Nano or DigiQ II and newbie questions


 
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DavidP South LA

New member
Please help me purchase my first controller.
I have been using WSB for approx. 2 yrs.
Lot of fun but I hate running back and forth to checking on things. Especially at night.
I have been reading here for more than 3 yrs. Great site with good info.
I told my wife I was not going to buy a controller until I could cook Butt were I and everyone love it. I finally made it so I am ready to by.

I had almost ordered the Nano and notice the DigiQ II is only $60+- more.
Goals:
1) I want to be able to control the WSM temperature. Seems both would work well.
2) I want some way to have an alarm, remote thermometer or something to alert me inside my house to check the smoker. Mainly for pit temps.

I know the high price Guru’s and Stokers would meet my goals but I hate to spend that much and I don’t want to get above my head (tech. wise).
Thanks ahead of time to all.

Dave
 
I recently went through a similar decision. I was thinking of getting a NanoQ, but then realized that what I really wanted was the ability to check temps, or even control temps remotely. Neither the NanoQ nor the DigiQII allow this. The DigiQII has a big readout that you might be able to read from a window, but that also requires that you are comfortable leaving the DigiQII exposed to the elements overnight.

So I decided that a Stoker was what I really wanted. You can control/monitor it form any computer or device (ipod Touch, etc.) in your network, or even from the internet. That way you can pack the Stoker in a tupperware with some holes for the wires on those overnight cooks where it might rain or snow, and you can check/control temps by rolling over in bed and reaching for your phone (or whatever web device).

The Stoker costs about $35 more than a DigiQII. That's a HUGE amount of functionality for the extra bucks. Once you get a NanoQ ready to ship, it's about $200. That's not cheap. For an extra $95, you get something that really allows remote control of your cook.

I did some reading about how to set up a Stoker on my network before I got it. Frankly, I was expecting it to be much more difficult than it has been. I received it yesterday, and have it running both on my home network and on the internet at this point. Having said that, I'm still trying to figure out how to get it to Tweet me.

Mark
 
I'm a happy Stoker owner and the Stoker would more than meet your needs. With that said, if you have a wireless temperature sensor/monitor you could get away with the Nano. The DigiQ II is also a very capable system with alarming and as long as you are OK with the alarms coming from the outside it should meet your needs too (your neighbors might not welcome the outside alarm as much).
 
Neighbors live a fair distance away and I don’t think it would be a problem.
The Stoker would be great but I think it’s a little more tech. than I prefer at this age.

I do have wireless temp. monitor and that would help inside.
My wife said if I can't hear the alarm inside she would put a Baby Monitor by the pit. I told her that may work but don't get any baby Idea's.

I leaning hard toward the DigiQ II, and use a wireless monitor that I have until I get use to the temp. controller.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by David367:
The Stoker would be great but I think it’s a little more tech. than I prefer at this age. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
If you manged to bring a PC home and got it running enough to type that post, you know enough to get stoker working! And there are a lot of people here ready to help with any issues.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I leaning hard toward the DigiQ II, and use a wireless monitor that I have until I get use to the temp. controller. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
The wireless monitors have their own hassles with reliability and such. So unless you have one already and know that it is working for you, then I am not sure you are coming ahead with that combo.

What is great about stoker is that you learn a ton about how your smoker works. You get nice graphs telling how stable your cook was throughout the night. You learn to adjust the dampers and such and watch their effect over time. You get to save your results and come here to show off
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, or ask questions.

To go without these capabilities is to give up the Internet because it is too complicated
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.

If you didn't care about remote monitoring then the other alternatives are very good relative to stoker. But once you care about knowing what is happening outside (and being able to adjust it remotely as you can with stoker/stokerlog), you won't want to consider anything else
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.

Do let us know if we broke your arm twisting it to buy stoker
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.
 
Or you could go with a CyberQ II and have the ability to graph/track two outputs simultaneously. You do have to invest in a wireless USB hub (that's about $60) if you want to go wireless, but I'm OK with that. Not minimizing the value of Stokerlog as I use it myself on my Stoker, and I dearly love the true wireless capability of the device. But after two plus months of waiting for my bricked Stoker to be repaired or replaced, and waiting, and waiting, and begging, and pleading, and reminding and finally getting tired of it all I pulled the trigger on a CyberQ II. Two days from placement of order it was on my doorstep. It's every bit as awesome as my Stoker, and full disclosure, about $75 more expensive than a similarly equipped Stoker, but the probes and wires are a lot more rugged (braided steel). Bottom line, it's made the absence of my Stoker a lot easier to bear. I'm actually getting married one week from today and going on honeymoon to Northern California. Maybe I should swing through Newark and check on my controller.......
 
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