Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So I have to start out by saying that I *really* wanted to like this. I think that the design is fantastic, the concept amazing, the practical applications endless. Unfortunately, the reality just doesn't quite get there. I'll do a pro/con: Pros: Fantastic design Very small, great carrying case You can monitor it anywhere through the internet (with the package I purchased) Relatively easy setup Works anywhere, including a deep fryer Solidly built (the probes, anyway) One probe tells you both the grill/fryer/smoker/sous vide temperature AND the meat temperature Cons: If the probe is near the meat (which, by default, it *has* to be), it is *WILDLY* inaccurate. one was 70° off The charger works perfectly, but leaves a lot to be desired. It is battery-powered, so the LED's don't stay on, there is no way (without going to the phone app) to see whether or not it is charging and when it is done. There is no way to turn these on or off (by design, since they are sealed). You have to put it in the charger, then power the charger on, then pull it out and connect with your phone. Not a huge deal, but slightly annoying. It can't be used to solely monitor grill temperature, it has to be in the meat and part of a "cook" on the app. The occasionally don't connect to the phone, and occasionally drop off the extender. Not enough to be bad, but an occasional annoyance. The internal thermometer seems to be 5°-12° off (from my other two thermometers) at cooking temperatures, but fairly close to accurate in ice water (where they suggested I test it). It doesn't sound like a lot, but it is the difference between a medium-rare and medium-well steak. So these aren't guesses. I have a ThermPro (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014DAVHSQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) thermometer which I love. I also have a stand alone digital meat thermometer, and two analog thermometers to measure the inside of the smoker (in addition to the ThermPro, you never know when a battery may go out). I bought this because I wanted to be more wireless, and I liked that I could leave for a bit if I had to and still monitor something cooking. For my first test I used the ThermPro and the MeatStick in the same piece of meat (bacon belly), pushed in the same distance, with the tips around an inch from each other. I hung the ThermPro ambient probe above the MeatStick (about 3 inches away). I also put a second ThermPro into a twine-wrapped boneless Boston Butt. The analog thermometer was on the other side of the smoker (in front, the others were near the back, both on the same side to eliminate heat coming out of the smoker box). In the pork belly there was a 12° temperature difference between the ThermPro and Meatstick, but my stand-alone digital thermometer agreed with the ThermPro. For the ambient temperature, though, the MeatStick in the pork belly was 30° different than the ThermPro and analog thermometers (both which measured within 1° of each other). For the Butt, there was a 70° difference. Since the smoker was at 225°, this is over 30% off. Had I been using only the MeatStick, I would have been smoking the pork at 295°, which is kind of the opposite of slow cooking. I contacted customer support, who told me that my smoker likely has hot and cold spots (a smoker with variations of 70° in three inches would cook stripes into the meat), and that with the ambient probe so close to the meat it can't register the ambient temperature accurately. They did reassure me that it accurately shows the temperature directly around the meat . . . but since that changes constantly as the meat heats up it really isn't helpful. I need to know the temperature of the inside of the smoker. They also pointed out that it is really accurate when in ice water (this is true, they were only a degree off, and a couple of degrees from each other). They said that there are too many variables for what the thermometers show. Which is funny, since *everything* I've cooked with the ThermPro has come out exactly like it is supposed to be cooked with no exceptions. I replied with my concerns, and they never wrote back. After their e-mail, I did a second test when I was smoking some salmon. This time I made sure that the ThermPro probe end and the MeatStick end were actually touching each other inside the meat. I was cooking it at a much cooler internal temperature, and they were only 5° different (still the difference between medium rare and medium), but the MeatStick seems to measure cold temperatures better than it does hot ones. The ambient temperature, however, was still over 30° off, again with the ThermPro end hanging directly over the MeatStick. I was going to keep them to ignore the ambient temperature (which you can turn off the notifications for) and just use for internal temperature, and/or use the second one just to measure ambient temperature. However you aren't supposed to get the internal part of the probe that hot. You can't use the external one without the internal one in the "cook" screen, nor can you turn off the alarms for it. So if you tried to use it to measure ambient temperature you would find that the alarm would go off constantly. You also can't display it when you have a cook for something going on unless you set up a cook for it as well, so you can't see the display temperature for it without doing the cook setup. In the end I decided to return it. I think that it would work for the sous vide . . . but those cook so accurately I don't really need to spend $180 on it. I could use it when I deep-fry a turkey each year . . . but again it seems expensive for a once-per-year cook. Since both things *should* measure a more accurate ambient temperature from the total immersion, I think that it would probably work. I'm not one of those people who buys things just to try them and return them, this is only the second thing I've returned in nearly 20 years of shopping on Amazon. MeatStick is coming out with a smaller probe that doesn't have ambient temperature. Once it comes out and I see some reviews, I may end up getting it. At least if I can't remotely monitor the smoker temperature, I can remotely monitor the meat temperature. I'm sorry this turned into a book. But with more information, you can be better prepared. This may still work perfectly for you if you don't need it for the things I need it for. It IS a great product overall, but fails the most in the one thing I really need it to do.