YOU ARE HERE >> AmazingRibs » Ratings & Reviews » Ratings Reviews And Buying Guides » Best Thermometers For Food And Cooking » How to Buy the Best In-Food/In-Cooker Thermometer » ThermoWorks Y-232-101 Therma Waterproof Kit Review
By: Bill McGrath
This rugged, industrial-grade rapid read thermometer has industry leading speed and extras like min/max and hold functions, as well as a backlight and interchangeable probes. The unit tested is the Therma Waterproof paired with the 303-159 rapid-read probe. (The kit usually provides the 303-158 probe which is electrically identical to the 159 but with a smaller handle.) The readout cannot be left in the oven/grill while cooking, however, if used with cabled probes, this unit can act as either an in-food/in-cooker or a rapid-read hand-held thermometer.
The construction of this thermometer/probe pair is exemplary. It is hefty at nearly one-half pound, with all seams sealed to IP66/67 dustproof/waterproof levels. It can be fully submerged without harm. It can accept a wide variety of probes that can be viewed on the manufacturer’s website. The unit will auto-shutoff after 10 minutes, but this feature can be disabled by pressing the Hold button when turning the unit on. It reverts to auto-off when manually shut down. The unit can be calibrated as well. The uncluttered display has 0.6″/15mm numbers.
The temperature range of the probe/readout combination is probe-dependent, with the numbers here being dictated by the readout. The unit can respond to -148 to 2500°F (-100 to 1372°C) with the appropriate probe. The accuracy is within 0.5ºF throughout the range tested. Speed of response from ice water to boiling water is less than 2 seconds – as fast as they come. Battery life is rated at 10,000 hours, meaning you may never have to change them. The unit comes with a black zippered case with pockets for the meter, the probe and the instruction sheet.
The manufacturer’s contact info, including address, website and telephone numbers, is found on the instruction sheet. The package is covered by a two-year warranty. A certificate of calibration is supplied.
It would be hard to find a better-built, better-performing thermometer. At $154 for the kit, it isn’t cheap, but you get what you pay for. We give this unit a Gold medal for its build, performance, features and warranty.
Thermometer alone: ThermoWorks
Thermometer Kit: ThermoWorks
Order Additional Penetration probes: ThermoWorks
Order Additional Hi-Temp probes: ThermoWorks
Manufacturer:
Published On: 5/7/2014 Last Modified: 1/28/2021
These are products we have tested, won our top awards, and are highly recommend. Click here to read how we test, about our medals, and what they mean.
A big part of this site is our unbiased equipment and product reviews. We love playing with toys and we have no problem calling them the way we see them. Some companies pay a finder’s fee if a reader clicks a link on AmazingRibs.com and buys a product. It has zero impact on our reviews, zero impact on the price you pay, and the sites never tell us what you bought, but it has a major impact on our ability to keep this site alive! So before you buy, please click our links. Here’s a link that takes you to a page on Amazon that has some of our favorite tools and toys: https://tinyurl.com/amazingribs
The FireBoard Spark is a hybrid combining instant-read capability, a cabled temperature probe, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. We gave Spark a Platinum Medal for pushing the envelope of product capability while maintaining high standards of design and workmanship.
The amazing Karubecue is the most innovative smoker in the world. The quality of meat from this machine is astonishing. At its crux is a patented firebox that burns logs above the cooking chamber and sucks heat and extremely clean blue smoke into the thermostat controlled oven. It is our favorite smoker, period.
Click here for our review of this superb smoker
GrillGrates(TM) amplify heat, prevent flareups, make flipping foods easier, kill hotspots, flip over to make a fine griddle, and can be easily moved from one grill to another. You can even throw wood chips, pellets, or sawdust between the rails and deliver a quick burst of smoke.
Built around SnS Grill’s patented Slow ‘N Sear charcoal kettle accessory, this 22-inch kamado is a premium ceramic grill that brings true 2-zone cooking to a kamado.
Green Mountain Grills Trek smoker
Green Mountain’s portable Trek Smoker is one mean tailgating and picnic machine. But it’s also gaining popularity with people who want to add a small, set it and forget it pellet smoker to their backyard arsenal. And with their WiFi capabilities you can control and monitor Trek from your smart phone or laptop.
We always liked Grilla. The small 31.5″ x 29.5″ footprint makes it ideal for use where BBQ space is limited, as on a condo patio.
Click here for our review on this unique smoker
From TBoneJack, the unofficial Poet Laureate of The Pitmaster Club:
AmazingRibs is where you go,
To get the best advice,
You’ll find out how, to smoke a cow,
And it will turn out nice.
Smokers, gadgets, recipes,
Charcoal, gas, or wood?
The how, the why, and what to try,
When things arn’t going good.
Selection, prep, and cook techniques,
Marinades and such,
Rubs and brines and temps and times,
And how to use the Crutch.
Brisket secrets are revealed,
For moist and tender meat,
The point, the flat, the rendered fat,
The proper mix of heat.
I found out how to smoke spare ribs,
Great bark and taste and worth,
I want some more, I’ll have them for,
My last meal on this Earth.
Memphis Dust did suit them well,
I served them without sauce,
Not 3-2-1, not overdone,
No precious flavor loss.
Jambo, Lang, or Meadow Creek,
It’s hard to make the call,
Almost a crime, so little time,
I’d like to try them all.
I’m not ashamed, I’m not alone,
‘Cause many have this lot,
But I’ll admit, here in the Pit,
My wife said Not! Not! Not!
Weber, Brinkman, PBC,
No need for budget breach,
They cook great food, just ask me dude,
‘Cause I have one of each.
Obsessed I am, I know it’s true,
They call it MCS,
I saw the doc, he was in shock,
He too is in this mess.
Myron Mixon, Johnny Trigg,
Cool Smoke’s Tuffy Stone,
Harry Soo, Chris Lilly too,
And Moe who cooks alone.
They’re all good, I like them fine,
I’m sure they cook good Q,
They’ve earned the right, I see the light,
I’ll give them their fair due,
But I have learned, thru many cooks,
This web site is da bomb,
For what to do, browse over to,
AmazingRibs dot com.
Tired of seeing popup ads?
No need to throw a fit,
Don’t you know, just spend some dough,
And join us in the Pit.
And if you travel, don’t despair,
No further should you look,
The answer’s clear, put down your beer,
And order Meathead’s book.
When you make rubs at home we recommend you add salt first them the herbs and spices because salt penetrates deep and the other stuff remains on the surface. So thick cuts need more salt. We put salt in these bottled rubs because all commercial rubs have salt and consumers expect it. You can still use these as a dry brine, just sprinkle the rub on well in advance to give the salt time to penetrate. For very thick cuts of meat, we recommend adding a bit more salt. Salt appears first in the ingredients list because law says the order is by weight, not volume, and salt is a heavy rock.
Sprinkle on one tablespoon per pound of meat two hours or more before cooking if you can. Called “dry brining,” the salt gets wet, ionizes, becomes a brine, and slowly penetrates deep, enhancing flavor and juiciness while building a nice crusty “bark” on the surface. Sprinkle some on at the table too!
Are they hot? No! You can always add hot pepper flakes or Chipotle powder (my fave) in advance or at the table. But we left them mild so you can serve them to kids and Aunt Matilda
High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, we’ll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!
Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.
Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please don’t think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.
Post comments and questions below
1) Please try the search box at the top of every page before you ask for help.
2) Try to post your question to the appropriate page.
3) Tell us everything we need to know to help such as the type of cooker and thermometer. Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F so if you are not using a good digital thermometer we probably can’t help you with time and temp questions. Please read this article about thermometers.
4) If you are a member of the Pitmaster Club, your comments login is probably different.
5) Posts with links in them may not appear immediately.
Moderators