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[okie smokie]

Anyone tried the MeatStick?  It has good reviews. No real distance alone, but has an extender that gives it 100 feet inside your house and 300 feet outside. Also, it is the only one now that is completely waterproofed and can be used for  Sous vide. That is a nice plus. Two sensors, one for inside the meat and one for pit temp.
1. Anyone with experience with this unit?
2. Since most of us have built in meat probes with our pits and wifi, do we really need to worry about this. Or just buy one cause we can?
https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjOw56c7tjtAhWDglsKHWs0B7UYABAYGgJ5bQ&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAASE-RobtneBmWZMZnV4KHZiplgHcI&sig=AOD64_0_2KP9mrTCn855ivZlDVuycAZnWA&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwjtlZac7tjtAhUBTawKHVjbDPEQ0Qx6BAgaEAE&dct=1

[Bar-B-Lew]

Seems similar to another thermometer that did a gofundme or kickstarter.  Also seems a little expensive for 2 probes which may be equivalent to 4 probes depending upon how a far apart the meat is from each other to make the ambient temp from one probe to another worthwhile.  It is certainly an interesting thermometer.

Personally, I stick with Thermoworks because I think they will be around longer than some of these other companies as they serve consumer and commercial markets and applications.

Additionally, I have have several thousand dollars worth of Thermoworks products, but rarely use them now that I know my smokers, know my cooks, get a sense for when things are done by time and feel, and use an inexpensive Thermoworks product to take final temps before I pull from the grill.

IMO, these things are great while you are learning your pit and your cooks.  Once you have things dialed in, you only need a $30 Thermoworks product.

[okie smokie]

The other product is the "meater". It is not waterproof and cannot be used in sous vide, or a deep fryer like the MeatStick. It come in three options:
1. MeatStick only which has 30 range if that. Single probe at I believe $65-69.
2. MeatStick with extender which gives you 100 feet inside a house and 300 outside. and uses Blue tooth and your wifi to give to allow you to use their app to set and read. The app. helps you select cooking times by type of meat, how heavy the meat, and what temp. It will also alarm you when the meat is near set temp.
Also it is a single probe and an extender box. It is $89
3. MeatStick Wifi. This is the two probes, extender and Wifi combo that you can use from any distance. It is $199.
 

[Bar-B-Lew]

Okie, I was as much on the leading edge of technology as anyone on here or the other board. Over the last 10 years, I have learned my pit(s) using some of that technology.  At the end of the day, I have come to the realization that I wasted thousands of dollars on gadgets that I don't use anymore because I don't feel that I need them to get the results that I enjoy.  Others may get great rewards from these gadgets that I once thought I needed.

Some of that has come from simplifying my methods.  Some of it has come from learning my pits for the things that I cook the most.

I am not saying the tools that I bought are not good.  I am saying that maybe I should not have been as impulsive as I was in buying the next gadget because for me a simpler, less expensive gadget did everything that I needed.

A side story...several years ago a buddy of mine invited me to his lake house for the weekend.  He knew I was into BBQ because I had brought some BBQ to his lake house several times to reheat and for people to enjoy.  One time, he got distracted while he was attempting to grill sausages, burgers, and steaks.  I stepped in to watch the grill for him because I wanted to eat and saw that left to his own devices he would have burned up what he was cooking.  Everyone said it was the best they ever had even though I added no spices or rubs to what he had cooked.

After that, I taught him to cook steaks by pressing on the meat with his finger based on how he could press on the inside of his hand near his thumb depending on which finger he pinched to his thumb at its tip - a trick I learned from Steve Raichlen.  The most outside finger and thumb feel was the close to rare.  The most inside finger to thumb feel was closer to well done.  From then on without me by his side, he cooked food his friends and family enjoyed without any technology.

Moral of the story.  Cooking food on a grill is not as difficult as some folks make it out to be and depending upon the cook and his experience and knowledge doesn't require semi expensive equipment to deliver good results that people enjoy eating.

[okie smokie]

Point well taken. My goal in presenting this topic was to:
1: First learn about the technology, and see if it was a good product
2: provoke the very comments you made.
I have no intention of buying this gadget, however clever it might be.  I check my steaks another way than you but it is by feel, and experience with temp, thickness and time. (3 T's , I call it.).  Works for me.  Lately I have reported on using the meat probe for a thick steak.  It worked fine, but no better than my other method.  With roasts, briskets, butts, chickens etc. I use the probe that came with my pit. I do feel that it is better to do so there for several reasons.

[ylr]

I learned the finger and thumb trick for checking doneness when I worked at Applebees in the mid 90s. Of course, now I use a Thermopop for verification...