Thermoworks Smoke remote thermometer review

I picked up a Thermoworks Smoke and gave it a run last weekend. The temperature readings it was giving me were unusually low compared to what I've experienced with my Maverick. The Maverick readings are usually very close to the analog Tel-Tru gauges on the smoker door (Yoder Wichita), but the Smoke was 20F-30F lower than the Tel-Tru gauges. I thought I had inadvertently switched the unit to Celsius, but it was set to Fahrenheit.

The only reason I wanted to move away from the Maverick is the high number of probe failures I've had, but when the probes are working, I really like it.

I checked the Smoke probes the other night with boiling water and ice water, and the ice water yielded results in the 33F range, while the boiling water yielded results in the 210F range. It hardly seems like there's a calibration issue there.

I can't really explain why the Smoke probes were that much different than the Tel-Tru gauges during the cook, but I really struggled to keep my cooker in the 225F range using the Smoke readings. I was choking down my intake vent and the smokestack damper to try and keep the Smoke readings at 225F, while the Tel-Tru gauges where way below their usual 225F-235F readings, sitting around 190F. I had some chickens on my top rack and they stalled at ~140F and never got to 165F so I had to pull them and they were pretty dried out because they were on the cooker too long.

Aside from that, here are my observations on the Thermoworks Smoke:

• The large button on the receiver is easy to accidentally turn on. I keep mine in a zipper bag inside a large duffle bag containing all my cooking stuff, and I've already managed to turn it on accidentally twice while I was rummaging for other things. Kind of annoying.
• The finish on the grey plastic (both units) looks splotchy on mine. I actually thought I had received a "refurb" when I opened it, but I don't know - it looks new except for the grey plastic finish. It's like someone used a powerful cleaner on it and took the shine off in random areas. I bought mine directly from Thermoworks.
• No stand on the receiver. It's a little heavy for hanging around your neck thanks to the AA batteries. I think AAA batteries would have allowed it to be smaller and lighter. I've been using a phone cradle to prop it up while I'm cooking.
• The main unit could also use some kind of grommet or hanger so you can hang it like a Maverick. The magnet and stand aren't very useful to me. I had to buy a zipper bag with a grommet so I can hang the unit with a hook. Actually, they have it backwards: put the stand on the receiver, and the lanyard on the main unit and I'm in business. The magnet would actually be better on the receiver too - you can't attach the main unit to your smoker with the magnets because of the heat, so that's kind of useless.
• Can't change the threshold settings from the receiver (I think). I wanted to adjust the meat alarm at one point and I had to go to the smoker to do it. The Maverick allows you to set the thresholds from the receiver.
• The curved probe is a little difficult to get through the probe port on the Yoder, but it can be done. I don't know why they insist on putting such an angle on these probes. I'd prefer a straight one, or one with less of an angle.
• The grate clip absolutely did not work with the Thermoworks pit probe when attached to my smoker. When the clip is compressed by the grill grate on my Yoder, the probe becomes loose enough to fall out if there is any movement of the cable. I will probably need to re-bend the clip somehow to see if I can make it tight when the clip is attached to the grill grate. Annoying.

I'll have to use the Maverick on my next cook and compare it to the Smoke to see what's going on with the temperatures. My ribs turned out great on the last cook using the Smoke (very low and slow and long), but the chicken was dry because I was waiting for the probe temperature to hit 165F and it never got there like it normally does when my Tel-Tru gauges are steady at 225F+.

Maybe I'll remove my Tel-Tru gauges and check their readings again, but I've never heard of anyone having issues with the big Tel-Tru gauges. At any rate, my first impressions of the Smoke were tempered by the odd readings I still can't explain, and some fairly dry chicken from that cook. My prior batch of chicken (exact same process but with the Maverick) was "awesome" according to the wife and the family devoured it all in one sitting. It was super juicy and hit the 165F mark in around 4 to 4 1/2 hours.

If the rain doesn't get too bad this weekend, I'll give the Smoke another try.

A couple of points should be remembered here.

First, never trust a bimetallic thermometer, even a Tel-Tru. Ever. They are last century technology. I have a big Tel-Tru on my KKs and oth are inaccurate across the spectrum to a rather large degree. It's just the inherent nature of bimetallics to be inaccurate. The shortcomings of bimetallic thermometers are very well known, especially to those who use them.

Second, it seems to me that the thermometer to trust is the Thermoworks. It calibrates quite well to known set points, i.e. freezing water and boiling water in the review above and every measurement device I've bought from Thermoworks has been more accurate than anything else be owned.

Third, we tend to get more than a little wrapped around the axle about specific temps and the accuracy of certain thermometers. Given that temps during a cook can fluctuate fairly widely, being spot on is absolutely points. We're doing BBQ here; ther is no need to be +|- 0.1° within 225° or 300° or any other temp for that matter.

I really do appreciate the review above. It covers the waterfront and seems to me to fair and balanced (to or row a hackneyed phrase). It is well written and answered a few of the questions I've had about this unit. Thanks for a comprehensive review. Very nicely done.

Here's some photos of the Smoke's grey cases. Mine are splotchy front and back, almost like they were bathed in a cleaning solution. This is why I'm wondering if I got a refurbished unit. The camera couldn't pick up the detail as good as your eye could, but there's an obvious splotch on the receiver that looks like a dirt spot. This is how the cases looked right out of the box. The rubber seals on the edges didn't look "pristine" to me either, like they had been removed and then re-installed. I have no way of knowing without comparing mine to other new units. Also, the units have a clear screen protector over the displays for shipping protection, and one of mine had wrinkles in it, which also made me think it had been removed and re-installed. The more I think about it the more I feel like I should at least contact Thermoworks and ask them to verify that this was a brand new unit.





Here's a shot of one of the zipper bags I'm using. The base unit fits nicely and the bag has a grommet I can hook through to hold the unit securely. When it rains I get out a dry bag (typically used for kayaking) and hang it in the same place. That usually keeps it dry for me.

I looked at my Smoke receiver, mine has the same "splotch" in the exact spot yours has, so no worries that it is a refurbished unit. Honestly, I've never noticed it. Ditto for the main unit, the discolorations are in the same exact spots around the buttons. Mine was a Day 1 purchase.

Love the magnets on the main, the unit attaches perfectly to the leg on my Goldens' Cast Iron cart.

My only minor gripe is silencing the alarm on the remote doesn't also silence them on the main, but I think I'm expecting too much. I simply keep the main alarms muted.

I've never untied the lanyard on the receiver, too heavy to wear and I usually have the Time Stick hanging around my neck.

-lunchman

lunchman said:

I looked at my Smoke receiver, mine has the same "splotch" in the exact spot yours has, so no worries that it is a refurbished unit. Honestly, I've never noticed it. Ditto for the main unit, the discolorations are in the same exact spots around the buttons. Mine was a Day 1 purchase.

Love the magnets on the main, the unit attaches perfectly to the leg on my Goldens' Cast Iron cart.

My only minor gripe is silencing the alarm on the remote doesn't also silence them on the main, but I think I'm expecting too much. I simply keep the main alarms muted.

I've never untied the lanyard on the receiver, too heavy to wear and I usually have the Time Stick hanging around my neck.

-lunchman

Click to expand...

I had no idea the main unit was going off....my neighbors must love me! I like the unit. I agree the receiver should have a stand but i usually just toss it on the counter and check it whenever I get up. I barely pay attention to it. Not sure why I even have a thermo sometimes

Love my SMOKE, too.
The remote makes over night cooks so much easier. It will wake you up if things start going wrong.

lunchman said:

My only minor gripe is silencing the alarm on the remote doesn't also silence them on the main, but I think I'm expecting too much. I simply keep the main alarms muted.

Click to expand...

I noticed that too. I just happened to be out in the back yard reading a book when the alarm went off, so I could hear the main unit beeping at the same time the receiver was beeping.

I haven't read all the documentation (partly because online reviews were all raving about how intuitive the Smoke interface is) so I kind of expected there might be an option to selectively turn off the alarm at the main unit while leaving the remote alarm enabled. I need to read the documentation. :help:

lunchman said:

I looked at my Smoke receiver, mine has the same "splotch" in the exact spot yours has, so no worries that it is a refurbished unit.

Click to expand...

Maybe the splotchy look is intentional to make the unit look more "smokey." I can live with that. :clap2:

I fired off an email to Thermoworks support to see what they think about the splotchy finish, and also the probe clip being loose after clipping it to my grill grate. Here's the response:

What you are seeing is a result of the plastic injection process. I can assure you that the Smoke you received was new and not refurbished.

The grate clip was designed to be as universal as possible. This is difficult given the wide range of grills/smokers/ovens that it can be used in.

You can try to adjust it by stretching it wider while the probe is in place. You may even find that skipping a bar on your grate allows the probe to stay snug while being clipped onto the grill.

Click to expand...

Kind of what I expected. They're basically admitting they have a poor molding process (at least for now) that can't produce a uniform finish, and their grate clips may need some tweaking to work right. The Maverick clip worked perfectly on both my Green Egg and my Yoder Wichita - just sayin'.

I'll take a blemish and a stubborn grate clip every time over that POS Maverick I bought and subsequently pawned off on my poor unsuspecting neighbor. He hasn't talked to me since!

I have the Smoke and the Thermapop Love them both.

The pit probe looks accurate with the BGE today:



It's been a rainy weekend here. I went ahead and got out the dry bag this morning before the rain started:



I also had to steal the wife's phone cradle again:

I think it's a nice setup. Like so many others, I was getting frustrated with the Maverick. I never actually had probe issues, but I always wanted a different target temp, and it was a pain to change that every time, it made things really difficult and the alarm was constantly going off. With the Smoke, I've only used the alarm once. I generally just keep an eye on the receiver. Heck, it's still sitting on my office desk from the last time I used it. A stand would be nice, but I'll settle for the accuracy and ease of use.

Just sold a buddy on the ThermoPop yesterday. I have the Smoke, Dot, and Pop. I don't use the Dot very often, but all 3 are super easy to use, and quick.

Using the Smoke for the first time tonight. Currently egg is at 259 and brisket is at 137. More to follow.

Looking forward to the report!

After a few more cooks I think I've got my Smoke figured out. I found a better spot on the Yoder Wichita to place my pit probe so it reports about the same temperature as the top gauge. So far so good.

Mine has been great too. As others have figured out, the probes seem more sensitive to placement than my experience with the maverick. Love the magnets and ease of use. One thing I really love is the range. My smoker is just outside the garage and I could never get the maverick to go 15-20ft (half way through the garage) without losing signal. I haven't lost the signal yet in 5 cooks with the smoke and it goes not only through the garage, but through the room next to it no problem. It's strange, because some brethren say the range for them is less than their maverick.

slamkeys said:

I fired off an email to Thermoworks support to see what they think about the splotchy finish, and also the probe clip being loose after clipping it to my grill grate. Here's the response:

Kind of what I expected. They're basically admitting they have a poor molding process (at least for now) that can't produce a uniform finish, and their grate clips may need some tweaking to work right. The Maverick clip worked perfectly on both my Green Egg and my Yoder Wichita - just sayin'.

Click to expand...

My grate clip works fine on my kamado, Yoder Cheyenne, and my Johnson Smoker. Something to keep in mind is that I put it in the slots "left to right" rather than "front to back." Maybe that will help you? Also, the finish on my Smoke was pretty smooth... wondering if they just had a few bad runs.

I do hate that I can't turn off the alarm with the receiver... I have neighbors on both ends so that makes using the alarms pretty much a no-go for me. Otherwise I'm enjoying the Smoke... oh, they do make straight meat probes, with no bend, which will fit through your probe port much easier. The bend just allows for easier usage and especially so when the probes are hot. I think a straight probe will run you about $20.

http://www.thermoworks.com/TX-1004X-SP

I find this discussion interesting. I retired my Maverick after 5 years, after the probe literally fell apart. Got the Flameboss, for the controlling aspect as well.

Anywho, I pulled the Maverick out of retirement earlier this year, and bought some cheap aftermarket probes, and starting using on my gas grill. I'm always looking out the window onto the deck to see how it's doing. But I'm disappointed that it maxes out somewhere around 500°. It says 572°F in the specs sheets, but seems a good 100° lower than that.

Anyone have a good feel for the max operating temps of these Smokes? OR experience with them at higher temps?

I just got and used the smoke this weekend. Worked well but is there a way to silence the receiver? The annoying thing was that the signal would cut out occasionally in the house and then it would alarm. Drove my wife crazy.