# I Treated Myself, New ET-73



## seenred (Aug 8, 2009)

I've read of so many folks here raving about the Maverick ET-73 dual probe thermo, I decided I had to have one of my own.  UPS delivered it yesterday!  Can't wait to load the smoker and try it out.  Hope it works as well as advertised.  I'm excited about the second probe for monitoring cook chamber temps remotely.


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## nate_46 (Aug 8, 2009)

Congrats SeenRed. Sometimes you just have to take care of yourself first. I have a couple questions that you might be able to answer (or someone else might chime in.....)

1st, can you use both probes for grate level temps? I would like to keep track of temps on different levels from a far. When the meat is close to done I am usually hovering so I don't need to know the temp of the meat from a far.

2nd, Did you find a great deal? I think the best I have found is 43.00 from Amazon with free shipping. I found it for 38.00 a couple of places but shipping was or 12.00 so it wasn't worth it.

Once again congrats on the purchase.


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## norrell6 (Aug 8, 2009)

You are gonna love it! I got one for Christmas and wow what a difference. No more lifting the lid to find the temp of the smoker. Also, it is so nice to sit inside and keep an eye on food/smoker. Hope you like yours as much as I like mine.


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## norrell6 (Aug 8, 2009)

Hey Nate,

I do not believe that you can use both probes for grill temps. I know that the smoker probe will max out at 400 something. I think the meat probe will max out well before that. Those prices you found seem pretty good to me. You should definitely get one. It is so nice for my charcoal smokers to not have to lift the lid to get an accurate temp.


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## bigsteve (Aug 8, 2009)

Folks use both probes of an ET7 or ET73 for grate temps all the time. For the meat probe, you have to keep it off the metal of the grate. Some stick the probe through a potato, I use a block of wood I drilled. But that's for SMOKING temps. As Norrell pointed out, grilling temps might kill it.


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## ddave (Aug 8, 2009)

What he said.  You can even use two food probes (the ones with the pointed ends) to monitor cook chamber temps.  Or you could monitor two pieces of meat with the ET-73.  I do believe temps above 400° will damage the probe though.  I have heard that the epoxy that holds the thermocouple joint together melts right around there.

Dave


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## seenred (Aug 8, 2009)

Thanks, nate.  Your 1st question, I've read here where many have used the meat probe shoved through a potato or something to read grate level temps, although I have no direct experience with how well it works.  

Your second question, I ordered it from thekitchenstore.com, $39.99 plus almost $9 shipping to Oklahoma.  I shopped around and that's a pretty good price.  If you can have it delivered to you for 50 or less, go for it.


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## mballi3011 (Aug 9, 2009)

I have been looking for the dual probe but cann't find it here. Thanks for the web site and thats a good price on it for sure.


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## alx (Aug 9, 2009)

You will enjoy the maverick.I use a large cork or chunk of wood with hole drilled in it to keep it off grate.I have maxed mine out 407 degree many times on my kettle with no ill effects-probably not recommended though...


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## pineywoods (Aug 9, 2009)

Congrats they are good thermometers


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## the dude abides (Aug 10, 2009)

Yes, Congrats on your new Maverick. 

I'm pretty sure both probes are the same


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## morkdach (Aug 10, 2009)

oh yea what he said.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 you can use both probes for ambient temp as i do all the time in the smoker.don't if your grillen this is for smoken


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## planethill (Aug 13, 2009)

FYI:  I ordered the ET-73 yesterday from www.thekitchenstore.com.  

$39.99 plus $4.99 ground shipping.  Since it was such a great deal and I wanted it for the weekend, I sprung for 2-day air ($10...still a great deal).  Whadaya know, it arrived TODAY...a day early!  Woohoo!  I love companies that have their shipping on the ball.

Now, what to smoke this weekend...


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## seenred (Aug 15, 2009)

Congrats, PlanetHill!  Yea mine arrived ahead of schedule too, so I'll happily recommend thekitchenstore.com to anyone.  I've already used mine twice, and I love it.  My wife thinks I have some kind of sickness, because I'm already talkin' about buyin' another one.  (Already own a Taylor and several dial-type thermos.)


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## nate_46 (Aug 15, 2009)

Here's another question. Can you run more than one ET-73 at a time? What I am trying to ask is if they transmit on the same frequency can you read the temp on the offset and another on an UDS? Would there be interference?


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## seenred (Aug 15, 2009)

This is a good question, nate.  I hadn't thought of that.  Hopefully someone who owns more than one of these thermos will be along to give you (and me) the answer.  I would hope that they can run on different frequencies so there is no interference.


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## the dude abides (Aug 15, 2009)

That I'm not sure about.  But I'd assume they all run on the same fequency.  What I have done for multipule pieces of meat in the same smoker (but would work just fine for your purposes too, is just buy multiple probes.  Then you can plug in different probes into a single unit.  The probes are pretty cheap and it saves you from buying extra units. 
Only piece of advice is to put a little piece of tape on the plug end of the probe with a label as to where the other end is located.  That'll save you from opening your lid everytime you need to check something.


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## seenred (Aug 15, 2009)

Good tip, thanks Dude.


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## fasteddie (Aug 25, 2009)

Look, I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but the meat probe on my ET-73 pooped out on the second Q. No over-temps, no abuse, it just quit. Fortunately, I had another probe from one of my other digital thermometers that worked...I had to trim a little of the plastic off of the plug connection, but it's been working great ever since.

They are great when they work!

I have read that the probes are fragile, and my experience bears that out.


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## the dude abides (Aug 25, 2009)

Eddie, you're on an anti-Maverick roll aren't ya.  I posted some info for you in the other thread you were ranting in earlier.  Calm down, give them a chance to make it right.  There's bound to be a defective piece every once in a while.  Read the other thread


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## ronp (Aug 25, 2009)

I have mine since spring time I think. No problems here. And from what I understand they do stand behind their product.


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## fasteddie (Aug 25, 2009)

Dude, you got me all wrong. Go to Amazon and read what the reviewers are saying. I'm not sour grapes, it's just that when I buy a new car and the wheels fall off the minute I get it out of the parking lot, I'm gonna warn other folks. Listen to me, don't listen to me, it's all the same...just one man's opinion, same as you.


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## bbq ron (Aug 25, 2009)

i bought 2 of the et73 from cabalas sporting good for $38 and no shipping charge


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## seandje (Aug 25, 2009)

I've had one for a few months with no problems.  I love it.


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## blackened (Sep 1, 2009)

Now that's the best price I've seen for an et-73..

I just paid $44 and free shipping from Amazon..


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## seenred (Sep 1, 2009)

Wow, great price.  Wish there was a Cabela's close to me.  I ordered mine online becase I couldn't find it in a store anywhere I looked.


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## patcap (Sep 1, 2009)

I, too, just ordered one yesterday.  Got it off ebay and paid $38.00+$4.95 shipping.  Looking forward to trying it out.


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## nozzleman (Sep 2, 2009)

Be sure not to get probe temps hotter than recommended it kills them, also dont drop them down into water to wash them, it kills them.


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## jethro (Sep 2, 2009)

From my experience just taking them out of the box kills them.


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## bman62526 (Sep 2, 2009)

Well, mine has done 15 smokes over the course of 6-7 months and it works great.  Yes - their customer service is better than 90% of the "customer service" I've ever had to deal with.  Yes, both probes can monitor the smoking temp.  

Also, BOTH probes only go to 392° (basically 400, but not quite) so you don't want to expose them to anything higher.


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## brucebenjamin (Sep 13, 2009)

I'm looking for a high quality, dual probe, remote transmitter thermometer that isn't too expensive. So far I don't think that this combination exists. 

The ET-73 thermometer seems to have a lot of great features but with hit or miss execution. A lot of people love it and a lot of people hate it but one thing seems to be consistent and that is that it has a very poor transmitter range. Without being able to go into the house and leave the smoker alone, what's the use of having the extra expense of a transmitter? Why can't Maverick just make this thing work right?

I did find instructions on how to, "Mod" the transmitter to add an external antenna and it supposedly doubled or tripled the range. http://www.instructables.com/id/Incr...BQ-Thermometer Ok, That's fine if you want to insure that there's very little chance of ever being able to warranty this product. I'm not afraid of electronics but Murphy's law seems to rear it's ugly head with things like this. 

Also, it seems that the reliability of the probes could use improvement too. Good customer service is nice but I'd really rather not have to use it at all. 

Does anyone know of a thermometer with all of these features that has a decent transmitter range and probes that are more reliable? I should also add with a price of under $50. Thanks.

Bruce


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## khuhner (Sep 20, 2009)

So how did it work out? I am thinking about getting this thermometer but the reviews are very mixed.

Kurt


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## erain (Sep 20, 2009)

for the dollar value it is actually the best one out there. the only drawback really is on the transmitter the switch is internal, which it must be to maintain weatherproofness. some say the switches break, taking moderate precautions when operating so the operator dont break the switch is all it takes. the second probe with the hi/lo monitoring is really what makes this model so great.  as far as going in the house, i dont have much of a prob and if the signal is lost the reciever will stop showing the temps, so again the operator is responsible. thumbs up on the et-73 from  me.


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## ddave (Sep 20, 2009)

No. The high and *low temp* alarm in the single unit seem to be unique to the ET-73.

There in lies the rub. There was talk on another forum of a user discussing the possiblity with Thermoworks (the maker of the Thermapen) of making a unit with the features of the ET-73. As I understand it, Thermoworks' concern was they could not do it to their standards and price it competitively with the ET-73. And as evidenced with the howls of disbeleif that we hear about Thermapen prices sometimes, that is a valid concern. The bottom line is you get what you are willing to pay for.

Amen to that.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 especially when you look at the feature set.

Yours must be different than mine, because mine only shows the last measured temp if the signal is lost.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 But I just make sure that I use it within a *known good range* so I would agree that the operator is responsible.

Dave


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## seenred (Sep 28, 2009)

After using mine three straight weekends, I am very pleased.  It is doing what I need it to do, which is give me accurate temp readings on the meat and the smoker, with a temp range to alert me if the smoker temp spikes/falls.  If I begin to experience problems with it, my opinion might change, but for now my recommendation is: this is a good product for the price.


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## nickelmore (Sep 28, 2009)

*Test Range of ET-73 first* 
Being a "newbie" I am typically hovering around the smoker most of the time watching, testing, tweeking. It was not for a month or so when I smoked an all night brisket that I learned that the remote would not read temps over 25 feet.

I contacted Maverick via phone and they asked me to send it to them so they can look at it and repair or replace it. 

They have had it for a week now and have not heard anything. When I called them to ask how long it would be, I was told that they were a little backed up and it could be a couple of weeks.

I understand price points, but I also understand quality. I am not sure what others would pay for a dual probe temp or if there are other brands out there. 

So far Im not real impressed.


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## beerthirty (Sep 28, 2009)

Congrats on your new ET73! I ordered one two weeks ago and I paid $39 for it plus around $8 shipping and had it in three days! Works great however this weekend I lost the little grill clip for the smoker temp probe ( I think the dogs carried it away) and after reading these threads I'll just make me one out of wood. Thanks for the great ideas, guys and gals!


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## evo 9 guy (Oct 2, 2009)

Instead of starting a new thread figured i would just add onto yours. finally pulled the trigger and bought a new et 73 for myself yesterday. Counting the days until it arrives.


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