bought a new Thermoworks toy

[dogwalker]

I bought my Thermoworks Chef Alarm before finding this forum, so I've never tried the Maverick thermometers.  However, I've long wished that my Chef Alarm had a remote monitor and more than one port.  Well, lo and behold, Thermoworks just announced the Smoke model, and I checked with my boss (wife), and she said it would be great to have for the holidays, so I've preordered it!  I wish it had more ports, but this will be nice, and I can still use my Chef Alarm if I really need to monitor multiple meats.

http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

Speaking of that, my youngest son is in the Corps at Texas A&M, and we had ten (!) young men stay with us a few weeks ago.  They do this each year, because everyone in the Corps needs a place to stay for the Arkansas game.  So, I smoked 15 pounds of pork shoulder, and everyone loved it!  You all know, it's fun to watch people enjoy your food.

Meanwhile, I bought the Slow and Sear recently to go with my standard Weber 22" grill (a Father's day present that I haven't used much), and cooked some wings on it.  I added some cherry wood chunks, and the wings were also a hit!

My only regret is, in all the rush, I never took any photos.  :-(  I *have* to get better at that!

 

[dparker]

 
I bought my Thermoworks Chef Alarm before finding this forum, so I've never tried the Maverick thermometers.  However, I've long wished that my Chef Alarm had a remote monitor and more than one port.  Well, lo and behold, Thermoworks just announced the Smoke model, and I checked with my boss (wife), and she said it would be great to have for the holidays, so I've preordered it!  I wish it had more ports, but this will be nice, and I can still use my Chef Alarm if I really need to monitor multiple meats.

http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

Looks nice.  But pre-ordering for $99 seems like a lot when the Ivation delivers the same functionality (save for the multiple-receivers-per-transmitter support) for $60 via Amazon and is available already.

 

[dogwalker]

 
Looks nice.  But pre-ordering for $99 seems like a lot when the Ivation delivers the same functionality (save for the multiple-receivers-per-transmitter support) for $60 via Amazon and is available already.

You could be right, I honestly don't know anything about the Ivation.  I've used Thermoworks Chef Alarm and Thermopop for about a year, and have enjoyed them.  I've read that Thermoworks has superior quality, but again, I can't say, since I've used only Thermoworks.

This video is a good watch, fwiw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv7lgoUa75w

 

[daricksta]

 
Looks nice.  But pre-ordering for $99 seems like a lot when the Ivation delivers the same functionality (save for the multiple-receivers-per-transmitter support) for $60 via Amazon and is available already.

The Ivation--if I'm looking at the right one on Amazon--is just a Maverick ET-733 under another name plate. I own two Mavericks and I think overall they're great. But I think ThermoWorks therms are all designed and manufactured to a higher standard. At some future point when both of my Mavs have ridden off into the sunset, I'll buy the current Chef Alarm to use with my MES 30 Gen 1--it that's still around, too.

 

[old sarge]

I have also noticed similarities. I have the ThermaQ but have not used it for much. But nice to have just in case. There is a new gadget being developed. It is called FireBoard. They have their own site. It looks real promising and should compete well with another new gadget called Meater.

 

[dparker]

The Ivation--if I'm looking at the right one on Amazon--is just a Maverick ET-733 under another name plate.

That's correct. I just used the Ivation name because that's the one I bought.

 

[smokeindaville]

I bought my Thermoworks Chef Alarm before finding this forum, so I've never tried the Maverick thermometers.  However, I've long wished that my Chef Alarm had a remote monitor and more than one port.  Well, lo and behold, Thermoworks just announced the Smoke model, and I checked with my boss (wife), and she said it would be great to have for the holidays, so I've preordered it!  I wish it had more ports, but this will be nice, and I can still use my Chef Alarm if I really need to monitor multiple meats.


http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke


Speaking of that, my youngest son is in the Corps at Texas A&M, and we had ten (!) young men stay with us a few weeks ago.  They do this each year, because everyone in the Corps needs a place to stay for the Arkansas game.  So, I smoked 15 pounds of pork shoulder, and everyone loved it!  You all know, it's fun to watch people enjoy your food.


Meanwhile, I bought the Slow and Sear recently to go with my standard Weber 22" grill (a Father's day present that I haven't used much), and cooked some wings on it.  I added some cherry wood chunks, and the wings were also a hit!


My only regret is, in all the rush, I never took any photos.  :-(  I *have* to get better at that!

Thanks for posting about this. Been using a Maverick but I had a probe fail and they suggested putting foil between the probe and wire to keep moisture out. I like that these probes are sealed so I'm going to spend the extra $$ and get one. Getting the electric camping smoker for my birthday so needed another thermometer anyway.

Placed my order yesterday and website says shipping 11/3/16. Then I got an email later saying my order has shipped. Guess they have product now.

Greg

 

[old sarge]

Speaking of new thermometers a company called FireBoard will be coming out with a multi-port system. There is also a unit from a company called The Meater. They are new and should be shipping this year. Of the two FireBoard grabbed my interest but am not ready to give the accuracy and reliability of my Thermoeorks unit.

 

[dogwalker]

That sounds good, Old Sarge.  Competition is always good!  That said, I've now used my new Thermoworks Smoke unit a few times, and I love this thing.  The build quality is high, and I love that I can monitor two ports from anywhere in my house.  For grins, I've connected two air probes to it (and used my Chef Alarm alongside) to check temps on my Weber grill with the Smoke and Sear.  I also used them to check out temperature variances in my MES 40.  I've gotten the MES down to just about perfect.

Then when smoking or grilling, I've used one probe for the air and one for meat.  When I was cooking steaks the other night, after the steak I was monitoring hit 90, I flipped the steaks and decided to monitor two steaks, since the grill temp was stable.

I like it.  I'll be curious about those other new thermometers, since my son's unit will need some thermometers soon.

 

[m00se]

Can't beat the accuracy of the Thermoworks thermometers. People are always talking about probe problems with the Mavericks. Now that Thermoworks has heard us and are building high quality remote units I think they'll be the go-to standard for BBQ.

 

[brickguy221]

I ordered a SMOKE Wireless Thermometer last night and it was shipped today.

Hopefully it is more user friendly then my ET-733 of which I have had difficulty setting it up ever since I bought it a year ago because it moves faster to the next step than I can think and click on the right thing for the next step.and if a person is too slow, he has to start all over again. A person only has something like 3 seconds to make a decision before the next step and this 79+ old man isn't that fast thinking and moving any more.

 

[m00se]

Yea, I regret buying the 733 for the same reason. Convoluted and confusing menus and pretty much unnecessary presets. I also don't like the fact that the probes are so picky about water getting into them. Are you serious? This is a FOOD PROBE!

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Thought I'd add my two cents...

I started out with a Maverick ET-73, old two probe unit. Then upgraded to the 732. Both work good, but went through a couple probes a year. When iGrill came out I purchased the unit. It worked great never had an issue and only had to replace one probe over two years. Then came out the iGrill 2 four probe unit. I purchased that unit and have been using it ever since. Recently Weber purchased the iGrill brand. They re-worked the phone app but other than that the unit still keeps chugging along. I have had to replace two of the ambient probes. Which isn't bad considering that I was replacing 2+ probes every year on the Mav unit. For me the range on all the units is fine and I have no issues. Battery life on the iGrill is fantastic and it uses standard AA batteries.

For instant read therms I use the Lavatool Javelin. Cant beat it fort he price. I own two, soon to be three (not sure where the third one is going, but there was a promo code posted here and I couldn't resist). I have given one to my BIL and FIL.

Discount thread:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/253429/lavatools-javelin-25-off-at-amazon#post_1622443

I did jump on the band wagon for the Meater when it was on Kickstarter so we'll see how it ends up performing once they get them out to the public.

 

[sundown farms]

I also have the ChefAlarm and have read about the dual probe units, blue tooth connected and all the latest enhancements. I decided a good solution for me was to buy the Air Probe, and use both probes plugging in the one that I want to know the temp. When it is in the first part of the smoke I leave the air probe plugged in and the alarm set accordingly. When it is getting to the end the cook I insert the meat probe and reset the alarm. By that time the smoker temp is not fluctuating. I also follow advice here and do not inserting the probe into cold meat as to some extent it is safer to not penetrate the meat at that state. [Chef JJ, Your advice taught me something about upping my safe-cooking game] Someday I will have one of the multi-units but for now my swap-probes system works good for me and if you are also on a limited budget it could work for you.

During the first part of the smoke, when the meat probe is not in the meat, I have positioned it in different places in my MES40 and have learned a lot about the variances in temp in the box.