The simple concept of wanting to measure temperature accurately gave birth to the first modern thermometer in the early 1700s - the mercury thermometer. Fast forward to 2019, nifty temperature reading instruments have come along, including remote-sensing infrared thermometers like the Thermapen IR, and thermocouple thermometers like the ThermaQ BBQ kit.
Unlike mercury-based and infrared-based thermometers, ThermaQ uses voltage to measure temperature via long metal probes, called thermocouples, which contain two wires of different metals that produce a specific voltage when the probe is exposed to temperature.
ThermaQ has been designed as a 2-channel thermocouple thermometer that lets you measure two separate temperature readings at the same time via two type K thermocouple wire probes.
The ThermaQ thermometer uses type K thermocouples, which come in different types, including type J, type T, type N, type E, type B, type R and type S.
The type T thermocouple, which is made of copper/constantan, has probably one of the most interesting uses of all thermocouple type sensors, being used in the field of cryogenic body preservation with liquid nitrogen at extremely low temperatures (–200 °C/–380 °F).
Type K temperature sensors like the ones included with ThermaQ are made of nichrome alumen and support temperature readings as low as -99.9 °C and as high as 1372 °C.
The ThermaQ thermometer is quick to respond to temperature changes, just as fast as the Thermapen 4, and with a 0.1 °C thermometer resolution between -99.9 °C and 299.9 °C temperature range; hence the ThermaQ thermometer can read to the nearest 0.1°C (i.e. 36.6 °C).
At higher temperatures though, between 300 °C and 1372 °C, the ThermaQ can only read to the nearest 1°C (i.e. 37 °C) resolution and, with a reading accuracy of  ±0.4 °C ±0.1%, which means that the accuracy of the ThermaQ decreases with the increase of temperature. For instance, at 50°C, the accuracy will be ±0.4 °C but at 100 °C the accuracy will be ±0.8 °C.
The ThermaQ thermometer comes with useful built-in functions such as an audible alarm with four variable sound settings that let you set the sounding alarm as low as 85dB (fairly loud) and as high as 105dB (very loud). Another built-in feature you get is a back-lit LCD display, which stays illuminated for 10 seconds.
The ThermaQ monochrome LCD display is 9.6mm thick and measures 4cm long and 3cm tall, which provides just about enough area to display the 2-channel thermometer readings in split view. The information is clearly displayed, albeit a tad crowded. The top half of the screen is for the first channel (T1) and the bottom half of the screen is for the second channel (T2).
You can disable one screen if you are only using one channel and the user guide indicates a procedure to disable half the screen, which involves setting the low alarm of the channel to -100 °C. If this is not done before removing the probe from the channel, it will set off the alarm and display an error message. The alarm can be turned off by pressing once the on/off button and, while the error message will not disappear, you can continue using the other channel thermometer as normal.
Both channel screens display the current reading temperature in large fonts, as well as display other useful information at the same time such as minimum / maximum temperature, unit of temperature (Celsius or Fahrenheit), alarm volume and battery level, all of which are displayed in smaller font.
The ThermaQ thermometer is set to Celsius (C) by default, but this can be changed to Fahrenheit (F) by holding down the on/off multifunctional button for 5 seconds.
The on/off button also controls the backlighting of the LCD, which will not come on by default, when battery is low. The volume level of the alarm is adjusted via the up and down arrow buttons. You can turn off the audible alarm if you don't want it on.
When battery is low, you can only set the volume to level 2 (90dB - 101dB). The other volume settings are as follows: Volume 1 (85 - 98 dB), Volume 3 (94dB - 103dB) and Volume 4 (96dB - 105 dB).
Setting the alarm is done via the Set button, which lets you program your preferred high and low alarm volume independently for each channel. To differentiate from each other, each channel alarm produces a different beep pattern. Channel 1 produces single beeps, while channel 2 produces double beeps.
Reminiscent of a barcode inventory scanner, the construction of the ThermaQ thermometer is ergonomic with a hard plastic enclosure coated with Biomaster antimicrobial protection. The thermocouple channel ports are naturally exposed but the ThermaQ housing has an IP65 waterproof protection that is aided by a protective silicone case, which is also included and integrates a nifty kickstand.
The negative and plus markings on top of the probe terminals are designed to help you insert the thermocouple probes the right way.
The thermocouple probes included in the ThermaQ kit are a type K right angled (90 degrees) penetration probe with a braided, teflon-coated stainless steel 2-meter long lead. The probe measures 22.5cm, 4mm in diameter and can handle a temperature range from -50 to 250°C.
The second type K probe included is a grill/oven probe with crocodile clip designed for monitoring ambient air temperature. It has a 2 meter-long stainless braided lead and can handle a temperature range from -50 to 350 °C.
ThermaQ is, essentially, an electronic sensing thermometer and as such, it uses battery power in the form of three AAA batteries, which can only be accessed by removing the six Phillips screws on the back of the unit. A internal battery rechargeable via USB would have certainly been more convenient to have.
That said, it is probably not going to be a deal breaker for the average home user who will probably, only use the ThermaQ thermometer a few times a year for occasional gatherings like a Sunday roasts, summer barbecues and Christmas dinners.
ThermaQ is designed for BBQ but, being a thermometer you can also use it as a very powerful tool around the house and, of course, as a food thermometer, which is a very underestimated kitchen tool that greatly helps you to prevent undercooking foods, which you can easily do with raw meat under a barbecue.
Eating undercooked meat itself isn't dangerous since restaurants wouldn't serve raw steaks otherwise. The danger with raw meat comes from it containing harmful bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli; hence the importance of cooking at safety temperatures.
Preventing the overcooking of food is something else you can accomplish with the ThermaQ since excessive high heat burns the food, hardening the exterior, which prevents food from being properly cooked internally.
The ThermaQ kit comes with a 2 year guarantee, as well as a certificate of calibration and safety standard declaration, which confirms ThermaQ has been tested and calibrated by ETI (Electronics Temperature Instruments Ltd), which is the manufacturer of the ThermaQ thermometer. Included with the ThermaQ kit is also a long PU-leather zip wallet for storing the probes and thermometer.

Over-the-ear open back headphones with surround sound are, probably, the most popular wearing option amongst most gamers but, it's a big misconception to think a surround sound headset is the only viable gaming option.
Sure, it makes sense to use a surround sound headset with games that support surround sound but, it's not a day and night advantage that you get over a stereo headset, which also does a good job of differentiating the location of sounds coming from above, side and behind you.
If you are dead on getting a stereo headset for gaming and would like a more compact audio solution than the current popular offerings on the market, the Edifier GM3SE might just be it! In-ear gaming earphones might not be the most sought-after option by gamers but, they do offer a distinctive advantage that professional gamers realize and, that is better sound isolation.
Wearing in-ear earphones while gaming allow you to wear over-ear headphones on top should you need to block out even more sound to a deafening level when needed the most like when playing LAN party multiplayer.
If you like the in-ear ex-factor and/or are used to the ergonomics of in-ears to listen to music, the Edifier GM3SE will feel like a natural choice. They offer as good passive noise cancellation and a different alternative to hearing game sounds without bulky headphones or TV speakers.
Another advantage you get with the GM3SE earphones is two separate microphones, one of which is a detachable omni-direction microphone with a boom microphone style so, the microphone sits at the tip of a bendable arm.
The bendable microphone arm measures 13cm long and weighs just 6 grams. The earphones (including the cable and remote) weigh just 24 grams; hence the total weight is 30 grams, which is very lightweight compared to the average size of a gaming headset (200 + grams).
Compared to other dual driver in-ear earphones, the GM3SE earphones are on par in terms of weight, just a tad heavier. This is no problem though, thanks to the included ear wings that prevent the earbuds from falling out.
The GM3SE cable measures 1.3 meters long and it's made with a springy rubber sleeve, which minimizes the cable getting tangled too much. At the cable end, you find a standard 3.5mm jack connector with a right-angled rubber plug that has the word Edifier imprinted on it.
The GM3SE in-ear earphones can be plugged into any 3.5mm audio source, including Playstation4, Android, iOS devices and laptop/computers. For the latter, you will need to use an audio/mic splitter cable, which is included. The audio/mic splitter cable is approximately 2 feet long.
Construction-wise, the GM3SE in-ear earphones have a hard plastic body construction with metal front covers that resemble the circular grooves of an electric cooker hotplate.
The top section of the earbuds has a shiny black finish, while the body and nozzles have a matte black finish. The GM3SE earphones are on the bulky side, measuring 3cm long and 2cm wide so, they do stick out of your ears.
The pinholes you see on top of the body of the earphones are vent holes to allow better bass response. Speaking of bass, the GM3SE have two 10mm dynamic drivers per earbud, one of which is designed to handle the bass frequencies alone. The second driver handles the midrange and treble frequencies.
Normally, dual driver setups include a balanced armature driver for the high frequencies, along with a dynamic driver. The GM3SE earphones in the other hand, have a rather unique dual driver setup because it doesn't have a balanced armature driver.
Having such a sizeable dynamic driver dedicated to the low frequencies really makes a difference to how you feel the bass. You can actually feel the bass shaking in your hands when holding the earphones between your fingertips.
The second microphone featured on the GM3SE earphones it's located on the back of the audio remote, which is integrated on the left channel cable, located approximately at neck level.The quality of the microphone is good and natural sounding. In fact, the quality of the inline remote microphone and detachable microphone is comparable.
The audio remote features a unique layout that is different from the standard 3-button remotes you see on most earphones. The GM3SE remote features a physical and circular metal button, which has the same hotplate design as the earphones covers, as well as a volume slider that makes adjusting volume much easier than pressing a button.
The circular metal button is multi-functional and controls a total of 6 functions via a series of single and double presses. Remembering all functions does take a bit of getting used to in the beginning.
Inside the box, you also get different size ear tips, different size ear wings, a shirt clip and a fabric drawstring pouch.

Those contemplating a switch from headphones to true wireless earbuds at a good price may find the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 a match made in heaven because they are one of the most affordable and best quality sounding pairs of true wireless earbuds your hard earned money can buy!
The Soundcore Liberty Air 2 earbuds are almost almost half the price of the competition yet, they feature a total of 4 noise cancelling microphones, two on each ear piece, which do a good job at amplifying the clarity of the call, while maintaining a sufficient signal-to-Noise ratio to suppresses unwanted background noise.
Like with most dual mic noise cancelling earphones, the Liberty Air 2 microphones accomplish noise cancellation by using digital algorithms as well as the position of the microphones. The microphones on the Liberty Air 2 are strategically located on top and at the bottom of the earphone stems.
Call audio is delivered via both earpieces so, stereo call quality is superb. You can also use the Liberty Air 2 earbuds independently from each other; hence you can connect them to two separate phones and use them as a dual mic bluetooth headset. If you use the two earbuds together though, they cannot connect to multiple devices as there is no support for multipoint pairing.
The construction of the Liberty Air 2 earphones is sleak and slimline. They have a small rounded body, which houses a 5mm dynamic driver. The slim stem design houses the metal charging contacts and a microphone at the very tip of the stem.
The Liberty Air 2 have a hard plastic construction with a rubber trim, covering half the body and stem of the earbud, which provides IPX5 water resistance against sweat and very light rain conditions. The charging case doesn't have any water resistance protection.
The grey section you see on the front of the Liberty Air 2 has a metallic feel to it, similar to soft aluminium sheet metal. There isn't any physical buttons or touch panel controls on the earbuds. Instead, the Liberty Air 2 integrate a g-sensor accelerometer on the top circular section of the earbud, which controls the call and audio playback functions via a series of double taps performed on either earbud.
The Liberty Air 2 tap commands are limited to a certain number of functions as you can only pick and choose some functions. For example, if you want volume support from the earbuds, you have to give up the skipping track and voice assistant functionality. The tap commands can be customized from earbud to earbud from the Soundcore app but only work when using both earbuds. If you use only one earbud, the commands you customize won't be supported.
Answering, ending, hanging calls and activating the voice prompt are also operated via a double tap system. The built-in accelerometer sensor has also been designed to automatically pause the audio when the Liberty Air 2 earbuds are removed from the ears. This feature is convenient although audio does not resume automatically.
Turning on the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 earbuds can be done two ways. One way it's by flipping open the charging case while the earbuds are inside the charging case. When the charging case lid is open, the Liberty Air 2 earbuds turn on and begin pairing with other automatically. If you want to turn them off, you need to put them back inside the charging case and close the charging case lid cover. You can also turn off the Liberty Air 2 earbuds manually without having to put them in the charging case by tapping down for 8 seconds. To power the earbuds back on, you simply tap down again for a few seconds.
The companion mobile app, the Soundcore app, that you get with the Liberty Air 2 is the same app you get for other Soundcore speakers and headphones, which is convenient if you already own other compatible products such as the Motion Plus speaker, Flare 360 and Model Zero. From the Soundcore app, you can  access an app feature, called HearID, which lets you acoustically tune each Liberty Air 2 earbuds individually to create a personal EQ preset. The Soundcore app also features many EQ presets, making it very easy to find your preferred sound signature.
The Liberty Air 2 charging case has a smooth, matte granite finish that isn't prone to fingerprint smudges, which is nice. The overall shape of the charging case is very compact so, it can easily fit inside the watch pocket of a pair of jeans.
The lid cover closes shut magnetically, while the bottom base of the charging case is flat, which allows the charging case to stand upright with the lid open. The charging dock area is magnetized so, the earbuds will not fall out even when shaking the charging case upside down with the lid open.
On the front of the Liberty Air 2 charging case, there are three small battery led indicators, which are activated via the button located on the base of the charging case. This button also doubles as a reset button to help you pair each earbud separately with a different device. The reset procedure consists of two parts. First, you have to hold the charging case button for 10 seconds until the earbud led indicator flashes red and then, you have to hold down the charging case button again for 3 seconds (the earbud led will quickly flash), which initiates mono pairing mode.
The Liberty Air 2 charging case also supports wireless charging via an integrated charging coil located on the back of the unit; hence you can recharge the case by placing it on top of a coaster wireless charger. The Liberty Air 2 charging case can hold 21 hours worth of battery power to recharge the earphones three times over.
The internal 500mAh lithium battery inside the charging case takes 2 hours to charge via USB-C and 3.5 hours via wireless charging, which doesn't support fast charging. That said, the Liberty Air 2 earbuds do support fast charging so, they can hold 2 hours worth of charge from a 10 minute charge and fully charge to 100% in just 90 minutes, which can deliver up to 7 hours of runtime with volume at 50% and via bluetooth 5.0 connection, which supports SBC, AAC, aptX codecs.
Not all phones have the latest bluetooth 5.0 chip so, if your phone uses a previous bluetooth version (i.e. bluetooth 4.2), you won't get as longer battery life or as stable signal connection because the Liberty Air 2 earbuds are optimized to work with the latest version of bluetooth, which is version 5.0.
Removing and replacing the earbuds from the charging case is surprisingly easy, considering the snug tight fit inside the charging case. The charging contacts are located on the tips of the earbud stems and while they make a reliable charging connection every time, it is hard to tell visually if they are making proper contact with the charging case. Fortunately, there is a way to tell for sure whether the Liberty Air 2 earbuds are charging inside the case by checking the battery led indicators. When closing the lid, the left and right leds will flash if the earbuds are charging correctly.
Now, for the audio experience, the Liberty Air 2 diamond coated drivers don't disappoint. Their high sensitivity allow very loud volume level, which means you don't have to listen to music at full volume to enjoy your music. At about 70% volume, the Liberty Air 2 deliver a good amount of volume with decent bass, midrange and treble.
The overall sound is fuller and deeper compared to the Liberty Pro 2 earphones, thanks to the stereo width. The audio quality is balanced but you can adjust the sound via the Soundcore app EQ setting, which lets you tailor the sound exactly how you want.
Inside the box, you also get a quality, Anker-branded 3 feet long USB-A to USB-C cable with a velcro management cable, as well as an illustration user guide and a nice set of different size silicone ear tips.