[bluesman]

After hearing all of the excellent reviews about the Thermapen, I finally ordered one and highly recommend it if you can afford it. It comes calibrated with a certificate and it's traceable to a NIST standard. Well worth the money IMO. Super fast readings (3 seconds) and it's very water resistant. Very accurate to ±0.7°F. It gets wet all the time with no problem. You can get one for about $80.

[gmwren]

At mash temperature my NIST certified glass thermometer reads 7 to 8 degrees F below two Ranco probes, two dial Blickman thermometers, one handheld dial thermometer, and one nice digital model. Just to confuse the matter, I checked it against a glass NIST calibrated (cheap) lab thermometer, and it is all over the place. I need to do the calibration thing as well.

Did the ASTM ice bath calibration on the "good certified" thermometer and it reads 35.5F. The cheap one reads almost right on. The good news is Cynmar is shipping a new "good certified" one. Since both of these are partial immersion, I made sure I used the immersion mark for the test.

[Thirsty_Monk]

After hearing all of the excellent reviews about the Thermapen, I finally ordered one and highly recommend it if you can afford it. It comes calibrated with a certificate and it's traceable to a NIST standard. Well worth the money IMO. Super fast readings (3 seconds) and it's very water resistant. Very accurate to ±0.7°F. It gets wet all the time with no problem. You can get one for about $80.

I think I will get one one of these days.

[rbclay]

I have one of these and I love it.

http://www.cooper-atkins.com/productspecsheet.asp?pid=9

A quick search found multiple sources. Looks like they're a bit more than a thermapen. Admittedly, I got mine as a gift from my last employer. Used it for 5+ years so far. Our club did a calibration demo. Mine was spot on at 32, 150 and 212.

[beersk]

After hearing all of the excellent reviews about the Thermapen, I finally ordered one and highly recommend it if you can afford it. It comes calibrated with a certificate and it's traceable to a NIST standard. Well worth the money IMO. Super fast readings (3 seconds) and it's very water resistant. Very accurate to ±0.7°F. It gets wet all the time with no problem. You can get one for about $80.

I paid $95 for mine after shipping/tax.  I think it will be a very worthy investment after using a dial thermometer up to this point.

[blatz]

It looks just like this one. Judging by the reviews it may be exactly this one.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/lab-thermometer.html

At mashing temps it was reading in the low 130s.

that thing is garbage, its no better than the old float thermometers a lot of LHBS stores sell - they should really be called "Lab-type" thermometers; they aren't true lab thermometers that are NIST certified, they just have the same look.  

get a Thermapen or other thermocouple reader (I got mine from Palmer Wahl) or a RTD reader .  or go to a lab supply site and buy a real, certified lab thermometer.  Its going to be more than $6 

[bluesman]

After hearing all of the excellent reviews about the Thermapen, I finally ordered one and highly recommend it if you can afford it. It comes calibrated with a certificate and it's traceable to a NIST standard. Well worth the money IMO. Super fast readings (3 seconds) and it's very water resistant. Very accurate to ±0.7°F. It gets wet all the time with no problem. You can get one for about $80.

I paid $95 for mine after shipping/tax.  I think it will be a very worthy investment after using a dial thermometer up to this point.

Agreed...you're gonna really like it.