A fast-reading thermometer probe is essential for grilling and roasting, and this one works as well as any I have tried, equilibrating in a couple of seconds. Except for getting the temperature of boiling water right on, I have not checked their accuracy claims, but the probe is certainly accurate enough for kitchen use, and given that the readings come from a thermocouple, I would expect the probe measures to be good within a degree or so, maybe better. Taylor is a leading maker of both scientific and consumer temperature-measuring devices or all kinds, so also I would expect the circuitry and durability will be good.

The thing that distinguishes the Taylor from the popular and similarly priced Thermapen, though, is the infrared thermometer. This function reads the surface temperature of objects using IR (heat radiation). For cooks, the main use is to check the temperature of preheated frypans, woks, etc., a function I find myself using at least as often as I use the probe. With a little experimentation, you can figure out the ideal temperature for browning meat, sweating vs. browning onions, or cooking pancakes, stirfries, etc. This makes it much easier to avoid either steaming food you meant to caramelize or burning your good olive oil and smoking up the kitchen. The IR function is not perfect, however. It defaults to a reading simply of "high" somewhere around 500 degrees F., which is not high enough for blackened fish or many wok applications. A more serious limitation is that it does not read effectively off of highly reflective surfaces, such as most stainless cookware, presumably because the probe also reads the temperature of whatever cool surface you see in the reflection. The IR function has worked well with all of the cast iron, anodized aluminum, and non-stick cookware I have tried, and I would expect it to be useful on most dark surfaces. I have no idea how accurate the readings are, but they give about the right melting and smoking temperatures for butter and oils, so they are probably good enough for cooking. Instrument-grade IR thermometers often read much higher temperatures and are probably more accurate. I don't know whether they would also work better with stainless skillets.

Although the Taylor is more expensive than less capable meat thermometers, the combination of fast and accurate probe readings and the ability to calibrate pan-cooking temperatures should make it appealing to serious home cooks.

I really like this product. It has a nice solid compact feel, the buttons are ambidextrous (though a little easier to use correctly in the right hand), its water proof, easy to clean, etc. The probe tip seems to be the same size as most of the other thermocouple thermometers (3mm diameter with a reduced 2mm tip that is 10mm long.
It seems to be fairly accurate, the probe shows the temp of boiling water around 211 and took less then 2 seconds to go from 65 to 211 which is really fast. The infrared part of it is a little harder to gauge. I pointed it at a few things along with my MicroTemp Pro and the Pro normally showed a few deg hotter then the Taylor. Nether gauged boiling water very well since it is "clear". I can't really find anything else that I know should have a defined temp to test it on. But the infrared is really only useful for measuring things like frying pans and the inside of your oven, neither of which require single degree accuracy. The other really (ok relatively) cool thing is they included a built in led light along with the infrared thermometer, while meant for aiming, this is also nice for checking things in a dark oven.
I have never used the Thermapen, which seems to be its chief competition. I could see where the Thermapen could be simpler to use since it is just a probe, and a little easier to read since it has just the temp on its display. But neither of those things seem to much of a draw back vs a built in infrared thermometer for about the same price.

Works, and is consistent which is more than I can say for any cheaper IR thermometers I've tried. Used it for tempering chocolate, and the IR reading was the same temp as the probe every time. Very convenient for chocolate use. The probe will resolve to a temp within a couple seconds of inserting it, and the IR is pretty much an instant read. Love it.