Testing cheap $15.00 wireless thermometer

[russmn]

So u was in wal fart today and seen the backyard wireless thermometer today!! Thought wow it's prob a pile lol but for 15 bucks y not? I quickly picked it up and bought it!! I made sure to put my receipt in my wallet!!! It's wal mart u can return any thing !!!
It claims it can reach up to 100 feet !! It has one probe designed for food! It has presets for specific meats and how well done u would like it! It can also be set to any temperature u would like ! When it reaches temp an alarm will sound and the blue backlight flashes !! My plans were to stick this through a potato and use it to watch my smoker temp! ...
Unboxing... Everything looks like decent quality!!!! Wire braided probe plastic does not feel overly cheap ... Display is big and backlight is plenty bright !! Everything looks good!
Now test time ... I first placed it in a glass of ice water...

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• russmn
• Apr 19, 2016

 

[russmn]

It read 34 f.... It passed!! Now comes the boil test

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• russmn
• Apr 19, 2016

 

[russmn]

Water should boil at my elevation at 210 ! I would consider this test a passing reading ! At this point I have determined if anything this thermometer could be off by 2 degrees !!

Now as for transmitting it's 100 feet ....
I'm inside my all brick house as I speak reading my temps !! Am I exactly 100 feet no !! But I'm sitting in an all brick house and can see my smoker temps!!!

 

[russmn]

Ok time to run the smoker!!
I put this through a potato with the majority of the probe exposed ! Making sure not to touch anything with the probe!! It is sitting on the grate approximately 1 inch above my deep fryer thermometer which also passed both boiling and ice test !
Now the problem I'm having !!!!
The digital is reading about 30 to 35 degrees higher then my deep fryer thermometer!!! I have no way of knowing which is right since I do not own a high end thermometer !!!!
Soooooo with that said ..... I thought wow this thing is wayyyyy off at first !!!! But then I thought about my turkey I smoked yesterday .... Hmmmmmmm it was pretty much done in 4 hours !!! My ribs seem slightly over done with a 2 2 1 method !! I've even taken them off a half our earlier and they were still fall off the bone ribs !!! So until I buy my maverick and digiQ I will assume this thing is right !! Failure her testing will be done inside food later today !!! So far this thing has blown me away !! $15 dollars is money well spent so far !!!any further testing ideas will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[krooz]

I had a similar one but not the same brand - had it for years and it worked great. Unfortunately the other evening I thought I would use it to test how hot my gas grill gets at medium and high heat. Bottom line - it's toast now - should have read the manual and not exceeded 485° - lesson learnt!

 

[russmn]

Lol haha true !!! My problem is I don't have a clue which one is wrong since both thermometers pas the same test lol but if makes sense that the higher temps would be current since a 12 1/2 pound turkey was done in 4 1/2 hours!!! At a temp if 250... Well 250 according to my deep fryer thermometer which is 12 inches long