Weber iGrill2 unsatisfaction Thread


 
Thomas Zamora

Thomas Zamora

New member
After about 45 days and three uses I am very disappointed with this device. Probe tolerances are significantly variable. I noticed one, in particular, was clearly out of the ball park.
The attached pictures show the test setup I did.

- All four probes (three meat, one grill) suspended in a pot, not touching each other or the metal of the pot.
- I added rolling boiling water, which should have been close to 212 degrees.
- Screen shots show the temperature plots. I swapped probe one and two to confirm it was the probe and not the receiver jack. You can see how variable the reported temperature is coming from the same medium.

Additionally, the grill temperature probe (number four in the series) when in a grill stops working at about 500 degrees. When it cools off it returns to function.

Lastly, the Bluetooth range is less than advertised. Outside, direct line-of-site, the range is maybe 20 feet. I bought this device from this list, because it was on the top. However, a friend of mine advised me to pay $20 more and buy Maverick. Probably, I just got unlucky, and you guys are more lucky with this one.

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I have had mine for a couple of years now. There are a couple of annoyances, the biggest being the bluetooth range which I agree is not as advertised. Having said that, I have found a bit of a work-around in that I have notifications for the iGrill app turned on for my smart watch; I can set my phone down within range of the iGrill and then I have the Bluetooth range from there to my watch to work with, kind of using my phone as a repeater to extend my range. And with my watch connected to the same WiFi as my phone, I should be able to go anywhere within the range of my router. While this doesn't allow me to view temps or graphs in real time, I do get the alerts when a temp falls out of range or when I'm approaching the target temp.

The other annoyance is with the app. When I finish using it, turn off the unit, and close the app, it will sometimes continue to try and connect to the unit in the background. It doesn't happen all the time. It's not difficult to stop once I see it, but annoying and can run down my phone battery if I don't notice it quick enough. I suspect the settings are getting reset whenever there is an update or something.

Other than those two things, I am absolutely happy with it. I have found the accuracy to be very good. When I first got the unit, I tested them similarly and the probes were accurate and consistent with each other. Since then, I have not conducted the same experiment, but occasionally cross reference with other quick read thermometers and so far so good. I have not had any connection issues with my phone other than distance.

When researching prior to purchase, I read somewhere that if the wires get pinched (especially where the wire enters the probe) or the probe gets submerged in water or too wet while washing, that it can cause issues. As a precaution, I use sanitizing wipes to clean the probes instead of soap and water.
 
I would definitely go aftermarket on remote thermometers. I have heard little good about the Weber Igrill models.
I have the thermoworks Smoke and it is accurate, works up to 700 degrees and the bluetooth range is at least 50 feet. I can have the grill out in front of the garage and come into my office on the far back corner of the house which would be at least 50 feet and through three or four walls. It will loose connection every so often at that distance, but reconnects within a few seconds. I have never tested it straight line and unobstructed outside, but I am sure it would at least 75 feet. Now they have the WIFI module for it as well so you can monitor it from the other side of town if necessary. Or you can get the Signal which has WIFI built in and 4 probes instead of two. The regular smoke will run you a bit under $100 if you wait for a sale.


The Thermoworks Smoke and Signal are not even mentioned on your top 8 list in that article. I think any BBQer worth his sale would say that is sacrilege. It would be like listing the top 8 consumer gas grills and leaving Weber off the list entirely.

I also have that Kizen probe that is listed at #3. They are only about $20 on amazon and it works great as well for a stand alone.
 
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I think Thermoworks has to be the top choice for most bbq professionals. I am just an amateur and “only” have the Smoke; the Signals would be even better. It leaves my friend’s iGrill3 in the dust based on his experience. Solid build, good support and reliable.

That said, I think Weber is realizing they need to improve, and I look for better things to come along. The equipment that comes with the new pellet grill looks promising. I will at least give them a chance to show they can do better.
 
Weber had nothing to do with the design of the iGrill and iGrill(2). Weber bought the iGrill product line at that point, and I have no idea what input or control they really have over the follow-ons.

Any product listing Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth 4, or the like, almost never has the advertised range. That's simply due to the characteristics of the class and how little power they actually use.
 
There are some nice things. I love the spools that come with the probes and snap together. I don't think I've had the temperature variances. My issue is mainly with the app. It just doesn't seem to be honest when it loses connectivity. That's something I NEED to know. I get that bluetooth has it's limitations. Another annoyance is that the finishing meat temp tops out at 155 on some meats. I guess I could switch the meat but I don't give a flying **** what it says the meat is. I know what temp I want. I still occasionally use it and I think it's fine if you are going to be near the cooker. The Smoke is just light-years better.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
There are some nice things. I love the spools that come with the probes and snap together. I don't think I've had the temperature variances. My issue is mainly with the app. It just doesn't seem to be honest when it loses connectivity. That's something I NEED to know. I get that bluetooth has it's limitations. Another annoyance is that the finishing meat temp tops out at 155 on some meats. I guess I could switch the meat but I don't give a flying **** what it says the meat is. I know what temp I want. I still occasionally use it and I think it's fine if you are going to be near the cooker. The Smoke is just light-years better.
Click to expand...

You can set any temperature between 70 and 212 with the app. When you set food temperature go to temperature not doneness and set any temperature you want.
 
I ditched mine after Weber bought iGrill out. It had worked flawlessly until then. First Weber changed the app and got rid of all the good features. Then updates made the app crash. Then the probes started to stray from the rock solid temps they always read. Then the connectivity went to crap. To bad I really liked it when everything was working great. Not sure Weber should be in the IT business.
 
DavidO "PapaO" said:
You can set any temperature between 70 and 212 with the app. When you set food temperature go to temperature not doneness and set any temperature you want.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I still pull it out from time to time. There's a lot to like with it. The main limitation is with the blue tooth tech I believe.
 
You would think it wouldn’t take much to allow the Bluetooth to be connected to say and iPad and display the temps on your iPhone anywhere you are. Couldn’t Weber do this easily?
 
Jeff Canto said:
You would think it wouldn’t take much to allow the Bluetooth to be connected to say and iPad and display the temps on your iPhone anywhere you are. Couldn’t Weber do this easily?
Click to expand...

Actually.... that's not all that simple. The iPad and iPhone would need a method for communications, and due the vagaries of home/NAT firewalls, would almost certainly require the use of an external service that doesn't operate for free. If you want to limit yourself to the simple case where the iPad and iPhone are on the same IP network (read: behind the same home gateway,) a microDNS/Avahi style of service would certainly work. I'd also expect to hear "but why can't I see it downtown now????"

This is a problem that a lot of IoT devices face, how to communicate across a network boundary.
 
JKalchik said:
Actually.... that's not all that simple. The iPad and iPhone would need a method for communications, and due the vagaries of home/NAT firewalls, would almost certainly require the use of an external service that doesn't operate for free. If you want to limit yourself to the simple case where the iPad and iPhone are on the same IP network (read: behind the same home gateway,) a microDNS/Avahi style of service would certainly work. I'd also expect to hear "but why can't I see it downtown now????"

This is a problem that a lot of IoT devices face, how to communicate across a network boundary.
Click to expand...

Wouldn’t the app work as a way to connect?
 
The method used to connect an iGrill to an iPad is Bluetooth LE. This is a very low power communications system and why the batttery life is fairly long, and why the range is so short. Bluetooth in general is a fairly short range system in general, half or less of WiFi, and does require pairing of some sort prior to use. This would be effectively mirroring the temperature data onto a 2nd Bluetooth connection. You still have some issues, the first is that the 2nd link range will still be fairly short.

Remote login? not quite that simple, my above post pretty well applies to that as well.
 
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