"accurate to ±0.9 degree Fahrenheit"--pshaw, that's far too coarse, and besides, who says it's even close to that? You are going to trust your hard-earned labor of love prime rib to the People's Republic? Not me, my man, I'll take the accredited calibrated thermapen over 5 of the cheapies. I've used those, and they are acceptable, but there's a definite difference, to me it's worth it. I like food a lot, amortize that baby and it's cheap as heck for fine, durable tool. And how come yours didn't help you with those formerly dry chops, hmmmm?

With the thermapen's near-instant read, it is easy to quickly measure the full gradient of doneness throughout the whole piece of meat. You don't have to wait for it to equilibrate at say, this part of the thigh, then that part, or the far side of the chop, then the middle. I'm not on thermapen's payroll, btw. I just like mine.