Lavatools Javelin® PRO Classic Ultra-Fast 2-Second Professional Digital Instant Read Meat Thermometer for Grill and Cooking, Auto-Rotating Backlit Display, IP65 Water Resistant – Ink

I review a lot of instant read thermometers. As you likely know, the Thermopen is the gold standard for accuracy and speed. See my photo to see the Javelin Pro up against the Thermopen and two less expensive brands. Do I like the Javelin just as well? The answer is: Almost. Read on for a more detailed comparison. I’m an avid BBQ guy and an admitted barbeque junkie. I’ve done very detailed tests on several brands, including the holy grail--the Thermapen. How well does this “Javelin” compete? Very well indeed. SPEED: The Javelin is not quite as fast, but faster than the other brands pictured. In real world use, the small speed advantage of the Thermapen, including the newest MK4, does not matter. ACCURACY? The Javelin Pro is right on. No wories FEATURES AND RELIABILITY: The battery is readily available, inexpensive and easy to change. This is my second Javelin Pro and I have had zero reliability issues. Both of my Thermapens have run into issues over time requiring service at a fee of $30. Its numbers are nice and big like Thermapen and its backlight is super helpful when needed. WHAT ABOUT CONS? One of the Javelin’s touted features is annoying to me. The ability to rotate sometimes means the numbers rotate direction when I don’t want them to. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED: If money is no object, I prefer the Thermapen by a hair. But for half the price, the Javelin Pro does not disappoint. I highly recommend it, especially in Chipotle or Orange. If you are not sure if you want to pony up nearly $50 for the Javelin Pro, you can find other very nice instant read thermometers as low as about $13. The less expensive ones are not quite as quick, typically have slightly smaller numbers, and shorter warranties, but still do an admirable job.

After receiving it, I was excited to start using my Lavatools thermometer only to find it was defective. It had some functionality but the most important feature of reading and displaying an accurate temperature on the screen was not working. I followed the instructions listed in the troubleshooting guide but was unsuccessful. So I reached out to Lavatools and they responded immediately offering to send a brand new replacement which arrived very shortly thereafter. I am happy to report this thermometer works beautifully! It’s super easy to use, accurate, and lightning fast with the results displayed on a large screen. I also like the magnetic feature that allows me to stick it onto my refrigerator or the side of my microwave keeping it at the ready and preventing it from getting lost in the clutter of one of my drawers. Lavatools is on another level in customer service. I’m so thankful I did not have to call and wait on hold listening to a recording of how my call is important to them over and over while waiting to speak to a real person. Instead of telling me that, they demonstrated it in the way they responded and resolved my issue. I would happily recommend their products to family and friends.

As a late 20-something on a tight budget, I’ve tried a bunch of less expensive thermometers over the years & at various relatives homes, but finally got frustrated with their shakey accuracy and/or how quickly they break. After this one, I’ll never look back! This is 100% worth the price point. And it rivals the instant thermometers I used in professional sensory testing kitchens in college. Mine has been working perfectly for almost a year now, and it’s become my go-to housewarming gift for all my friends. I was a little worried that it was only described as “water-resistant,” since I’m definitely not the neatest cook. But I’ve rinsed the full base of mine under running water at least a few times now (only times it was really sticky!), and can confirm the display didn’t get all water-logged or foggy like i was worried about! Normally, i do just wipe down the probe portion with soapy water. The only criticism I have is that the magnet isn’t super strong, so it doesn’t stick to my fridge without sliding down when the door is opened. (It would probably stick to a metal grill though). I didn’t take off any starts because I don’t really care about to the magnet, (it was easily fixed by hanging it on a Command hook instead), but just a heads up for those who are really interested in that feature. Seriously though, if your hesitating between this and a cheaper model, just get this one. You won’t be disappointed and it will last much longer!

The first thing to know is this is fun to use. Keep it on the fridge (thanks to the strong integrated fridge magnet, and it's aesthetics) with the temp guide and you will find yourself measuring temperatures all the time, especially for things you really didn't think to take a temp of before. You will start cooking things you were afraid to before because you were afraid of over/under cooking it. You will know exactly how hot your microwave gets things, and adjust cooking time accordingly for maximum flavor and efficiency. The second thing you should know is this thing is big, almost pistol-grip size. It's fairly ergonomic which makes it comfortable, and the probe is long enough to use over the grill. The numbers are big and automatically backlit so you can use it in the dark. I waited awhile before I wrote this review. Having gone through a few thermometers in the past few years, I wanted to put it through it's paces before I committed to a review. I can say that when it comes to these things you truly get what you pay for, the higher price is worth it for something you might start using every day. I rarely rate things at five stars, but since I got this thing just to make a good piece of fish and ended up using it from everything from heating up pre-cooked sausage to the water used for proofing bread yeast it has proved it's worthiness. Full disclosure, I never checked it's calibration in an ice bath and then boiling water, but the food I make with it turns out perfect so who cares.

[~4 year update: while I still like this thermometer a lot, I have several gripes about it. 1. The magnet is just barely strong enough for the fridge. It will slide down a bit sometimes. 2. It is not truely ambidextrous. The probe only has about 180 degrees of movement, so you have to stick it straight in and crank your head to the side if you choose to use it lefty. It is nice that the screen flips, but I need that extra travel, at least 270 degrees. 3. It desperately needs a timeout feature. I leave it open after probing to avoid gumming up the probe rest slot thing. Inevitably, I forget about it on the counter and it stays on for hours. To its credit, the battery never seems to die, it just gives me anxiety having it stay on so long. All that said, the rest of the original review holds true. Here it is: -My goodness, I just actually read it, and I already mentioned the ambidextrous thing. I'm not rewriting the update because it's still annoying. Now, here's the original, lol:] This thermometer is amazing. It's very well made and can measure accurately within a second or two. Right out of the box, I tested the accuracy using a glass full snow and water. It measured 32 degrees right away. My only complaint is that it isn't truely ambidextrous. The probe only has about 180 degrees of motion. I would expect 270 to make the ambidextrous claim.

I have tried so many food thermometers over the years and this one is by far the best . I have given it as a gift to many people who also love this one . It is worth the price. It is so easy to use . Great for meat and fish and also to see if my frozen pasties or other frozen items are ready to eat .

I spent a little extra to buy this thermometer because of the good reviews and I am very glad I did. It gives fast, easy-to-read, and (I think) accurate results. I was dubious about the probe shape since you have to hold it to use it, i.e., you can't set it down. But it responds so fast and the think probe makes it so useful to put sideways into, say, a burger, that I am now sold on it. Not only does this probe let me check the internal temperature of meat accurately, but it has also helped me with some other tricky temperature problems. I had be having a problem when making one recipe that called for heating an egg mixture on the stovetop to 160 degrees. For safety you don't want undercooked eggs, but overcook that mixture by a couple of degrees and your egg mixture becomes in-the-pot scrambled eggs! A candy thermometer that attached to the pot didn't work because there wasn't enough volume to get the sensor under the surface of the mixture. This little probe, though a bit tricky to hold while simultaneously stirring the mixture and tilting the pot to make it deep enough to read, gave me the the temperature fast enough to get the recipe right. I do have one quibble. I basically only use the HOLD feature, which is to find a consistent temperature of something and report it. Sometimes the display changes to MAX or MIN (maybe, can't remember). At this point, I don't know how to clear that feature and go back to HOLD. (There is a CLEAR that sometimes appears, but I don't know how to bring this up or confirm that I want it.) I keep getting stuck with MAX and then am not confident that I'm getting a true temperature. So I wish this part of the control was more intuitive.

Well made, easy to use

It allows you to cook your meal perfectly every time. I got my first one of these a couple of years back, and it's been brilliant, so I'm buying a second to keep outside with the BBQ. It's totally accurate and very fast. It's also simple to use and has a very clear screen.

It works very well - but it is a bit slow. Not super slow - but for this price I rather like to have an instant read thermometer showing me the temperature... instantly. Also: changing it from Fahrenheit to Centigrade is awkward to say the least (in the battery area). Overall nice.

Great thermometer, easy to use, read and very fast

Accurate, fast, and easy to read! No calibration needed, works out-of-the-box, and is very easy to handle. It has good quality of life design aspects, and you can easily switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit by double tapping the Touch button (the pro Duo has small switches in the battery compartment instead). The high quality japanese sensor is said to barely drift at all, at a max rate of 0.02 degrees Celsius (or 0.036 F) per year! This tool could last a lifetime with good care. I shall report back in the future and see if everything holds, there's a 3 year warranty... But I bought this with the hope that it will last me much longer than that.

Fonctionne comme prévu, prend la température rapidement en 1 a 2 secondes, aucun soucis