Review on 🔥 MeatStick X Set: Ultimate 260ft Wireless Meat Thermometer for BBQ, Smoker, and More! by Brian Healy

So I have to start by saying I *really* wanted to like this. I find the design fantastic, the concept amazing and the practical uses endless. Unfortunately, the reality doesn't quite get there. I'll list the pros and cons: Pros: Awesome design Very small, great carrying case You can control it anywhere over the internet (with the bundle I bought) Relatively easy setup Works everywhere, including the fryer Sturdy design (sensors anyway ) A sensor shows you the temperature of the grill/fryer/smoker/sous vide as well as the temperature of the meat. Cons: When the sensor is close to the meat (which by default *should* be) it's *WILD* inaccurate. one was off at 70°. The charger works great but leaves a lot to be desired. It is battery operated so the LEDs do not light up. There's no way (without going into the phone app) to see if it's charging or not and when it is. switched off (intentionally since they are airtight). You need to put it in the charger, then turn on the charger, then take it out and connect it to your phone. Nothing bad, but a bit annoying. Not only can it be used to control the temperature of the grill, it needs to be in the meat and part of the "cooking" in the app. Do not connect to the phone sometimes and reset the extension cord from time to time. Not enough to be bad, but annoying at times. The internal thermometer seems to be 5-12° different at cooking temperature (from my other two thermometers) but is fairly accurate in ice water (which is where they suggested I test it). It doesn't sound like much, but it's the difference between a medium-rare and medium-rare steak. So it's not a guess. I have a ThermPro thermometer (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014DAVHSQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) which I really like. I also have a standalone digital meat thermometer and two analog smoke thermometers (in addition to ThermPro, you never know when the battery might run out). I bought it because I wanted to be more cordless and I liked that I could take a short break when needed and still keep an eye on the cooking. For my first test, I used ThermPro and MeatStick in the same cut of meat (streaky bacon), staggered the same distance, with the tips about 1 inch apart. I hung the ThermPro ambient temperature sensor above the MeatStick (about 3 inches apart). I also inserted a second ThermPro into a yarn wrapped boneless Boston butt. The analog thermometer was on the other side of the smoker (in front, the others in the back, both on the same side to eliminate heat coming out of the smoker). For the pork belly, the temperature difference between the ThermPro and the Meatstick was 12°, but my standalone digital thermometer matched the ThermPro. However, the ambient temperature of the MeatStick in the pork belly differed by 30° from the temperature of the ThermPro and the analog thermometer (both measured within 1° of each other). At the rear, the difference was 70°. Since the smoker was at 225°, that's a discount of over 30%. If I only used MeatStick, I would smoke pork at 295°, which is the opposite of slow cooking. 3 inch variation from 70° will result in streaks on the meat) and that the ambient temperature sensor is so close to the meat that it cannot accurately read the ambient temperature. They assured me that it accurately reads the temperature right around the meat. . . However, since this keeps changing as the meat heats up, it's really useless. I need to know the temperature in the smokehouse. They also found that in ice water it was actually accurate (true, they were only a degree and a few degrees apart). They said there are too many variables to what the thermometers show. Which is funny because *everything* I've cooked with ThermPro has invariably come out exactly how it was meant to be cooked. I replied with my concerns and they never replied. After her email I did a second test while smoking some salmon. This time I made sure the end of the ThermPro probe and the end of the MeatStick were actually touching in the meat. I cooked it at a much lower core temperature and they only differed by 5° (still the difference between Medium Rare and Medium Rare), but the MeatStick seems to measure cold temperatures better than hot ones. However, the ambient temperature still exceeded 30°, again with the end of the ThermPro hanging directly over the MeatStick. I wanted them to ignore the ambient temp (which you can turn off notifications for) and just use it for internal temps and/or use the second just to measure ambient temp. However, you must not heat the inside of the probe. You cannot use the external without the internal on the "Cook" screen and you cannot disable the alarms for it. So if you try to use it to measure the ambient temperature, you will find that the alarm goes off all the time. You also can't show it when you're cooking for something unless you've set cooking for it, so you can't see the display temperature without making a cooking setting. In the end I decided to return it. I think it will work for sous vide. . . but they cook with such precision that I really don't need to spend $180 on them. I could use it when I fry a turkey every year. . . but once a year it seems expensive for a chef. Since both things *should* measure a more accurate ambient temperature from full immersion, I think this would probably work. I'm not the type of person who buys things just to try them on and return them, this is only the second item I'm returning after almost 20 years of shopping at Revain. MeatStick exposes a smaller sensor that has no ambient temperature. Once it comes out and I see some reviews I might buy it. At least if I can't remotely control the temperature of the smoker, I can remotely control the temperature of the meat. I'm sorry this turned into a book. But with more information, you can be better prepared. This might still work fine for you if you don't need it for what I need it for. Overall it's a great product but it fails the most in what I really need.