Maverick CT-03 Digital Oil & Candy Thermomter
$31
- Fold-up Splatter / Heat-Shield. Easy to use! Beeps and flashes when the perfect temperature is reached!
- 14 pre-programmed settings for both candy-making and deep-frying. Easy digital readout.
- Heat resistant white plastic with 8” stainless steel probe, clip and fold-up splatter / heat shield. Batteries included.
- Temperature Range: +32˚F˚ to +392˚F˚ / +0˚C˚ to +200˚C˚.
- 12.0” x 2.25” x 1.5″
Specification: Maverick CT-03 Digital Oil & Candy Thermomter
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8 reviews for Maverick CT-03 Digital Oil & Candy Thermomter
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Kashtin –
Super disappointed, the product only worked for about an hour then the temperature stopped showing. I tried putting different batteries to see if that was the problem but i was still left with no numbers showing on the screen, it would not read any temps what so ever. For $30, not really worth it.
Johnny L –
L’un des chiffre numérique, ne fonctionne pas dès la 1ere utilisation ! Et pas retournable, plainte a venir arnaque !
Franky –
I purchased this to help… It only hindered .. 4 degrees out when making candy… Glad I had my other glass one to check it against!
– –
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.
Canerrity –
This is an excellent thermometer. However, it will not hold to side of my pots because it is so long and so top-heavy that it falls over. It would be good for large commercial pots, but not for sizes you usually have at home. Consequently, I just have not used it. A disappointment.
Carolyn –
First use was in making caramel and it’s a great tool! I like everything about it.
Puppy’s Mama –
Years ago I watched Good Eats and saw this thermometer. I bought it and enjoyed it until today, when it quit. I changed the battery but it didn’t help. So I got on Amazon to look for oil thermometers. When I clicked on this one, Amazon says to me, “You bought this in Feb 2004.” Really? That’s 10 years ago! I thought it was maybe 6, 7 years ago. Well, the thermometer has worked well these 10 years!
Even though I liked this thermometer, I looked at all the others (for frying) to see if there’s anything better out there. Well, there isn’t. I want a digital thermometer, not the kind where you have to read the mercury, which is hard. This one has an adjustable clip so that you can clamp it onto the pot and keep it there while you are deep frying so that you know the oil temperature at all times. This one clamps well for any kind of pot. For frying in shallow pans, I lean it against a jar so that it immerses sideways in a little bit of oil for frying tortillas. Works nicely.
In summary, the benefits are:
1. Has digital readout, which is much cooler than staring at the mercury;
2. Has a metal tip, can be poked into sausages like a meat thermometer;
3. Has easily adjustable clip (you squeeze the “V” clip together to adjust its height) so that it can stay in the oil pot while deep frying.
4. Has the shield guard to prevent oil splatter.
5. Not made of glass, so won’t break easily like glass thermometers.
The drawbacks are:
1. Takes about 20 to 30 seconds to get an accurate readout (the instant read thermometers take 10-15 seconds).
2. May quit eventually so you have to get another one; mercury thermometers probably never quit.
3. Costs about 50% more than mercury thermometers.
I find the drawbacks tolerable compared to the benefits, so I’m getting another one after I submit this review.
Brian B –
I wanted to try this after seeing Alton Brown use it on an older episode of Good Eats. It is a serviceable thermometer but I couldn’t rate it 5 stars. I pretty much use this exclusively for candy making where I need to keep a thermometer in the pot. For everything else I use a thermapen which I love.
I was initially drawn by the little drop down shield to help prevent the display from steaming up. This does not completely stop the display from being fogged over however I imagine it would be worse with nothing. Considering how hot most candy is I guess I should not be surprised.
I also thought that the alarms at the various stages would be useful but I don’t use them. I am at altitude which means that I have to pull things almost 10 degrees early so relying on the alarms and standard temps for soft ball, firm ball etc results in overcooked candy for me.
Be sure you calibrate this before using. I didn’t and paid the price. Mine was almost 5 degrees off. I don’t count this against the product as almost all thermometers require some sort of calibrating. Unfortunately you have to remember how much it is off because you cannot reset the thermometer once you calibrate it. To calibrate just boil some water and see what temp the thermometer reads once it reaches boiling. Should be 212 unless you’re at altitude like me, then it will be lower.
All in all for the price it is a serviceable thermometer. I find that it stays clipped to my pan better than any others I’ve tried. I also like the digital readout for accuracy vs the non-digital that get hard to read with steam and everything. Again just be sure to calibrate.