Why are two identical thermometers giving different readings?

JP: Review last sentence.

Ahhh, Made In China. I answered my own question.

Thanks Wannabe.

JP I was up in Lake Placid, watching a world class blacksmith at the Lake Placid Horse Show work on a horse’s foot (Hey Tony!) and he looks at the tool he’s using, and he cussed out Chinamart big time.

To check which is correct put in something of a known temp (like boiling water) and see which shows the correct temp.

For a product made in China only costing $5 at retail, consider yourself fortunate that there is as little a differential as 3 degrees.

As with many things in life, you get what you paid for. Once you figure out which one is off the mark, just return it (unless the gas costs for the return trip end up being greater than what you initially paid for it)

:D

Accurate and certified thermometers can cost hundreds of dollars. Variation of 3 degrees is great for $5.

Made in China so it could be sold at WalMart for $5.

If you bought high quality units that cost $15 they would match.

By the way, they are getting really clever about making it look like the units are high quality when you are in the store. Note how the tubes are glued to the backing.
In the factory they take the tubes and intentionally line them up so the level reads at room temp. They are then glued in place. The gain can be completely off but the customers will never know until the they take them home and try them side by side.
All the thermometers will agree when on the Wally World shelves giving the appearance of a good product.
Proudly built in China to WW specs.

If you want to help fix the problem, bring it back – even if it costs you time and gas. WalMart will then be stuck with it and will send a report back to the maker. If enough people complain, they will change the specification and everyone will get a better product.
WalMart is responsive. They have to be, if they want to continue taking your money.

Electronic thermometers calibrations can very easily be off by several degrees, especially the $5-made-in-china variety.

You said it before me. Made in China. More than where it is made, it is a cheap product with probably little care for accuracy. China gets a bad wrap for making poor quality, but it seems most of America demands it. Americans don’t want to pay a little more for quality so we have this cheap crap all around us, and we treat material things as easily disposable. I wish it would change.

However, for the purposes of knowing what to wear outside, being off by 1–5 degrees won’t matter one bit, so going cheap might be logical.

Typical error tolerance for alcohol-filled household thermometers is 1–2 degrees F. That was the case even when they were made in the US. Both of your thermometers could be within tolerance and still show a 3 degree difference relative to each other.

@thorninmud That’s interesting. Same as trousers can be a half inch off in legnth, so two pairs of 32” length jeans can vary by an inch from each other.

I bet neither of them are accurate.

Yep, like @Lightlyseared said… you could dip them in ice water and see which one comes closest to 32.