I swore by a $90 Thermapen for 4 years until my $12 IKEA thermometer beat it in a brisket test

Hugo Schmidt · 2026-09-15T20:05:05.319051+00:00

I smoked two 14 pound briskets on my Weber kettle in the backyard 6 weeks ago and probed one with each thermometer every 30 minutes, and the cheap one matched the Thermapen within 1 degree the entire cook while the Thermapen needed a new battery halfway through. Now I keep wondering if I paid 8x the price for a brand name and faster readings that honestly don't matter when I'm cooking low and slow for 12 hours. Has anyone else had a cheap tool hold up just as well as the expensive one everyone swears by, or did I just get lucky with this one?

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I swore by a $90 Thermapen for 4 years until my $12 IKEA thermometer beat it in a brisket test | Change My View - Opinions Matter