The Oregon Scientific AW131 Talking Thermometer is an attractive single probe remote thermometer that performs as advertised. It has a transmitter that attaches to the probe, but there is no display on it to read temperature at the cooker. The display unit comes with a stand to allow vertical reading. The display language can be set to English, Danish, French, Spanish or German. The detailed instructions are in all these languages except Danish and German.
You can select a meat/doneness combination that follows USDA guidelines or you can select your own target temperature. As the probe temp approaches the setting, you will hear a mellifluous voice announcing that your food is nearly done, and another announcement when the set temperature is reached that the food is done. It will light up and beep, too. If communication with the transmitter is lost, it will show dashes for the probe temperature and beep. Range is claimed to be 330′ (100m).
There is a single timer that will function as either a count-up or count-down timer, depending on whether you set a time. If a time is set, it will count down to zero and beep. If no time is set, it will count up to 23:59:59.
Temperature accuracy was good. Response times are difficult to determine accurately because the transmitter updates the receiver only every 13 seconds, but that is not a problem for this type of unit. The transmitter and receiver will self-power-off if no buttons are pushed for 8 hours to save battery life.
The unit and the probe appear to be well made and are attractively designed. The manufacturer’s contact info is found in the instruction manual, including website, name, address and telephone number. There is no explicitly stated warranty.
We give the AW131 a Silver medal for attractive design, good performance and moderate price.
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