newbie cheap Sous Vide setup

It also has a thermocouple on it

That seems like it would work fine. I started off with the SousVideMagic which is basically a fancy version of this concept so I don't know why it wouldn't work for you.

thanks, i ordered it last night!

Awesome! Let us know how it turns out!

Just guessing, but I suspect you're mireading the specs.

As I nread it, control temperature will be the temperature controlled by the thermostat. Max working temperature is normally the max ambient temperature at which you can expect the apparatus to function correctly, not the temperature of the water you're controlling.

My own experience with this kind of thermostat is that because it can't predict the rate of rise and fall of the container, under heating and no-heating conditions, the temperature in the crockpot (already uneven from one place to another) will probably cycle from a bit below the temperature you set - because the heater will take finite time to start heating the contents, to quite a bit above, because of residual heat in the crock and the heater. If you get better than -2° to + 5°C I'd be amazed. And I'm sorry, but that's not really precise enough for fully successful sous videry. It will do when cooking brisket for example, or pork belly at 75°C or making duck confit that the same temperature, but I'd not trust it to be safe when doing a best end neck of lamb at 59°C when anything over 61° is likely to be too well done and 55° is getting a little close to the danger level for killing food pathogens.

I use the Sous Vide Magic, and after tuning it to my cheap water bath, get accuracy to 0.1° and stability to +- 0.1° as well. At €100 it's a snip.

Well, we will find out soon!! I'll post something as soon as it comes in!

It's in!! i hooked it up last night,tested it out. It does control the temp just fine up to 193 f, and it keeps temp within 2f, as the smallest setting is 1 f. ie i set it to 145 f for some country style pork ribs, and the temp will drop to 144 after a while, kick on the crock pot, heat it to 145, and as IaninFrance suspected, some residual heat from the ceramic continues to heat it up another degree. Not a big deal though for me, as I wont be using it for anything terribly delicate tike eggs, mainly for steaks, pork, and chicken; none of which i would think suffer from a temp change of a couple degrees. I think it works great for a grand total of 25$

That's great Nick, I'm glad it's working good for you. Thanks for sharing your setup with the community, it's always great to fine low cost sous vide methods. Now just tet us know how your cooking goes in the recipe forum!