Thermopen refurb $69.99

[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.