A while back, I was convinced that I had done enough cooking, and I could manage by oven strictly by feel. But then I've had an infrared thermometer (the one Forno Bravo sells goes to 932F) around for the past year, and I have to admit that I'm always using it.
I can still put by hand in the oven and do a pretty good job of estimating the oven temperature and can cook pizza by feel, but there is something really easy about pointing and shooting into the oven and getting an accurate temp. You can be talking with someone at a party (or not exactly at your best after a couple of glasses of wine) and just "pop" the oven to know what's going on.
So even if you think you don't want one, or wouldn't use it -- you might. I even take mine into restaurants. Isn't that terrible.
I find that the dome always goes above 1000F when you are firing. The thermometer says "HI". But it comes back down for cooking, so 932F is agood temperature.
James |