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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 75 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
302 of 329 found the following review helpful:
 Well made unit that suffers from a fatal design flaw Jul 20, 2004
By Random
"-random"
This seems to be a well made product, and if not for one tremendous flaw I could somewhat recommend it.
The manufacturer got a the hardware design and functionally right. The temperature readings are very accurate. The view-screen tilts for easy reading, even on pots with sloping sides. And having the 14 most common candy and oil temperatures stored in the unit for easy selection is a nice addition, unfortunately it's also the Maverick's Achilles heel.
Because if you ever want to cook something at a temperature 'other' than those 14 presets, you may as well use a cheap analog thermometer. Unlike any other digital thermometer I've ever used, the Maverick does not permit setting of custom temperature alarms. You'll either use their 14 alarm presets or nothing at all.
Certainly the unit will display whatever temperature it is currently reading, but so can any $3 analog candy thermometer. In my mind, the primary purpose of a digital thermometer is to alert a cook when a specific temperature is reached. Not allowing the cook to set alarms at their chosen temperatures is a ridiculous and fatal defect.
The unit does have some issues even aside from that major flaw. The 14 available temperatures are selected from an LCD display, unfortunately the text on the display is very tiny it's awfully difficult to read. I have good eyesight, those suffering even moderate nearsightedness will be unable to read this display unassisted. This tiny-text problem seems also to a consequence of those 14 presets. If this thermometer worked like most other digital thermometers, the display would be more than big enough show 3 digit temperatures in huge lettering. But those 14 presets have too much text to be displayed at anything other than a tiny size on the unit's screen.
This product also misses the mark in catering to the needs of cooks. In candy making, knowing when candy has dropped to a certain temperature is just as important as knowing the highest temperature reached. This unit has no function for setting alarms at cooling temperatures.
This product shares it's reason for failure with many other failed electronic products. It has good hardware but very poorly designed software (firmware). The fixes should be simple by software standards. The designers need to ditch 14 presets, allow setting of alarms for any user-defined high and low temperature, and increase the text size. Those few changes would turn this lemon into an amazing kitchen tool. But if it remains as it is, it will be just another piece of kitchen junk to clutter your drawer.
67 of 70 found the following review helpful:
 Best I've ever used Jan 04, 2007
By George Seymour III
"chef and avid reader"
As a professional chef, I get the opportunity to use a lot of cooking equipment. Most of the time I am somewhat disappointed with the limitations of certain items, especially digital thermometers. Usually they have too narrow a range, or only give numerical temperature or candy type. The Maverick, however, gives the user a lot of options for a great price. The extra long stem allows use in many types of vessels, the temperature can be read in either candy type or numeric (making the thermometer useful for frying also), and the heat shield protects the display from steam and splashes. Of course, there is the ability to switch between fahrenheit and celsius, and an overheat alarm that sounds when the oil is getting too hot. As you can see, this thermometer has a lot of extras that you don't often find in other products (at least not for this price). I certainly recommend it, as it is the best candy thermometer that I have ever used.
57 of 61 found the following review helpful:
Great ... as long as it worked Dec 06, 2004
By ELB
I used this thermometer fewer than 10 times before it stopped working. For the most part, it no longer registers any temperature, and when it does it reads 75-100 degrees too cool. While it was working, I definitely preferred it to my analog candy thermometer because it was less bulky, but I certainly can't recommend it now.
The clip still works, though, and coupled with my wonderful Polder probe thermometer, I've got the best candy thermometer ever.
23 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 Cannot monitor cooling for fudge & fondants Aug 23, 2009
By Improve It Now
If you're making fondant creams or fudge, which require cooling to 110 degrees F before stirring, this thermometer is USELESS. Per product instructions, "The unit turns off after 3.5 minutes if no buttons are pushed and temperature is below 130 degrees F". So how do you monitor the temperature as it cools below 130 degrees? By continually pressing the "on" button every 3.5 minutes, which is senseless and VERY inconvenient. Any company that knows the slightest thing about candy making knows that many candies need to cool to 110 degrees F before stirring. Producing a "candy" thermometer that shuts off below 130 degrees F is just plain stupid. You also cannot use this thermometer to temper chocolate because a range of 88 degrees F to 110 degrees F is required for chocolate tempering. Final note: thermometer is a bit top-heavy and tends to fall sideways.
46 of 54 found the following review helpful:
very annoyed! May 18, 2005
By sweet dreams
I bought this thermomter after watching Goods Eats with Alton Brown, because when I make buttercream frosting I wanted to be able to clip on the thermometer to the pot and get an accurate reading. Well this themometer did a lousy job at staying clipped onto the pot, it kept falling off no matter how I put it on. I even tried using other pots, but no luck. I am so mad that I paid so much money for this crappy gadget, it sucks!
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