Over the past ten years the platinum-sheathed rhodium-iron resistance thermometer (RIRT) has proved its reliability at temperatures between 0.5 and 20K. Now smaller, more rugged versions of the RIRT have become available. In one, designed for use up to 700°C as well as for cryogenic conditions, the resistance coil is mounted in an alumina and glass body. A recent report on the thermometric properties and stability of these ceramic RIRTs by L. M. Besley of CSIRO, Division of Physics, Sydney (J. Phy.E: Sci. Instrum., 1984, 17, (9), 778–781) concludes that despite small changes in resistance on handling the remarkable stability of these thermometers on thermal cycling together with their low self heating and reasonable sensitivity will make them useful for many low temperature applications.