I love grilled food. Pretty much anything tastes better when slightly charred by burning mesquite, but sadly, I was born without that gene on the Y-chromosome that enables men to grill properly. This diesn't stop me, since I'm not too picky how well cooked my steaks are, but my wife likes hers well done. For culinarily disabled such as myself, cooking a steak past "Mooing" to "well done" without cooking it to "There's no such thing as 'Cajun Blackened Beef Jerky,' Dale," can be a daunting, if not impossible, task. Impossible, that is, until the Grill-Right Talking BBQ/Oven Thermometer from Oregon Scientific landed on our doorstep. I am proud to say that, for the first time in our marriage, I was able to grill a steak for my wife that was actually cooked to her specifications.

The device couldn't be simpler to use. Turn on the main unit, which has a handy belt clip so you don't lose it and can take it with you to the cooler to get something to drink. If you don't want to use the clip, it also includes a cradle-like table stand. Then take the wireless (330' range) transmitter, and attach the probe. Insert the probe deep into the meat, put the meat on the grill and the transmitter on a shelf or table next to the grill, and turn on the transmitter. On the main unit, choose the type of meat (beef, lamb, veal, hamburger, pork, turkey, chicken, or fish) and how you'd like it cooked (rare, medium rare, medium, or well done). (No, it doesn't have a setting for rare pork, poultry, fish, or hamburger.) Besides visual cues, the device talks, which would be great for those whose vision isn't what it used to be (not to mention a fun gimmick--the kids get a kick out of it, as do I). When the meat nears the desired internal temperature, the main unit beeps and says, "Nearly done." When you hear that, get ready to pull the meat. Another alarm begins a couple minutes later: a beep and, "It's done." It will repeat this until you turn the unit off or disconnect the probe so you don't miss it. If you take too long, the screen starts flashing, and the device beeps repeatedly to let you know that it's overcooked.

Besides the grill, you can also use the probe in the oven, and if you'd rather set your own "done" temperature, you can do so manually instead of using the presets.

I love this thing and look forward to using it anytime I grill, broil, or bake meat to get it just right, especially since I can set the main unit on my desk while food cooks, and it'll remind me when to pull the meat out instead of waiting for the smoke alarm. Keep in mind that you'll still need to turn the meat as appropriate, especially on a grill, and make sure the flames don't char the outside before it's cooked on the inside. It doesn't cook the food for you.

It's not perfect in design, though. The transmitter could really use a hook or loop on it somewhere so you can hang it from your grill handle if you have no shelf. It can hang from the probe cord, but that's probably not a good idea. Also, as a fan of bratwurst and other sausages, I'd like a sausage preset (140°F, FYI), and some would like temperature presets besides "well done" for hamburger as well, but the manual setting allows fans of any kind of meat to choose their temperature of choice.