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What's your go-to bbq thermometer?
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Get THIS one if you want a multi-probe setup:
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Today I'm here to add another installment to my Man Cave Meals #MCMReallyRightStuff collection. I have been fascinated by the wireless probes for a while but I have never forked out the money for one that has wifi control capabilities. I just couldn't make myself justify the price of what's out there until now.
Someone introduced me to the Chef IQ recently so I decided to buy one and give it a try. I paid $79 on Amazon for this thermometer (the link will be in the first comment on this post). I also spent another $50 to get an additional probe for it.
I have done several cooks with this after making this video. I have learned a good deal about this and I'm ready to give it my recommendation at this point. Here's what I like about this system:
1. It's wireless. That makes it more convenient in about any use configuration. Less hassle in cleaning, storage, and no trip hazards during the cook.
2. It's water resistant to the point where you can put it in the top rack of the dishwasher if you want, you can use it for sous vide applications, and according to the website, it's safe for use in deep frying as well.
3. Connectivity has been zero problems for me. You can connect to this via bluetooth or wifi/cloud. I haven't lost any connections during cooking.
4. You can use it as a leave-in thermometer on a rotisserie if you wish.
5. Everything is powered by rechargeable batteries that recharge via USB-C.
6. The charge life is excellent. My last cook before writing this review was an overnight pork butt. I ran a 15 hour cook without losing charge on the base. The probe life is actually longer than the base life on a full charge, so that should never be an issue.
7. For peace of mind on long cooks, you can connect a USB battery to the base for continuous power without having to worry about losing the charge.
8. The probes are super easy to clean. I clean these with the standard grocery store variety Clorox wipes before storing them back in the base.
9. PRICE. This is the kicker for me really. You can have the basic single probe unit for about $79, depending on sale prices. You can add up to two more probes for $50 each, making a $179 3-probe solution. In my world, that's quite acceptable for this type of solution.
Those are the bullet points of my approval for this device.
What do I NOT like about it?
If you are buying this as a single probe system, there is nothing to ever worry about in that setup. The base unit charges the single probe in the charging cradle. IF you have purchased extra probes (up to two additional,) they are stored in a silcone storage bay in the lid of the base. They do NOT get charged while riding in the base and they DO discharge when not in use. They need to be charged prior to use. My estimation is that they will discharge in 48 hours or less based on what I have seen so far. If you want to use multiple probes on a cooking session, you will need to rotate the probes into the charging slot prior to the cook. These probes APPEAR to charge fully in about 30-40 minutes from what I can tell. You will also want to plug the base into a USB charging cable during that process so you don't discharge the batter on the base prior to the cook.
The APP seems to be pretty decent. Setting it up and connecting to WIFI was easy enough... no problems there. The only catch in the app that I don't like is that you don't have the ability to create 'alerts' for the internal meat temperature. You get to create two targets if you wish. One is a finishing temp and the other is a temp at which you want to remove the meat from the grill. When you set these, they trigger the end of cook event when they are reached. I personally like to set temperature alerts for other reasons. On this pork butt, for instance, I like to know when the meat hits about 165 internally so I can go decide if it's ready to wrap or not. If i set that as a target in this app, it wants to end the cook when I get to that. If I want to keep cooking from that point, I can simply start a new cook, which is easy enough, but I won't have a single cook 'history' that I can go back and review and see the graphs if I want.
MY target use for these is in my pellet smokers. I will also be experimenting with them in sous vide and deep frying applications in the near future.
If you have any questions about this, leave me a comment and i'll do my best to answer them.... I give this the thumbs up so far!
#chefiq #mancavemeals