Do You Need a Protective Cover for Your Thermapen?

What You Need to Know

The ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE is our favorite instant-read digital thermometer. Its backlit display, durable construction, and quick and accurate temperature readings make it a reliable choice for any cooking project. ThermoWorks also sells the Thermapen ONE Silicone Boot, a protective cover designed to shield the Thermapen from the rigors of everyday cooking, including drops, spills, and heat. The cover is a sleeve made of heat-resistant, translucent silicone that slides over and completely encases the Thermapen. The boot also includes a magnet and a lanyard loop for convenient storage, and it glows in the dark to make the thermometer easier to spot at night. We were curious if the silicone boot was helpful enough to merit our recommendation or was just another superfluous kitchen accessory. 

What We Liked

• Easy to Install: The silicone cover is designed to fit the Thermapen ONE perfectly, and slipping it over the body of the thermometer was simple enough. The silicone flexed and stretched to properly encase the thermometer, which stayed securely sheathed from that moment on. 
• Drop Protection: To evaluate how well the cover protected the thermometer from damage, we dropped both covered and uncovered Thermapens from 4 feet in the air onto a wood floor and then from 2 feet in the air onto a stone counter. While the covered Thermapen bounced once or twice before settling, the uncovered model clattered and bounced a few times more. The repeated drops were enough to knock loose the screw holding the battery door of the uncovered unit closed, though both models remained perfectly calibrated. It’s clear the cover’s thick silicone helped protect the thermometer during these drops by absorbing the force of impact.
• Magnet for Storage: We liked that the silicone cover was magnetized, which made it easy and convenient to store the thermometer on the side of the refrigerator. 
• Convenient Lanyard: We also liked the lanyard loop, which allowed us to wear the thermometer on a strap around our necks as we traveled from the kitchen outside to the grill.
• Glow-in-the-Dark Silicone: The case is made from silicone that glows in the dark, a fun and useful addition to the design that made it easier to spot our thermometer if we misplaced it outside at night. 

What We Didn’t Like

• Made Cleaning Harder: Though the boot’s durable silicone was stain-resistant, it trapped grease and liquids between the cover and the thermometer after cooking and cleaning. While we could simply wipe uncovered Thermapens clean with a damp cloth or wipe, we had to lift up the cover on the silicone-clad model to thoroughly clean it. This ...