Escali Candy Thermometer, Fridge Dial and Timer, Reviewed

The AHC2 is an analog dial on a 12-inch stainless steel probe, with a 2.5-inch face. Escali gives its range as 100°F to 500°F, which covers sugar work and deep frying but nothing cooler. The brand lists a 500 millisecond response time and calls it a fast reading system.

The face is printed with zones for jelly, soft ball, firm ball, hard ball, hard crack, caramel and deep frying. You watch the needle enter a zone instead of memorizing numbers. An adjustable metal indicator rotates around the dial to mark a target, and a reviewer who makes jelly loved that arrow.

The same reviewer says the long stem lets them see the dial above the steam. A stainless clip holds the probe in the pot for hands-free reading, and another buyer says it keeps the thermometer in the right place, away from the side of the pot. A third reviewer found the dial easy to read but warns that in a shallow pot it feels top heavy and may not stay put.

Size is the other catch. One buyer who made rock candy liked the thermometer, but wrote that the smaller size is better for a regular saucepan. If your pot is a small saucepan, a 12-inch probe may be more instrument than you need.

Care is where Escali's page disagrees with itself. One bullet calls the thermometer dishwasher safe and usable in an oven or grill, while the details list says hand wash only.

We would follow the stricter line. A reviewer adds that food can lodge in the clip, and then you need a small brush to clean it out.

Accuracy is the real question. Three of the nine written reviews we read are bad ones. One Canadian buyer says it read about 450°F in oil that a second thermometer put at 300°F.

That reviewer also saw nearly 220°F on the dial after rinsing it in water that was barely warm, and got a refund without shipping the unit back. Another buyer says theirs was off by about 15°F and the needle bounced. A third says it stopped working in the middle of a batch.

The star breakdown puts those reports in proportion. About 72 percent of ratings are five stars, and about 7 percent are one or two stars. Most buyers are happy, and a minority got a dud or a drifting dial.

A dial like this is worth trusting only after you check it. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service says calibration is the process of checking the accuracy of a food thermometer, and describes one method with ice water and another with boiling water. In ice water it should read 32 degrees F, and in boiling water it should read 212 degrees F at sea level.

Escali's page gives no calibration steps and does not say the dial can be adjusted. If yours misses the mark, we would send it back and not guess at a correction.

Who should buy it: someone making jelly, pralines or fried food in a pot deep enough for the probe, who will run the ice water check once. Who should skip it: anyone who needs a number they can trust blind, or who cooks in shallow pots. Escali lists a two-year product and parts warranty.

The AHF1 is the least exciting product of the three and the one most likely to keep food safe. It is a 2.875-inch stainless steel dial that reads from -20°F to 70°F, or -30°C to 20°C, with both scales on the face. Escali lists it at 10 inches long and 2.2 ounces.

You can stand it on a fridge or freezer shelf, or hang it from a rack with the articulating rear mount. Escali lists it as waterproof and freezer safe, and the power source as manual, so there is no battery to replace. The page describes no alarm and no memory for highs and lows, so the dial tells you the temperature now and nothing more.

Escali prints cold-holding temperature and time guidelines on the face, and colors a cold storage zone blue to show air at or below 41°F. Here we side with the FDA, which says to keep the refrigerator at or below 40°F (4°C). The blue zone ends one degree above that line, so read the needle and not the color.

For the freezer, the FDA says the temperature should be 0°F (-18°C). The dial's range takes in both the 40°F and the 0°F lines, so one model can serve either appliance. Escali names HACCP and NSF as specifications the dial meets.

Buyers use it in specific places. One hung it from the basket of a chest freezer in a garage and reads it without taking it down. Another keeps it in a mini fridge that houses a carbonation setup, so they know how cold the water runs.

One reviewer compared it with a cooking thermometer they describe as calibrated, and says both showed the same temperature. That buyer then used it to catch two portable fridges that were sold as reaching 36° and never got below 42°, which is above the FDA's 40°F line. Another reviewer has not checked it for accuracy but calls it perfect so far.

The written reviews we could read are few, four in all, and none is negative. The star breakdown shows more doubt: about 11 percent of ratings are one or two stars, so some buyers had a problem that the reviews we read don't describe. About 69 percent of ratings are five stars.

The limits are plain. The page does not say how finely the dial is divided or how accurate it is, so we would not read a one-degree difference from it. It is an analog dial, so it will not warn you when a door has been left open overnight.

Who should buy it: anyone with a chest freezer, a spare fridge or a mini fridge who wants a quick glance and no batteries. Who should skip it: anyone who wants alerts, a record of overnight highs or a screen outside the door, and would do better with a digital model. Escali lists a two-year product and parts warranty.

The DR6 is a plastic digital timer that weighs 2.56 ounces and runs on two AAA batteries, which Escali says are included. The range is up to 99 hours, 99 minutes and 59 seconds. Escali gives two sets of dimensions on its page, so measure your fridge door space if it is tight.

The bullet list says 3.5 by 3.75 by 0.75 inches, and the details list says 6 by 3 by 3.

The headline feature is four separate timers at once. A reviewer who often needs several timers while cooking called that the best feature. The DR6 also counts up and down, recalls the last setting, and works as a 12 or 24 hour clock.

The overtime counter is the quiet winner. After the alarm expires, the timer counts up until you press the Start/Stop button. One reviewer was delighted to see how long it has been since the alarm went off, the true time the item has sat in the oven.

Placement is flexible. Magnets on the back hold it to a refrigerator, a built-in kickstand props it on a counter, and a retractable tab hangs it from a wall. A reviewer put a lanyard through the tab to wear it around the neck while grilling, and says the two magnets hold firmly to a metal surface.

Setup and parts are the complaints. One reviewer gave four stars but received a unit with neither batteries nor the kickstand, though the packaging says both are included. Another gave three stars and calls it too complicated to set as a timer, so it works for them as a clock.

Alarm volume splits the reviewers. One found the alarm loud enough to annoy a family member, and another calls it quiet and likes that. If volume matters to you, expect either result, since the reviews don't agree and the specs give no decibel figure.

Support comes up once. A five-star reviewer's alarm stopped sounding, and they say Escali did not answer three emails before a new unit arrived. The reviewer says the limited warranty is not explained, and the specs we read give no warranty term.

The star breakdown reads like a decent but not outstanding product. About 66 percent of ratings are five stars, 11 percent are three stars, and about 10 percent are one or two stars.

Who should buy it: a cook with a roast, a pot and a tray of rolls all running together, who wants one device to track them. Who should skip it: anyone who times one thing at a time, or who dislikes learning a small control layout. A one-event timer will serve that person better.