ThermoWorks Smoke Review
- Thread starter Chris Allingham
- Start date
Troy S
TVWBB Fan
Thanks, Bruce. I'll definitely post my thoughts -- whether good or bad! -- a few days later. I'm cooking for a decent amount of people, so we'll see how it goes.
Thinking about just sticking the lines/probes through the grommet. Any advice/issues on that in regards to avoiding the grommet coming out upon entrance/removal? I hated trying to get it in there.
Thinking about just sticking the lines/probes through the grommet. Any advice/issues on that in regards to avoiding the grommet coming out upon entrance/removal? I hated trying to get it in there.
I've never had an issue with it. If you're really concerned about it, put a little vegetable oil on the probe. Only advice would be to NOT put any significant strain on the cord when pulling it out. You'll have to put some strain on it to pass it through, but as soon as there's any resistance, stop and push from the other side. The ThermoWorks probes are a lot sturdier than most other brands but you still shouldn't be pulling hard on the cord.
Well, it looks like I never got around to closing the loop on this review after receiving and trying the Smoke Gateway and smartphone app.
The folks at ThermoWorks sent me a gateway to try and I used it when cooking the brisket featured in the Whole Brisket - Central Texas Style Butcher Paper article in September 2017.
Here it is in the box:
Here it is sitting in the window sill, the Smoke base unit is outside awaiting insertion into the brisket:
Perhaps one of the reasons I forgot to post the review was because using the gateway was not a memorable experience! It was simply a matter of downloading the ThermoWorks app to my iphone, going through a simple registration process on the app to create an account, and then pairing the gateway with the app. I don't recall having any problems with the process, and I was monitoring the brisket and pit temp in short order.
It's my understanding that some (many?) people have complaints about the ThermoWorks app. If you look at comments on the Google Play store, lots of folks seem to have connection problems. Reviews on the iTunes app store are mixed, some liking it, some complaining. I didn't have very high expectations of the app, so it seemed to do what I wanted, e.g. showed the temps, graphed the temps, etc. and I didn't lose my connection between Smoke and my iPhone. The only confusion for me was how to download the graph data after the cook. Turns out you have to save your cooking session to the "Saved Graphs" folder (if you don't, your next cook's temp readings will be appended to the end of your previous one) then you can export it as a .csv file and import that into a spreadsheet.
So in retrospect, I have to say that Smoke + Smoke Gateway seems like a solid combo to me, at least as an iPhone user. As you may know, since I wrote the original review of Smoke, there is a new product called ThermoWorks Signals that features four temp probes (e.g. three meat probes, one pit probe), Bluetooth connectivity to a smartphone built-in, and WiFi gateway connectivity to a smartphone built-in...no need to purchase a separate gateway component. However, Signals depends on your smartphone for remote temp monitoring, it does not utilize the handheld receiver that comes with Smoke.
So if you're into competition barbecue or you're a backyard barbecuer that likes to measure the temp of several meats at once, you might consider Signals instead of Smoke.
Disclosure: ThermoWorks provided TVWB with a Smoke Gateway for the purposes of this review. The opinions expressed above are my own and have not been reviewed or approved by ThermoWorks.
The folks at ThermoWorks sent me a gateway to try and I used it when cooking the brisket featured in the Whole Brisket - Central Texas Style Butcher Paper article in September 2017.
Here it is in the box:
Here it is sitting in the window sill, the Smoke base unit is outside awaiting insertion into the brisket:
Perhaps one of the reasons I forgot to post the review was because using the gateway was not a memorable experience! It was simply a matter of downloading the ThermoWorks app to my iphone, going through a simple registration process on the app to create an account, and then pairing the gateway with the app. I don't recall having any problems with the process, and I was monitoring the brisket and pit temp in short order.
It's my understanding that some (many?) people have complaints about the ThermoWorks app. If you look at comments on the Google Play store, lots of folks seem to have connection problems. Reviews on the iTunes app store are mixed, some liking it, some complaining. I didn't have very high expectations of the app, so it seemed to do what I wanted, e.g. showed the temps, graphed the temps, etc. and I didn't lose my connection between Smoke and my iPhone. The only confusion for me was how to download the graph data after the cook. Turns out you have to save your cooking session to the "Saved Graphs" folder (if you don't, your next cook's temp readings will be appended to the end of your previous one) then you can export it as a .csv file and import that into a spreadsheet.
So in retrospect, I have to say that Smoke + Smoke Gateway seems like a solid combo to me, at least as an iPhone user. As you may know, since I wrote the original review of Smoke, there is a new product called ThermoWorks Signals that features four temp probes (e.g. three meat probes, one pit probe), Bluetooth connectivity to a smartphone built-in, and WiFi gateway connectivity to a smartphone built-in...no need to purchase a separate gateway component. However, Signals depends on your smartphone for remote temp monitoring, it does not utilize the handheld receiver that comes with Smoke.
So if you're into competition barbecue or you're a backyard barbecuer that likes to measure the temp of several meats at once, you might consider Signals instead of Smoke.
Disclosure: ThermoWorks provided TVWB with a Smoke Gateway for the purposes of this review. The opinions expressed above are my own and have not been reviewed or approved by ThermoWorks.
Michelle in New Orleans
TVWBB Fan
I'm going to order my Smoke in the very near future. Just wondered if I should order an additional meat probe, as I've seen people complain in the past about the bend in a probe. I was thinking of getting a High Temp Straight Penetration Probe, as I think it would be useful to us in the oven as well as the WSM.
Any thoughts? Anything you wished you would've ordered right away when you got your Smoke? Many thanks. I hate paying shipping costs so I would rather purchase what we'd find most advantageous at the time I get the Smoke.
Any thoughts? Anything you wished you would've ordered right away when you got your Smoke? Many thanks. I hate paying shipping costs so I would rather purchase what we'd find most advantageous at the time I get the Smoke.
Bruce
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
I have a Smoke with the bent probe. I have found no issues with it. I can see where a straight one might be preferential, but also times where the bent one would. But, I haven't found any situation where I needed one or the other. If you have an extra $15 laying around, then get the extra probe. It may come in handy if your original dies for some reason.
Bottom line is that you are going to like the Smoke when you do use it.
Bottom line is that you are going to like the Smoke when you do use it.
Michelle in New Orleans
TVWBB Fan
Thanks for the prompt reply, Bruce. And it's now $18 I'd have to have laying around!
I had a hard time getting Chris's link to the Smoke to work as I want to go through here so I can support this site. I finally got it to take me there but now the site is taking forever to respond to my clicks to put something else in my cart beside the Smoke. I'm getting a little buffering signal but that's it. I'm going to go back in a little while to see if things improve.
I had a hard time getting Chris's link to the Smoke to work as I want to go through here so I can support this site. I finally got it to take me there but now the site is taking forever to respond to my clicks to put something else in my cart beside the Smoke. I'm getting a little buffering signal but that's it. I'm going to go back in a little while to see if things improve.