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Meater Block Review
dogbreath:
I've been a sucker (fan?) for crowdfunded gadgets, and I was in on the Meater Block campaign a couple of years ago (yeah, it took a long time to get shipped). It's a rainy day, my wife had foot surgery, so I'm her gofer and caretaker right now and i had time to kill. Here's my amateur review. Forgive me in advance for any errors I might have made--I'm using an old man's memory for the details (he didn't need it any more :D).
https://meater.com/
https://store-us.meater.com/products/meater-block
What is it? I have the Meater Block. It's four cable-less probes and a charger/bluetooth/wifi block that charges the probes (uses batteries), aggregates the temperatures, and sends them to your wifi. What is unique about these probes is that the battery is near the tip where it sits in the meat and never sees pit temperature. There's a meat temp probe at the pointy end and a pit (or near the meat, really) probe at the base. I say that because the area an inch or so from the meat doesn't always see pit temperature based on evaporation etc from the meat. At any rate, if you rotisserie, these work perfectly because there's no cable. There's an indented ring around the probe which is the insert limit--just don't bury the whole probe in the meat.
How it works? The bluetooth from the probes will pair with the block, or can pair directly with a phone. The app has Android and IOS versions. I did have trouble with the phone picking up the probes before they paired with the block, but as long as I started the phone app bluetooth after the probes were paired it worked as advertised. The block sends wifi data to your network, and to Meater Cloud. You see output on the Meater app. You can post your cook real-time for people to see via Meter Cloud, but that's not something I do, so I haven't tested it.
The app? It lets you pick a desired temp for each probe. When I cooked my last two turkey breasts I put four probes in, one in each half, and monitored the cook via wifi. I played nine holes of golf and kept an eye on the cook on my phone while I was out. The app will notify when the food hits set temperature. Pretty much similar to other probe apps out there except for internet access.
Limitations? My Memphis Pros have double wall lids so the probes' bluetooth range is very short. I had to keep the Meater Block next to the pit or the bluetooth was too weak to stay paired. The block had no trouble picking up my wifi network out on the patio but I have a pretty strong router signal. The block interface is pretty basic, kind of an up/down and enter setup, but it works fine once setup is done.
Accuracy? Pretty close to a Thermoworks probed near the Meater probe. I haven't done anything scientific to check how close.
Recommendations? I wouldn't buy it if I already had reliable wired probes and didn't do rotisserie or need internet monitoring. It's now my probe of choice, since it's already here, I'm a lazy cook, and I like that I can run an errand or two and still keep and eye on the cook.
There is also a single probe with block, but I can't tell you if it works the same as the multiple probe setup. I think there's also an older probe version with less bluetooth range available (I'd guess until stock is gone).
I'll try to answer any questions you might have.
Dan
Brushpopper:
I have the single probe with the block and it works quite well. It's almost strong enough to let me use the block as a repeater and then to my phone in the house, but it's a good distance with my truck in between the pit and the house along with the barn and the garage doors. Seems like the garage doors are what limits it if I close them, so it's not the fault of the unit.
The battery lasted 24 hours in the probe when I did a long cook of a brisket. Bonnie wanted it with heavy bark and she got it. She is now cured of that thought and wants me to go back to the way I usually do them. It was a little dry and very tender but still good. Just had heavy bark like she requested because that's how her dad cooked them. He ain't here for me to ask, so I did it her way. Won't have that problem again.
Bar-B-Lew:
This product has and to some degree still intrigues me. The only reason I did not buy one is I am concerned about having to rely on them for their Cloud to have these thermometers work as advertised. I am just concerned that if they go out of business that these units will not work as advertised anymore because of the reliance on their cloud. I have no evidence that they have or will have financial issues, but it is something that keeps me away from buying one of these units. Does anyone know if they will work via wifi without their cloud?
Oh, and thank you for the time taken to provide the review. It was very informative.
reubenray:
I bought the single meater with block mainly to use when I use my rotisserie. It worked just as I hoped it would when I did a prime rib roast. I knew I could not get far away for the bluetooth to work, but it worked great for sitting outside about 10' from my smoker.
Bar-B-Lew:
--- Quote from: reubenray on January 17, 2020, 08:26:12 PM ---I bought the single meater with block mainly to use when I use my rotisserie. It worked just as I hoped it would when I did a prime rib roast. I knew I could not get far away for the bluetooth to work, but it worked great for sitting outside about 10' from my smoker.
--- End quote ---
This unit seems like one of the only if not the only one out there that would work great with a rotisserie. Great usage.
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