ThermoPro TP03A Instant Read Thermometer

Product:  ThermoPro TP03A Instant Read Meat Thermometer
Price:  $10.19  (at time of purchase; currently $12.99)
Availability:  Various Outlets, Purchased from Amazon
Link to Purchase:  ThermoPro TP03A 
Purchased Date:  December 6th, 2017


Pre-Purchase Research
The market for Instant Read Meat Thermometer's is really over-saturated.  Searching Amazon and other outlets will result in numerous different products ranging from $3-$150.  (See below for a quick sample)  So how do you know which one to buy with all the different products on the market?  Tough to say really, but you have to do some due diligence and as with anything, the name brands are name brands for a reason!  So why did I land on this product?  The reasoning was pretty simple.  It was a "Lightning Deal" on Amazon during the 2017 holiday season, and the brand matched up with my dual probe thermometer that I've been happy with thus far so I rolled the dice.  Looking at the reviews on Amazon, this is also a very popular product, with close to 5,000 customer reviews and a 4.5 star rating.  For $10, I figured I would give it a shot.


Using the Product


Pros

• Works fairly quickly
• You can judge for yourself in the video above, but it does work and reads the temperature in a very short amount of time.  1st read in above video took roughly 7 seconds, (beginning at the 50 second mark) 2nd read took roughly 5 seconds (at the 1:17 mark).  
• 1 year Warranty
• Any warranty on any kind of product is always a must to look for.  If the company is going to stand by their product, they'll put a warranty on it.  This one comes with a 1-year warranty.
• Temperature Range
• Not that I suspect I'll need such a wide range, but this thermometer ranges from -58 to 572 degrees F.  I'm really not anticipating using this outside of the 75-200 range, but it's nice to know I'm covered if I do have to.  
• Easy Setup
• Put in the battery that comes with the product, and there are 3 buttons.  An ON/OFF button, a C/F button and the probe release button.  After that you're ready to go. 
• Auto-Shutoff
• I haven't personally tested this feature but it is designed to shut off automatically if on for 10 minutes.

Cons 

• Feels cheap
• After opening the thermometer I immediately felt like this was a cheaply made piece of plastic.  I'm going to need to store this product carefully or else risk having the housing crack on me rendering the product useless.
• No audible alarm when reading is finished
• You'd think when the temperature was done reading, you'd get an audible alarm to indicate as such.  There is no such indicator with this thermometer, you need to wait until the increase in temperature is minimal.  Note:  This is not a "common" feature in instant read meat thermometers, so take this con with a grain of salt.
• No backlight
• If grilling or using in the dark, will need a flashlight to read the thermometer.  That's a bit of a downer in the low light of Winter.  And as they say "Winter is Coming"
• No grip
• Is this a must?  No.  Can it be modified?  Sort of.  Could add some kind of rubber or something to the sides, but the shape of this thermometer doesn't really contour to the hands.  It's not difficult to handle by any means, but the design leaves a little more to be desired with its shape.
• Not Waterproof
• Don't forget about this outside or leave it out while raining.  It will handle some rain, but not immersible.  Carefully clean the probe with a wet paper towel.

Pro & Con & My Rant On The Fact This Runs on 1 AAA battery

• Not the end of the world, but feel like this day in age it would be nice to have a rechargeable battery and give me a battery meter.  Anything that runs on batteries should have a battery meter like your phone.  Or maybe, I've become too dependent on the battery monitor?
• The positive to running on 1 AAA battery is that if I don't use it for a few months I shouldn't have to worry about battery drainage or having to constantly charge it before using it.
• Another positive to running on 1 AAA battery is that the battery is common for other uses throughout the house.  Not like the quarter sized or button style batteries that are impossible to find in stores and can be expensive.
• Final positive for the AAA battery before we beat this topic to death..... Harbor Freight Tools (HFT) likes to put out Free AAA battery coupons with any purchase.  So if there is a HFT in your area, like there is in mine, this is a no brainer.  These HFT batteries don't last long, but they are free.

Summary 

You could spend $10-$12 bucks on a lot worse, but you could also spend a couple more dollars and get a thermometer with some more features.  No backlight and not being waterproof were big pitfalls in my opinion of this product.  Don't know about a lot of you, but when I'm grilling, I'm usually drinking and my memory isn't what it usually is and me leaving this thing out on the grill table overnight wouldn't surprise me at some point.  Will that be enough to damage the product?  I don't know, I would doubt it, but I also don't want to find out.  The thermometer performs up to standards and does provide a quick read on the thermometer.  You can stick it in your meat and get a quick read of the temperature and not ruin the temperature of your grill.  However, I will likely be looking to upgrade to an instant read thermometer with a few of the features that this product lacks, but for now this will more than suffice.