I broke is within a week, it was my fault though. I left it in the mash

 

[nate456789]

If you are extra careful the CDN are the better if the cheap thermo.
I got 2 brews on my first CDN and 0 on my replacement. I had also killed another cheap one from bed bath and beyond. Not sure of the brand.
That is when I decided it was cheaper to buy a thermopen.
Had mine over 12 months with several brews and several sessions with my smoker. Not to mention day to day in the kitchen.
Still works awesome.
I would highly recommend the thermopen.

 

[hefehawk]

I own both the CDN DTQ450 and two Thermapens. I haven't tried to measure the time it takes, but the CDN DTQ450 is considerably slower than my Thermapens. It seems like the CDN DTQ450 never stops moving when it is trying to read a temp. My Thermapens quickly gets to the temperature reading and also produces a lot smaller of a hole in meat, which I think is very important. Both can do the job, but don't try to compare the CDN DTQ450 with a Thermapen.

 

[greenbirds]

I agree, you don't see stats like that often, even with the best of products. When you're selling something for that price, you better have a quality product with killer customer service.

The CDN would have to break 6 times before you spent the same amount of money on it (replacing it every time) as one thermapen. (Not that I'd continue to replace it f it did!) :cross:

Also, some of the 1-star reviews aren't due to failure, rather, just PO'd customers. Some complained about it not being waterproof, and so on (just from looking at the first couple pages).

I'll say what I said in my video on the subject: If you have the money and don't mind spending it, hell yes, go for the thermapen (I sure would, even if it is overkill). If you're looking to save money, there are other options.

All good points as well.

 

[Flyin1500]

Thanks for the link!

 

[Bobby_M]

I own both the CDN DTQ450 and two Thermapens. I haven't tried to measure the time it takes, but the CDN DTQ450 is considerably slower than my Thermapens. It seems like the CDN DTQ450 never stops moving when it is trying to read a temp. My Thermapens quickly gets to the temperature reading and also produces a lot smaller of a hole in meat, which I think is very important. Both can do the job, but don't try to compare the CDN DTQ450 with a Thermapen.

I did compare them and found much less variance than you suggest. In fact, from room temp to boil the cdn was two seconds faster. Now, i actually used a stopwatch so i consider it slightly better data than your anecdotal estimate. The issue of the hole it makes in meat is irrelevant for brewing but incidentally they just modified the probe this year so it is the same as the TP.

 

[Bobby_M]

I bit on this deal. I have purchased 4 Taylor 9842 digital thermometers in 5 years of brewing, and 3 of them have failed, with the second unit being last man standing. I should have learned my lesson after 2, but I always want to have a backup. From what I've read, it seems to be luck o' the draw with these thermometers; some cheap ones last forever, others fail quickly. I am admittedly tough on my equipment, but that kind of failure rate for an object with no mechanical parts (aside from buttons) irritates me.

Although I don't own the CDN DTQ450 and am impressed with BobbyM's test results, I will offer an observation on digital thermometers as a product category: failure rate. I believe to get a rough assessment of that metric, online reviews such as those on Amazon are valuable, especially with a large N, i.e. a few hundred reviews, but you have to take them with a grain of salt -- people with a negative experience are more likely to review than those who had a positive one, which skews the true failure rate. As of this writing the CDN has 141 positive (4/5-star) reviews, and 43 negative (1/2-star) reviews. The Thermopen has 229 positive reviews, and 6 negative reviews. IMO your failure rate has to be extremely low (or customer service extremely good), for the ratio to be as clear-cut as with the Thermopen. You just don't see that very often.

My .02

There is also psychology at play here. People who spend $90 on a thermometer are more likely to be proud of themselves in making such a wise investment. They want to tell people about it. On the other hand, if the cheap cdn does its job, you are less likely to brag about it. In other words, premium products tend to have a much bigger cult following and owners will feverishly defend their purchase decision.

 

[hefehawk]

I did compare them and found much less variance than you suggest. In fact, from room temp to boil the cdn was two seconds faster. Now, i actually used a stopwatch so i consider it slightly better data than your anecdotal estimate. The issue of the hole it makes in meat is irrelevant for brewing but incidentally they just modified the probe this year so it is the same as the TP.

I will do my own test tonight since I don't have much of a life. I will be surprised if the QDN is within 5 to 10 seconds of my thermapen.

 

[hefehawk]

There is also psychology at play here. People who spend $90 on a thermometer are more likely to be proud of themselves in making such a wise investment. They want to tell people about it. On the other hand, if the cheap cdn does its job, you are less likely to brag about it. In other words, premium products tend to have a much bigger cult following and owners will feverishly defend their purchase decision.

I know that can happen, but not to me. I will be the first to say that the Thermapen is expensive as hell and probably overkill for most people. For me, I love to cook and I find that it is a valuable tool that I use every day so it was worth the extra cost. If you want a Thermapen, then you won't be able to find much better of a deal than this one.

 

[TyTanium]

I know that can happen, but not to me.

This is called "Overconfidence Bias" or "Inside View" in Psychology.

 

[onipar]

I will do my own test tonight since I don't have much of a life. I will be surprised if the QDN is within 5 to 10 seconds of my thermapen.

Let us know what you find. Bobby's test seems to mesh pretty well with some videos I've seen on youtube doing side by sides of these two therms. There is some variation of course, but I believe the largest difference I've seen was a 6 second difference, with the thermapen on top.

Here are a couple side by side vids. This first one is actually the company that makes the thermapen testing a number of different therms in an ice bath. They clocked the CDN in at 7.5 seconds and the thermapen at 2 seconds for a difference of 5.5 seconds.

It's worth noting this was the old model (vid made in 2010), and I know my current CDN is faster than that, closer to Bobby's findings.




This is just a random one with no stop watch testing just the CDN and thermapen in boiling water. It seems to show the CDN closing in on 212 a bit faster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=bq_9mHj8OMs

Let us know what you get, Hefe

 

[Max232]

Thermapen all the way! No regrets here.

It seems my thermapen has been the least expense in my whole endeavor in brewing.

As someone said in an earlier post only 6 negatives out of 2 hundred or so reviews, I'm sure there are tons more thermapens out there, as with any product, if it's bad people are more likely to write a bad review than they are to write a good review if it is good.

 

[dslater]

Pulled the trigger on one of these yesterday.

Over the past 6 years of brewing, I've spent at least $70 on various thermometers, only to have them fail or read too slowly. If this Thermapen is still going strong in 2018, I'll be ahead of the game, if it doesn't, i'll be stocking up on cheapos ...

 

[Silverbullet]

After all this thermometer talk I decided to do a test on mine. The results have me pissed and slightly concerned. After doing the ice water test, it turns out what I thought was a good thermometer has been reading anywhere from 5-12 degrees high on temp. Strangely, it seems to be accurate at boil temps and reads correct at 212-214 so...dunno) It won't even go to 32 but am not sure if it's digitally limited or that far off. Used a super el-cheapo analog to confirm the temp was in fact at 32. If this is as far off as it seems (reads between 38-45 when it should say 32 and won't hold steady) my mash temps have been all jacked up.
Moral of the story, worth investing in a RELIABLE thermometer. After reading this thread and reading several reviews (big thanks to Bobby M!) I decided to go with the much cheaper CDN 450X. If that fails to impress, I know I can count on the thermopen.

 

[bitmask]

After all this thermometer talk I decided to do a test on mine. The results have me pissed and slightly concerned. After doing the ice water test, it turns out what I thought was a good thermometer has been reading anywhere from 5-12 degrees high on temp. Strangely, it seems to be accurate at boil temps and reads correct at 212-214 so...dunno) It won't even go to 32 but am not sure if it's digitally limited or that far off. Used a super el-cheapo analog to confirm the temp was in fact at 32. If this is as far off as it seems (reads between 38-45 when it should say 32 and won't hold steady) my mash temps have been all jacked up.
Moral of the story, worth investing in a RELIABLE thermometer. After reading this thread and reading several reviews (big thanks to Bobby M!) I decided to go with the much cheaper CDN 450X. If that fails to impress, I know I can count on the thermopen.

Are you sure your ice water is really ice cold? Even the thermapen instructions note this (i received my open box today), that it may read higher than 32 in ice water unless it's a proper ice bath. They give instructions that essentially come down to using lots of ice in a glass, and if ice floats up from the bottom it's probably not 32 yet. Pour off the water, add more ice if needed, stir, don't let the them touch the glass or the ice, etc.

Edit: just saw you said an analog confirmed...dunno, maybe it's the one off? Or they both are at low temps... Luckily you don't mash at freezing

 

[jholen]

Like I keep saying, it's a really nice thermometer but you don't have to spend that much for speed and accuracy.

Placed my order for Bobby's the other day. Can't wait.