I was sent one of these man, and I had the same problem. The ambient temp was consistently 50 degrees off for me. I reached out to them too, and I got the same technical double-talk you got. Mine also kept disconnecting, and each time the app would say the end cap is dirty. I'd take a look and there was nothing on the end cap but light smoke residue. But sure enough, when I'd wipe that off it would reconnect. They really didn't have much to say about that, other than "yeah, smoke residue might cause an issue". Well, that's an issue then. They didn't really seem all that interested in trying to trouble-shoot the problems. But to your point, I think the ambient temp thing is a design issue. It's just too close to the meat. For some, 50 degrees off might not be much of an issue, depending on what you're cooking. But you kinda want what you pay for. I went back to my old thermo pro with the wires. Once you really know your rig you find you don't need or uses these probes much anymore anyway. At that point all you need is a good instant read thermometer. Thanks for the honesty in this review.
I'm right there with you on the Meatstick. I received the Meatstick 4X from the company to review. Doing a trial run today with a corned beef and so far I'm not impressed either. I've had signal loss 3 times and the meter was only a foot away. I did have one layer of foil at one point covering it but that shouldn't have made that much of a difference. I finally took it out and put my smoker probe in the meat. I'll have to give it another go but so far I'm not impressed with any of the Meatsticks I've been sent by the company. I can't even figure out how to show the 3 probe temps on the app. I'm leaning toward what you were saying that you and I, I'm sure have many digital wireless probes we can use that would give us better results and with less hassle.
I have that same Ink Bird and it works every time. I have a Meater + and I lost confidence in it. The external on that also seems to start slow and then the internal temps have been way off a couple times. So much so that I quit using it. Gave up on the wireless probes for now. Nice review!
Wondering why you didn't use the Thermometer that came with the Auto Kamado? (its got 2 probe inputs and there are not option to buy any off the site? that and they are sold out of lots of things??) just bought one of the auto kamados looks like there are no probes included?? why have the inputs but no probes to use?? happy you did show that the auto kamado app seemed to work. (at least through bluetooth) I have aftermarket Probs (fireboard) so no big deal just wondering why have the ports but no use for them??
This video was reviewing the meat stick so I wanted to simplify it. You can purchase probes for the auto kamado on Amazon.. check my Amazon store like bk in the description of this video. Same one works on their gravity smoker.
I've been having issues with mine staying connected. It drops after about 30 minutes. I have been in contact with Meatstick but they can't find a resolution. They are having their engineers look into it. The older model I have works great. I asked about a refund and I was told they couldn't do that. This is new and I paid a lot for it. They said it's under warranty but only told me to test it in the oven. I hope something can be worked out. But I agree. Although they are responding they aren't offering a solution. They also only respond in the middle of the night. Even though I sent emails during the day. Which means they respond from China not US.
Hey there - I haven't had any issues with it disconnecting, but thought it was weird that they gave me reasons why I was seeing an inaccurate reading instead of suggesting I maybe had a defective unit.
@@RobsBackyardBBQ I thought I may have a defective unit. They told me to do the following. And if it works its fine.. A little odd Rob. Set your oven to 200F/100C - Fill a cup with water so that the stainless steel portion of the Stick is covered. - Place the Stick on the charger and press the button to activate it. Make sure you are logged into your account and set up a Quick Start cook in the app and set the internal temperature target to 145F/62C. - Remove the Stick from the charger and place it into the cup with the pointy end down. The stainless steel part should be completely submerged in the water. It's fine to have some of the ceramic in the water as well. - Place the cup in the oven and place your Xtender / WiFi Bridge as close to the oven as possible (within 1 feet). - Wait until the app notifies you of the target temperature being reached (it should take around 20 to 30 min) - You can remove the cup and Stick from the oven (be careful as it will be hot!)
Forgot to mention it in the video, but check out my Backyard BBQ Recipe book on Amazon - it's only $17.99! www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQGRQJ6Y
Good review rob.
Thanks Zach!
I was sent one of these man, and I had the same problem. The ambient temp was consistently 50 degrees off for me. I reached out to them too, and I got the same technical double-talk you got. Mine also kept disconnecting, and each time the app would say the end cap is dirty. I'd take a look and there was nothing on the end cap but light smoke residue. But sure enough, when I'd wipe that off it would reconnect. They really didn't have much to say about that, other than "yeah, smoke residue might cause an issue". Well, that's an issue then. They didn't really seem all that interested in trying to trouble-shoot the problems. But to your point, I think the ambient temp thing is a design issue. It's just too close to the meat. For some, 50 degrees off might not be much of an issue, depending on what you're cooking. But you kinda want what you pay for.
I went back to my old thermo pro with the wires. Once you really know your rig you find you don't need or uses these probes much anymore anyway. At that point all you need is a good instant read thermometer. Thanks for the honesty in this review.
I'm right there with you on the Meatstick. I received the Meatstick 4X from the company to review. Doing a trial run today with a corned beef and so far I'm not impressed either. I've had signal loss 3 times and the meter was only a foot away. I did have one layer of foil at one point covering it but that shouldn't have made that much of a difference. I finally took it out and put my smoker probe in the meat. I'll have to give it another go but so far I'm not impressed with any of the Meatsticks I've been sent by the company. I can't even figure out how to show the 3 probe temps on the app. I'm leaning toward what you were saying that you and I, I'm sure have many digital wireless probes we can use that would give us better results and with less hassle.
I have that same Ink Bird and it works every time. I have a Meater + and I lost confidence in it. The external on that also seems to start slow and then the internal temps have been way off a couple times. So much so that I quit using it. Gave up on the wireless probes for now. Nice review!
Wondering why you didn't use the Thermometer that came with the Auto Kamado? (its got 2 probe inputs and there are not option to buy any off the site? that and they are sold out of lots of things??) just bought one of the auto kamados looks like there are no probes included?? why have the inputs but no probes to use?? happy you did show that the auto kamado app seemed to work. (at least through bluetooth) I have aftermarket Probs (fireboard) so no big deal just wondering why have the ports but no use for them??
This video was reviewing the meat stick so I wanted to simplify it. You can purchase probes for the auto kamado on Amazon.. check my Amazon store like bk in the description of this video. Same one works on their gravity smoker.
I've been having issues with mine staying connected. It drops after about 30 minutes. I have been in contact with Meatstick but they can't find a resolution. They are having their engineers look into it. The older model I have works great. I asked about a refund and I was told they couldn't do that. This is new and I paid a lot for it. They said it's under warranty but only told me to test it in the oven. I hope something can be worked out. But I agree. Although they are responding they aren't offering a solution. They also only respond in the middle of the night. Even though I sent emails during the day. Which means they respond from China not US.
Hey there - I haven't had any issues with it disconnecting, but thought it was weird that they gave me reasons why I was seeing an inaccurate reading instead of suggesting I maybe had a defective unit.
@@RobsBackyardBBQ I thought I may have a defective unit. They told me to do the following. And if it works its fine.. A little odd Rob.
Set your oven to 200F/100C
- Fill a cup with water so that the stainless steel portion of the Stick is covered.
- Place the Stick on the charger and press the button to activate it. Make sure you are logged into your account and set up a Quick Start cook in the app and set the internal temperature target to 145F/62C.
- Remove the Stick from the charger and place it into the cup with the pointy end down. The stainless steel part should be completely submerged in the water. It's fine to have some of the ceramic in the water as well.
- Place the cup in the oven and place your Xtender / WiFi Bridge as close to the oven as possible (within 1 feet).
- Wait until the app notifies you of the target temperature being reached (it should take around 20 to 30 min)
- You can remove the cup and Stick from the oven (be careful as it will be hot!)
My MEATER plus is not at all accurate so it sits in a drawer
I do like the app thou