Discount AcuRite 03168 Wireless Cooking and Barbeque Thermometer with Pager

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List Price: $36.99
Sale Price: $27.60
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

Purchased item from another website, but Amazon shipping and customer service is always great so have no fear buying from Amazon.

Thermometer unit has kitchen timer and temp sensing. Temp probe helped me deliver the best BBQ chicken I have ever grilled, perfectly cooked. Cooked NY steak the next night, perfect medium.

Pager unit works well everywhere in my house and yard (~5500 sq feet lot).

Love this thing and will be buying another for family!

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I got this product during a Woot promotion and was very happy with it for about a year until it started reporting the wrong temperature, such as telling me that my kitchen was 135 degrees Fahrenheit (it is not). Apparently, the probe and its metal braid cable cannot be submerged, which I frequently do during cooking and when cleaning up afterward. Googling for a way to re-calibrate my unit, I found out that this is a common problem with this style of thermometer (not just this model), and that when it happens, it can be fixed!

Just put the probe in the oven at 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes to reset it to perfect working condition. This will evaporate off any water that is shorting out the probe from the inside. It works great again! No need to buy a new probe or a whole new thermometer.

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I purchased my AcuRite 03168 Thermometer about 3 years ago, and have used it about 30-40 times since in both the kitchen oven and in an outdoor smoker/grill. I've been highly satisfied with the results, as it's finally allowed me to accurately cook beef and pork roasts and large poultry to the desired level of doneness. The pager has proven to be a significant feature, as it allowed me to put my attention on other parts of a meal (or even other chores around the house) without fear of losing track of what's going on in the oven or grill.

Last night, though, the probe failed part-way through grilling a roast--yep, the dreaded HH failure. I wasn't aware of this issue until I scanned the Amazon reviews, so it caught me a bit off-guard. It was a bit disappointing to have what still felt like a new tool fail on me, particularly as I had always carefully cleaned and stored the probe as designed. I wasn't that thrilled to find that a replacement probe from the manufacturer cost $10 (including shipping), either.

So why is this a 4-star review? After looking at the big picture, I realized the following:

* I bought an inexpensive tool with a 1-year warranty that lasted me at least a full 3 years without a problem. Considering the lack of longevity built into the cheap electronic devices nowadays, that's about as good as I can reasonably expect.

* The probe and wire are detachable; as they are the single most likely point of failure in the system, this makes sense--the probe and wire are exposed to extremely high temperatures. If they hadn't been so easily replaceable, then I'd really have something to gripe about.

* With a replacement cost of the probe of $10 and an original price of $28, comparing this unit to the next-least-expensive cooking thermometer with a remote feature at $60 (the Maverick ET732; it has a large remote receiver, not a small, wearable pager; the latter makes more sense to me) means that I can afford to replace the probe 3 times before I break even--and that assumes that the probe on that $58 unit lasts as long as 4 probes on this one. Since the probes on the two units look identical (and that's true of almost every unit sold on Amazon in this price range; I wouldn't be surprised if they're all made by the same Chinese manufacturer), it's likely that the other unit's probe won't make it any longer than the probe on the AcuRite did. I'm probably still coming out ahead, even if I had to replace a probe every year (which I probably won't, since I don't use the thermometer that frequently).

So if you're cooking/grilling every week and want a thermometer that will last you several years without any failures or need for replacement parts, then by all means look for something that costs 4-5x what this unit does--it *may* be worth it to you (but I'd still recommend that you take a close look at the probe and wire assembly, to see if it looks any better that what comes with the AcuRite). For me, this thermometer makes sense, even if I do have to consider the probe to be a consumable item that's going to need occasional replacement. Over time, I'm still going to have saved money and enjoyed the benefits of cooking to temperature rather than by time.

Honest reviews on AcuRite 03168 Wireless Cooking and Barbeque Thermometer with Pager

I actually purchased this product off of Woot.com. It worked fine a couple times in the broiler, but since then it only reads "HH." Do not purchase this product.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for AcuRite 03168 Wireless Cooking and Barbeque Thermometer with Pager

I like many others had problems with the probe early when I owned this. I emailed the company and they sent me 2 new probes for free without any question(only asked for 1). I have taken care of the probe since I got the replacement and it works fantastic. DO NOT get the probe wet where the cord plugs into the probe or it will ruin the probe. DO NOT use the spot on the back of the device to store the probe. You have to wrap it too tight and it causes the cord to pull out of the probe. Follow these simple instructions and it will give you many years of enjoyment. If your probe is bad call or email the company they were very helpful.