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(More customer reviews)After recently having a refrigerator/freezer go out on us, my wife and I wanted a reliable way to monitor the new refrigerator and freezer temperatures, without needing to open the doors of the device to check an internal thermometer. We also wanted a device that would sound an alarm if temperatures exceed those that are safe for perishable food items. The first product we tried (which was highly recommended to us) was a Chaney Instrument 00985 Wireless Refrigerator Freezer Thermometer. Our experience with that device was nothing short of horrible, so we decided that we would have to resort to a thermometer with wired probes. After looking all over the Internet for a thermometer that seemed reliable, we decided to give the Orka A75014 Refrigerator and Freezer Thermometer (designed by Mastrad, in France, but made in China) a try.
This product is packaged very nicely and includes an instruction manual that is easy to read and understand. Two AAA batteries (included) must be installed in the back of the main control/display unit. There are two temperature sensor probes, one white and one blue, which have suction cups attached to them. The white sensor, which has a single snowflake icon on it, gets installed in the refrigerator compartment. The blue sensor, which has three snowflake icons on it, gets installed in the freezer compartment. I quickly found that the suction cup would not stick well in the freezer; something that Mastrad/Orka should have discovered during quality testing of this product. The instruction manual suggests that you just let the freezer probe dangle or sit amongst the frozen food items in your freezer. Hmm...sloppy but it appears to be the only other alternative to the non-sticking suction cup. The instructions advise you to leave the alarm function disabled for the first 30 minutes, after installation, to allow the temperature probes to adjust to their new environments. I found that it took about 35 minutes for the display unit to show the correct temperatures. When tested against a trusty analog temperature gauge, I found the Orka A75014 thermometer accuracy to be spot on.
The main LCD display unit measures roughly 5-1/4" W x 1-3/4" H x 3/4" D. As you look at the display, there are two buttons on the left side. The top button toggles between showing the minimum and maximum temps of the fridge compartment, and the min/max temps for the freezer compartment. The bottom button is used to clear the min/max settings. On the right side of the display is a little window, which shows the selected alarm mode. The alarm mode switch is on the far right edge of the control unit, and can be switched between Off, LED, and Beep modes. On the back of the display/control unit is a switch, for selecting Celsius or Fahrenheit temperature display. The back of the device also includes two magnets, for attaching the display unit directly to your refrigerator/freezer, and a little flip-out stand, if you prefer to sit the display unit on top of your fridge. The kit also includes two small squares of Velcro, for attaching the device to a non-magnetic refrigerator. The sensor probes are hardwired directly to the display/control unit, so there is no way to disconnect them. To install the probes into your refrigerator and freezer compartments, the manual suggests that you feed the probes and attached wires between the door and the body of the refrigerator/freezer, on the hinge side. The wires are very thin and flat, so they do not interfere with the door seals at all. Since the wires are permanently attached to the display/control unit, I would suggest mounting the device close to the area where your wires are running into the refrigerator and freezer compartments, so that you don't have wires strung across the front of our refrigerator door.
Although I am quite impressed with the overall design and accuracy of this device, it definitely has some very strong shortcomings. Here is a list of the Pros and Cons for this product.
Pros
****
-Digital LCD Display, Shows Refrigerator Temp on Left and Freezer Temp on Right
-Displays Min/Max Temps for Fridge and Freezer
-High Temperature Alarm Has Selections For Audible Beeping or Visual Blinking LED
-Has Temporary (less than 30 minutes) and Permanent Alert Modes
-Switchable Between C° and F° Temperature Display Modes
-Visual Low Battery Indicator
-Easy To Install and Use
-Measures Temperatures Down to -40° F/C
Cons
****
-Temperature Alarm Set-Points Are Factory Set and Cannot Be Changed By User
-LCD Is Sometimes Hard To Read (No Backlight Option)
-Alarm Is Very Soft (No Volume Adjustment) - Sounds Like Cheap Travel Alarm Clock
-Magnets On Back Are Not Strong Enough (Slides Too Easily On Refrigerator Door)
-Suction Cup Probe Mounting Doesn't Work Well, Especially In Freezer (clips would be better)
-No Time/Date Stamp for Alarm Events
The pros are self-explanatory but I wanted to explain the cons in further detail. First, the low temperature alarm set-points are factory set at 0°C (32°F) and 8°C (46.4°F) for the refrigerator, and -18°C (-0.4°F) for the freezer. There is no way to change these, which is very unfortunate. 32°F makes sense for the refrigerator minimum temp, but 46.4°F for the maximum temp is dangerously high. Also, -0.4°F is a little low for a maximum freezer temp, in my opinion. Most self-defrosting freezers can show an increase of up to 20°F during the defrost cycle. This means that your alarm will be going off any time the defrost cycle is running. Therefore my wife and I have deactivated the beeping alarm and only have the blinking LED selected. Unfortunately this means that we may not notice a problem with the refrigerator/freezer right away. Also, the LCD display can be difficult to see, depending on how much light is in the room when you are reading it. Although I know it would drain the batteries quicker, a pushbutton backlight option would be a welcome addition. The alarm beeper is also extremely quiet and has no volume adjustment, thus making it very difficult to hear from a couple of rooms away. It sounds a lot like one of those cheap travel alarm clocks. The magnets on the back of the display/control base are fairly week, allowing the device to easily slide down the refrigerator door. The suction cups that are built onto the temperature sensor probes have proven to be inadequate, especially in the freezer compartment. Suction cups do not hold well when wet and especially in extremely cold temperatures. Obviously these conditions are common in refrigerators and freezers. Spring clips would be a far better mounting option, in my humble opinion. And finally, there is no time/date stamp for alarm events, so it can be very difficult to track down exactly when a specific high temp event occurred. However, the unit does count how many hours and minutes have accumulated since the displayed alarm event was activated, up to 99 hours and 59 minutes (about 4 days and 4 hours). So if you go on vacation for a week and a power outage occurred while you were gone, it is very possible that the alert time will expire by the time you return and check the display.
Overall I am extremely happy with the Orka A75014 Digital Refrigerator & Freezer Thermometer. I have learned to deal with most of the shortcomings of this device, but I am not happy with the fact that I cannot leave the audible alarm on, due to it going off every time my fridge/freezer goes into self-defrost mode. The factory locked alarm settings are too restrictive and should be user programmable. This device is obviously not designed to work well with self-defrosting refrigerator/freezers, which is what the majority of these appliances are in the U.S. But the ease of installation and accuracy of this device helps to ease the disappointment of this design oversight. Considering the relatively low cost and the dependable accuracy of this thermometer, I do recommend it. However, hang on to your receipt and original packaging, in case you find that you cannot live with the cons and decide to return it. Hopefully Mastrad will design an Orka digital fridge/freezer thermometer that offers user selectable alarm set-points in a future model release.
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