Inviting family and friends for a Memorial Day dinner or barbecue is
beginning to seem possible. Here’s a guest post from Doug Rose on talking meat thermometers with the details you need to cook perfect chicken and burgers:
Doug: I have used the ThermoWorks talking cooking thermometer, (ThermoWorks RT8400) for years. AMerican Printing House (APH) seems to offer
the best price at $21. They send it “Free Matter for the Blind”. Their quicker mailing options are expensive. I have seen it listed over the years for twice as much and more. It is made by ThermoWorks in Utah.
It has worked well for me to take temps. The battery compartment door has always been one of its weaker design features, but perhaps that is just my unit.
The instructions state that the temperature will speak with the push of a button. Personally I find I don’t even have to push a button. I just wait and I get the reading. If the temperature change is more than a couple degrees it automatically announces the new temperature.
If you want a more waterproof, retractable probe, and what feels like a sturdier design in a talking thermometer here is info on the Kizen Instapen Pro talking thermometer.
Kizen Instapen Pro Digital Meat Thermometer$25 at kizen.net. Or $17.95 at Amazon. The Kizen model is rated waterproof, the probe is designed to be folded away for safe keeping when not in use. Think of the temperature probe as though it were a blade on a pocket knife. When you want to take a temperature pull the probe out of its storage position. This will turn the thermometer on. There are three raised buttons on the face of the unit, which nicely fit under a thumb when holding the device. The talk button is strategically placed in the center of the three button configuration and is a bit larger than the other two buttons. One button you press to back light the display. I am told the displayed numbers are about three quarter inch in height, black numbers on a gray background. The other smaller button is to switch the thermometer between Celsius and Fahrenheit. The voice announces in a reasonably pitched female voice with adequate volume. It is easy to change the button-type battery,and it comes with a spare battery. There are three ways to store the thermometer, using the supplied Velcro dots, the internal magnet, or there’s a hole for hanging on a hook.
What’s more these thermometers will help someone take readings of air, water, and garden soil as well as food!
Be well.