MEATER+ review


 
CaseT

CaseT

TVWBB Platinum Member
I was one of the Kickstarter backers of the MEATER block, still waiting...

Supposedly its shipping and I should have mine soon.

I was gifted a MEATER+ and have been putting it through the paces. I have enough cooks now that I feel I can give a good independent review.

I cook all meat to IT. I have several calibrated and trusted therms that I use and test frequently to make sure they are accurate.

I originally supported the KS campaign because I wanted a therm that wasn't tied to cord and could be used when doing rotisserie cooks. The MEATER fits the bills.

Here's what I like about the MEATER+

1. Range. It has a goods range. So far I haven't lost the signal walking around my property and even to my mailbox which is 350'+ away from where I cook.
2. Easy to use app, and easy to set up cooks
3. Internal temp readings are spot on with my other therms.
4. No cords

Dislikes:

1. Depth of required probe insert. There is a mark you have to insert the probe to. For thin cuts and small pieces of meat this may not work.
2. Diameter of probe. It's going to leave a big hole! Also again for thin cuts, not ideal.
3. Ambient temp sensor can give some off the wall readings. With that said after an update the temp seem to be more accurate.
4. In order to use the WIFI feature when not in range of the smoker you have to leave a device (phone, tablet,etc) and take a device with you and access by the cloud.

Range has not been an issue at all with this therm. The accuracy of the therm has been spot on for the IT. The ambient temp was off by 70° the first cook. After that and an app upgrade the ambient temp has been within a tolerable range., 2°-8°.

Would I buy a MEATER+, the answer is yes.

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Thanks for the review.

I'm not really up on all of the wifi connectivity stuff. Can you explain what you mean by leave a device and take another device with you?

Does the device that you are 'leaving' connect to the meater and some app in the cloud? Then you access that app with the device that you 'take'?

Would that also work on the Inkbird system? If so, how do you get it to the cloud? Is that a function of the Meater app (and would also have to be a function of the Inkbird app? Inkbird uses the BBQ Go app. Do you know if it has the same option?

Thanks for any help. This is exciting new stuff and I hope to figure it out some day.
 
Thx for the review. Are you indicating that on the + the [single] block does not serve the purpose of a repeater, negating the need for a connected device nearby for long-range connectivity?
 
Kelley Brown said:
Thanks for the review.

I'm not really up on all of the wifi connectivity stuff. Can you explain what you mean by leave a device and take another device with you?

Does the device that you are 'leaving' connect to the meater and some app in the cloud? Then you access that app with the device that you 'take'?

Would that also work on the Inkbird system? If so, how do you get it to the cloud? Is that a function of the Meater app (and would also have to be a function of the Inkbird app? Inkbird uses the BBQ Go app. Do you know if it has the same option?

Thanks for any help. This is exciting new stuff and I hope to figure it out some day.
Click to expand...

For the Meater you can't take the device that you are using the app on out of range. I use my iPhone with the app. If I want to leave the house I would have to leave my phone and use another phone, ipad etc to monitor the cook by logging into my Meater cloud app.

I'm not familiar with inkbird so cannot comment on that.
 
BFletcher said:
Thx for the review. Are you indicating that on the + the [single] block does not serve the purpose of a repeater, negating the need for a connected device nearby for long-range connectivity?
Click to expand...

The block with the meater is a bluetooth repeater which extends the range from teh probe to whatever device you are using the app on. The original Meater has a range of 10'-33' from the probe. The Meater+ says up to 165'. I have been over 300' and not lost connectivity.

Now if you want to monitor your cook while you are work or the store, you would need to leave a phone, iPad, whatever device the app is on at home. Then use another device that you have with you and log in to your cloud account to monitor it.

I haven't tried this feature as I don't own another device to try it with, short of absconding away with my wife's phone, which probably wouldn't go over to well.

Supposedly you can connect to Amazon's Alexa and have that monitor the cook too. Also something I haven't tried and never will.

This video shows it best I guess

 
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I cancelled my meater block order last week, mostly because I've bought so many things for other/new hobbies lately.
 
Clint said:
I cancelled my meater block order last week, mostly because I've bought so many things for other/new hobbies lately.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm still hopeful that mine will be here soon. Supposedly they are shipping. I was about middle of the pack as a backer. So hopefully by end of year.
 
Okay, I just received an email saying that my Block is shipping Tuesday! So I will be able to write a review on it soon!
 
The Meater Block arrived yesterday. I didn't have time to take it out of the box yet. I will post a review soon.
 
Yay! My Meater Block arrived! I haven't had time to set it up yet, but I will get it up and running so I can use it tomorrow when I rotisserie the 3 bone prime rib I have. I'll post a review after I use it a bit.

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BFletcher said:
I would have bet money this would happen... now projected for 2Q19, lol.

Click to expand...

Well I wouldn't bother. I've been going in circles with Tech support since I received mine. It needs to do an update, but it won't complete it and crashes. I've burnt through multiple sets of batteries trying to get it to do the upgrade. They keep sending me the same message telling me to hold a button while trying to get the update to install. Crashes. Never updates. I've sent them multiple messages asking for a new unit or a refund. Nothing, except the same message to hold a button and try the update.

Too bad the Meater + seems to work. Customer service is a complete joke.
 
Update on my Block. I posted some stuff on another Smoker forum and low, one that obviously the Meater people follow. I now have a return label to send back my Block and hopefully receive one that actually works.
 
So I got the new Block and It seems to be working. At least I'm not be asked to update every time it is turned on. I haven't done a cook with it yet, but I did leave the therms lying around the house for a few hours and they all worked.

Hopefully one of these days I'll get a cook in and can report back a better review.
 
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