"Is that a thing? Is the idea that the various plastic and metal parts will expand/contract unequally, and therefore skew the reading? I saw it as a feature in the new ad, but didn't give it a second thought."

Temperature compensation is for the substance you are testing not for temperature induced instrument error  which is negligible.  The refractive index of liquids is quite sensitive to temperature.  In the lab the instruments are hooked up to a constant temp water source  that brings the plates the sample sits on to 25 C thus bringing the sample itself to 25 C.  Or 20 C if you prefer.  Yes temp compensation is a big deal if you are interested in an accurate result.

ref:  http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~bacher/General/30BL/tips/refract.html

Dick

HL Mencken said: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. "


 

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