Cooper-Atkins 24HP-01-1 Stainless Steel Bi-Metal Oven Thermometer, 100 to 600 Degrees F Temperature Range

Very handy to have this little oven thermometer, as it showed me that my oven was "saying" that it was at 350 in ten minutes but really took at least twenty to get there. One quibble: It stopped working after a few months. I very easily may have dropped it on the bottom of the oven or somehow damaged it myself; I'm not sure. However, the company very professionally sent me a replacement right away, so a five-star rating remains!This is the top rated oven-thermometer by my idols (lol) at www.cooksillustrated, who wrote: "Basic, sturdy, accurate, and the least expensive model tested, this commercial-style thermometer (it provides food safety guidelines in small print on the face) rose to the top of our rankings. Designed to either sit on or hang from oven racks, it stayed safely out of our way as we baked and roasted. After six months of constant testing, the face was still easy to read and temperature readings remained spot-on."Highly recommended!

I bought two of these because the spec said its accuracy is ±25°F and I wanted to get readings from two side-by-side gauges to observe potential variance in testing the pre-heating of my new oven (a Whirlpool GGG390LXS). Sure enough, one of these thermometers read about 20°F greater than the other. An important finding of this test was that although the final temperature of my oven for this test (350°F) was reached fairly accurately, it seemed at first that my oven pre-heat was very slow, that is, it took about five minutes longer to reach the 350°F than when the oven controls said full temperature was reached.Then it occurred to me that perhaps the oven was correct and the gauges are simply slow to respond to temperature changes. So I repeated the test using a thermocouple on an electronic multi-meter. It turns out that the oven was very accurate and in fact cycles above and below the set temperature by about 15°F. I.e., the 350°F temp is "held" actually by heating up to 365°F, then the gas goes off, it cools to 335°F, then the gas burner goes back on, and repeats this up and down. Thus, since the Cooper Oven thermometer has a much slower response time than an electronic thermocouple, you get the average temperature. And you would normally want this to be the case.I wrote up the above test results in case someone else, like me, was testing the time it takes to pre-heat the oven. Because of the slow response time of this type of gauge, don't use it for that purpose. However, it does a good job as intended in monitoring the relatively steady state temperature in the oven. For an instant measurement, you need to use a thermocouple.As a final note, on the initial preheat, the temperature (as read by the thermocouple) actually shot up to 390°F and then proceeded to the cycling of 350°F ±15°F as described above. I believe this is by design because when this oven's control panel says preheat is completed and put in the food, it knows you will be opening the oven momentarily to put in the food and the temperature will drop while the oven is open. This initial overshoot helps compensate for that loss.

I ordered 2 of these to use on my smoker and charcoal grills. They are reasonably accurate and useful for quick reads, both are generally reading about 5 F cooler than my Maverick ET733 probes at 225 F and about 7-8 F cool at 325 F. At 550 F they read about 10-15 degrees cool, not the most accurate, but not bad. This is consistent across multiple cooks. My BBQ thermometers attached to the lids by comparison are off by 30 degrees (too high) at the lower temps and as much as 70 degrees at 550 F vs the Maverick probe at the grate level.They are a bit slower to obtain an accurate reading than a digital probe, I usually have to wait a minute or two for the needle to max out once the temperature in my grill has stabilized, sometimes maybe 2 minutes. The reverse is true as you lift a lid and the temperature drops, not a big deal.I've only owned for several weeks now so I can't comment on long-term reliability, but I've dropped them each a few times and the seem physically durable. For the price, these are great for quick reference for cooks where you don't care if it's it 220 F or 232 F, as long as it's not 300 F or 170 F.I like using them when I'm doing 2-zone cooking or cooking in my smoker on 2 or 3 levels.Some reviewers seem concerned about them being built in China. As long as they perform, I don't care.I've given 4 stars for 2 reasons - accuracy could be a little tighter at higher temps, but also there's 2 drawbacks. First, the numbers are a bit tough to read at some angles, especially if you need to bend down low. Second, compared to other dial thermometers I've used, these seem to require cleaning a lot more in order to be able to read.That said, if I get 2 years out of these, I'd be fine buying 2 more again.

This little guy has been great to ensure good baking in unreliable ovens over the years. Now my husband steals it and puts it in his gas grill to gauge the temperature. Its face is about the size of a tennis ball.Pros: Sturdy, easy-to-ready design, fits well in ovens without being in the way, and good longevity (a few years old and still works great after countless baked good and grilled steaks).Cons: You really kind of have to hook it onto the rack with a bit of oomph so it's not just barely hanging on. Works best to install while oven is cold.