Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I thought I had a defective one as well, as when it arrived it appeared the blue line was all the way to the top and wouldn't go down no matter how hard I shook it. Decided to try taking my temp anyway. Noticed that from another angle, a shorter blue line had moved up to 98.6. As I wasn't ill, this seemed accurate. I was able to shake that line down with no more effort than you used to have to put into the mercury thermometers. I suspect that many people who are having trouble shaking down the temp are reading it wrong. I much prefer this style of thermometer to the digital ones as I 1) don't think the digital ones are very accurate. The last time I felt sick and used my digital thermometer it gave me a reading of 95.5. And 2) By the time I need a thermometer (once or twice a year) the battery in the digital thermometer is dead. As those little watch batteries cost about as much as a digital thermometer, they are basically single use for me. Total garbage products. Hopefully this one will function well for years, similar to the old mercury ones.