To use as a candy thermometer, scroll to one of seven preprogrammed candy cooking stages. Attach the thermometer to your pan with the enclosed stainless steel clip. Accurate to within 2 degrees of programmed temperature, the Quick Tip feature will give you a rapid response -- an alarm sequence -- to let you know when you have reached candy temperature range. As an all-purpose thermometer, simply scroll to TEMP. There is no alarm when used as an all-purpose thermometer.