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I am curious as to why you are loosing probes. Are you getting the probe wet cleaning it? If water enters where the wire goes in, it well ruin them most of the time.
If you get an analog thermo that is adjustable then you can make it work. I think most people go with digital thermos because you don't have to worry about calibrating or tuning it like an analog thermo and you don't have to drill a hole to mount a digital like you do with an analog.