TaylorPro Compact Oval Dial Kitchen Cooking Oven Thermometer, Clip Hang or Stand

I purchased this product for my wife because cooking times in our oven suddenly started to vary from expectations, and I began to believe the thermostat was the problem. First of all, the dial is very large and easy to read (for young eyes), but we find it's a good idea to eyeball the needle position for the desired temperature on the dial, then clip the thermometer onto a rack (it attaches and detaches easily), and preheat the oven. The angle of the dial vis-a-vis the clip swivels easily, and the thermometer is easily visible through the oven window, but you can't read the temperature (because of dingy oven glass), so that's where pre-heating eyeballing is handy. The clip attaches solidly and releases easily. The product has a nice "solid" feel, and is comfortable in the hand with the silicone grips being useful to keep from dropping in. I would keep it on top of the stove, rather than leaving it in the oven all the time, because that way you make sure the glass face is cleaned frequently. Once you have predetermined the reading you need, it is very easy to just glance at the needle and confirm the temperature is correct. The actual temperature readings are indistinct viewed through the oven door though.

I bought this thermometer because I have an older oven and the temperature is off by twenty-five degree. I baked a cake last week and it was not cooked all the way through. I decided a new thermometer was in order.Shipping was fast, as usual with Amazon LLC.I used the thermometer this evening to bake another cake.I placed it in the middle of the rack. The clip is very sturdy. It took my oven about thirty minutes to heat to temperature. The dial is easily read. I had to wear my reading glasses, but I think that was user's faulty vision.The thermometer did everything it should. It measured the temperature of my oven and helped me maintain the temperature within a few degrees. The clip is sturdy and it does not fall off the shelf. Wonderful.As for the cost, it is more expensive than bargain thermometers. The bargain thermometers either aren't accurate or they are cheaply made and have to be replaced frequently. This thermometer is great for what I need it for. I don't need to measure any temperature above 450 degrees. I don't care if it's aesthetics are damaged at higher temperatures. I didn't buy it for it's looks.I am very happy with it thus far. If my opinion changes I will update this review.

Pros:1. Improved mounting clip: Most cheap thermometers fall off the rack with the slightes nudge and whenever I slide the rack in or out. This one clips on more securely.2. Better positioning: It can sit securely atop a rack, tilted back for easier viewing.Cons:1. Hard to read: Big dial but small numbers.2. Expensive: Double to triple the price of the economy models.3. Not fully oven-proof: The advertising boasts a temperature range up to 600 degrees, but a prominent "WARNING" on the package recommends "removing the thermometer" if the oven is used above 440 degrees to avoid cosmetic damage.4. No metric scale: Fahrenheit only.Other comments:1. Speed: In an oven pre-heated until another thermometer read 425 degrees, this one took about 12 minutes to go from room temperature to a stable reading of 425.2. Accuracy: I don't know how accurate it is, but at least it's consistent with my old thermometer. After it reached 425 degrees, this model's reading matched the 425-degree reading on the old thermometer almost exactly.

I bought this because I had a sneaky suspicion my oven wasn't working the way it should. Sure enough, it beeps to say it's preheated to 350, but it's really still at 250. And all this time I just thought my oven preheated super fast! So, that said, after waiting for a while, I see that my oven really is calibrated just fine (after a while, the temp rises to 350 and stays steady at that temperature). So, I just need to wait before I put stuff in the oven. I would never have known this without this nifty thermometer!My only problem is that I have yet to figure out a way to put the thermometer in there and keep it out of the way and yet still be able to read the face. I think I just need to keep playing with this to find something that works for me. I cook daily and often use both racks, so I am probably in a different place than most people.

This product appears to have solid construction. There are little rubbery (probably silicone) things on the sides which are probably to allow you to take it out of the oven when it is hot, but I don't feel comfortable attempting to do that. The little stand/hangar thing that you can use to attach it to your oven rack would be fine for racks with bars spaced about 1/2" to 1" apart, but unfortunately mine are about 1 1/4" apart which means that it only partly works, and partly wants to fall through. If the bars on the rack were farther apart it wouldn't work at all.I have no reason to doubt its accuracy. (If I had another reliable way of telling the temperature in my oven, I wouldn't have bought this one.)But I feel that if you have to take the oven thermometer out of the oven to read it, it's not easy to read. Of course you can't read it through the oven door, but even with the oven open, when you bend down to peer at it, various shadows make it pretty much impossible to read and therefore useless. The temperatures I'm usually looking for (300-400F) are in the most shadowed part. I'm going to have to buy another oven thermometer.Probably if you had an oven that was up at eye level, this thermometer would be fine, but if your oven is under your stove, you may want to find something else.

It is a Fahrenheit thermometer! - which is stated in the description but I simply assumed that an oven thermometer sold on amazon.co.uk would be for the UK market i.e. Celsius readings! I was not careful enough - hope this review helps others not to make the same mistake!