Product Review: Brother Max 3 in 1 Digital Thermometer

We have one of those digital thermometers with the little plastic covers.  To be honest, I find it very difficult to get her to sit still long enough to take and accurate reading, I never get the same reading twice and I find it very fiddly to get the little plastic covers on as you are not supposed to touch them and when you release them they go flying across the room.  So, I was intrigued about this Brother Max 3 in 1 Thermometer that boasted being able to take an accurate reading in a second.

Everything about this thermometer is cool.  Please forgive the pun.  It’s so easy to use even a child can use it, which you will see later.  Literally, you just pop it out of the packaging (which is clever in itself) and throw a couple of batteries in it.  If the ear piece is in then it takes the room temperature and if it’s out you can take either an ear or forehead reading with the press of a button.  How easy is that?

I tried to drum up some sick children for this review, but unfortunately, or maybe fortunately everyone around here is fighting fit.  I did use it on Madame and it confirmed she is healthy.

The only downside I can see is that Madame thinks it’s a toy and loves to play doctor and take her baby’s temperatures.  She even took her pal’s temperature yesterday and she too is healthy.  Maybe she’ll be a doctor when she grows up (wishful thinking).  She takes the thermometer everywhere.  It’s been to nursery, the childminders and the park.  I had to draw the line when she wanted to take it into the bath as I’m assuming it’s not waterproof.  Thankfully, it is very robust as it’s been dropped and kicked on numerous occasions.

In the run up to Meningitis Awareness Week, Brother Max commissioned research – in association with media medic Dr Hilary Jones and Meningitis Research Foundation – focusing on children’s health concerns around meningitis and temperature. Over 1500 parents and carers took part in the survey. This survey flagged up a couple of very interesting points where there is misunderstanding about taking your child’s temperature, for example:

  • 76% are not completely confident at diagnosing illness with their children
  • 39% are not entirely confident at taking a child’s temperature
  • 33% of parents use and rely on devices to measure temperatures that most health professionals consider to give inaccurate or unreliable readings, increasing the risk of incorrectly diagnosing illness in their children.

More information on the survey can be found here.

Here is Dr. Hilary Jones talking about the importance of monitoring and taking temperatures.