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This nonstick pan has a thermometer inside the pan, with a readout in the handle that tells exactly when the heat is right for your pancakes, eggs, or bacon.

The readout is removable for washing (this is dishwasher safe, when the embedded readout is removed).

Frankly, we find this a little hard to get excited about; we've seen pans with embedded thermometers before. They're called electric fryers! (Available at thrift stores anywhere, and very good for caramelizing onions, as we learned from Alton Brown.)

So this seems slightly gimmicky to us; we'd prefer to get a good feel, too, for our own pans and our stove and how hot everything should be to cook well. And yet this might appeal to a very scientific-minded type of cook, or a cook who is just getting started and wants to learn how hot to cook various things.

What do you think - is this brilliant or just a little over-designed?

• Digital Thermometer Pan, available from ThinkGeek for $49.99.

Related: Perfect Bread: Use Your Thermometer