I have had a few and they don't like water, well except for the new splash proof ones that is. For the way I cook an el-cheapo Wally World digital works just fine if you can afford to wait a few seconds, which you should if you were paying attention in the first place.
That's all I use now and don't seem to have any problems getting a steak perfect, at least if your not counting decimals of doneness.
Are they good--- yes
Are they needed--- debatable
If your going to stand there and poke something over and over until the temp is what you call "perfect", then you are already paying attention to what you are doing and should be able to see, feel, smell, good enough to get it right.
Just my 2 cents. Yes top chefs use them. Yes they work really fast. I don't normally need to turn out many many products that I would like to keep track of and see where they are at at anytime during the cook so I just can't see where anyone would need to worry about a degree here and there because it just doesn't matter if the chicken or steak is 1.5 degrees off.