| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Can measure a wide range of temperature, from -100 deg C to 2500 deg C | Low sensitivity to small temperature changes |
| Can measure temperature at a point | Relatively low accuracy, degree of error is 1 deg C to 2 deg C |
| Rugged, not easily damaged | Prone to corrosion, due to two metals of different reactivity being in contact |
| Respond quickly to temperature changes | Low voltage output, which makes the output easily distorted by interference from nearby electronic devices. |