EricAZ
Wandering around with a bag of matchlight, looking for a match.
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2013
- Location
- Mesa, AZ
I recently picked up a Bluetherm Duo and wanted to share my thoughts. I am a long time owner of the ThermoWorks Thermapen and am a big fan. I bought an iGrill about a year ago and like just about everything about the iGrill except a couple of things. One is that it burns through batteries and the other is the range I have been getting out of the Bluetooth. It usually craps out much past 40 feet. When I saw that ThermoWorks was selling something like the iGrill I hoped that it would be a simply better version.
When I first unpacked the thermometer I was impressed by the overall build quality. It is a solid piece of equipment. The connectors, buttons and display all seem as though they will withstand the test of time. One of my gripes about the iGrill was that they used an LED display for the temperature. In order to see what the temp is when you are out by the smoker you need to push a button and hope that the lighting conditions are good. The LCD on the Bluetherm Duo is much more readable and is visible at all times. The display only shows one temperature at time, switching between the two probes. If there is only one connected, you spend half of the time seeing ERR on the display for the one that is not connected.
I bought their “package” that included a couple of probes. One that is good for meat and another that is good for ambient temperature. Another one of my gripes about the iGrill was that their ambient probe maxes out at 400 degrees F. The ambient probe that I bought from ThermoWorks goes to 672 which serves my needs better. The cords on the probes are a lot thicker than the others that I have used. I don’t have experience with commercial kitchen grade stuff but these give me the impression that is what they were built for.
I did also pick up the silicone case and the little tripod. The case fits perfectly and should help protect it from the bumps that I’m likely to subject it to. One gotcha if you pick up both the case and the tripod. The threaded post on the tripod is not long enough to be used with the case. The case adds and 1/8 inch or so causing the threads to not reach. The good news is that the threaded rod is just a screw that you can switch out for a longer one. The bad news is that they do not supply the longer screw. I was able to fabricate something that works but it would be a lot nicer if they found a source for the right screw and included it.
As you may be able to tell, I am very impressed with the thermometer and the probes. Unfortunately I am not as impressed by the software. I have given the iOS, Android and Windows applications a spin. None of them seen to work very well and none of them provide the features that I expected. One of the things that I really like about the iGrill is their temperature graph. It is very easy to view temperatures over most reasonable time ranges (up to an hour or longer) and temperature ranges. This is not so for the BlueTherm Duo. Generally, their time graphs either don’t exist (on some versions) or only show a very short period of time. The best for graphing appears to be the Windows program and it only shows about 15 minutes at a time while monitoring real-time. There are some zoom features but they only work when you are looking at a files stored from a previous session. Another problem with some of their software is how it deals with going out-of-range and then returning. The Windows version just barfs with some boxes containing lengthy stack traces from .NET (junk under the hood). The Android version changes the color of the temperature reading but it isn’t clear when it is working and when it is not. I haven’t used the iOS version much but it seemed to work about like the Android one.
To sum it up – I really like the device and think it has great potential. The range seems to be about the same as the iGrill. I’m guessing that this is a limitation of Bluetooth or the implementation on most smart phones. The software has a long way to go. I could not recommend buying one of these until they get some of the issues resolved. I’m thinking that most people that buy one of these are very interested in the graphing capabilities. Otherwise you could buy something much less expensive with a better range. Until the software gets cleaned up I could not recommend buying one at $239 with probes.
I’m interested in other people experiences. If I am missing the boat please point me in the right direction.
When I first unpacked the thermometer I was impressed by the overall build quality. It is a solid piece of equipment. The connectors, buttons and display all seem as though they will withstand the test of time. One of my gripes about the iGrill was that they used an LED display for the temperature. In order to see what the temp is when you are out by the smoker you need to push a button and hope that the lighting conditions are good. The LCD on the Bluetherm Duo is much more readable and is visible at all times. The display only shows one temperature at time, switching between the two probes. If there is only one connected, you spend half of the time seeing ERR on the display for the one that is not connected.
I bought their “package” that included a couple of probes. One that is good for meat and another that is good for ambient temperature. Another one of my gripes about the iGrill was that their ambient probe maxes out at 400 degrees F. The ambient probe that I bought from ThermoWorks goes to 672 which serves my needs better. The cords on the probes are a lot thicker than the others that I have used. I don’t have experience with commercial kitchen grade stuff but these give me the impression that is what they were built for.
I did also pick up the silicone case and the little tripod. The case fits perfectly and should help protect it from the bumps that I’m likely to subject it to. One gotcha if you pick up both the case and the tripod. The threaded post on the tripod is not long enough to be used with the case. The case adds and 1/8 inch or so causing the threads to not reach. The good news is that the threaded rod is just a screw that you can switch out for a longer one. The bad news is that they do not supply the longer screw. I was able to fabricate something that works but it would be a lot nicer if they found a source for the right screw and included it.
As you may be able to tell, I am very impressed with the thermometer and the probes. Unfortunately I am not as impressed by the software. I have given the iOS, Android and Windows applications a spin. None of them seen to work very well and none of them provide the features that I expected. One of the things that I really like about the iGrill is their temperature graph. It is very easy to view temperatures over most reasonable time ranges (up to an hour or longer) and temperature ranges. This is not so for the BlueTherm Duo. Generally, their time graphs either don’t exist (on some versions) or only show a very short period of time. The best for graphing appears to be the Windows program and it only shows about 15 minutes at a time while monitoring real-time. There are some zoom features but they only work when you are looking at a files stored from a previous session. Another problem with some of their software is how it deals with going out-of-range and then returning. The Windows version just barfs with some boxes containing lengthy stack traces from .NET (junk under the hood). The Android version changes the color of the temperature reading but it isn’t clear when it is working and when it is not. I haven’t used the iOS version much but it seemed to work about like the Android one.
To sum it up – I really like the device and think it has great potential. The range seems to be about the same as the iGrill. I’m guessing that this is a limitation of Bluetooth or the implementation on most smart phones. The software has a long way to go. I could not recommend buying one of these until they get some of the issues resolved. I’m thinking that most people that buy one of these are very interested in the graphing capabilities. Otherwise you could buy something much less expensive with a better range. Until the software gets cleaned up I could not recommend buying one at $239 with probes.
I’m interested in other people experiences. If I am missing the boat please point me in the right direction.
