Well, I posted earlier about the $69.95 sale price on the Gateway. Mine arrived yesterday and I just boxed it up for return. After about an hour on the phone with a pleasant and helpful guy named Mike, here are the results:
(I am running box-stock Android 8 on a box-stock Nexus 5X phone.)
The product ships with no documentation. "Follow the instructions from the app." Well, that's fine, but the app frequently gets stuck and loops the user between two or three screens with no explanation. "Hello? Tech support?"
The app will not work if it does not have permission to access the user's location. It fails with no explanation. Anyone practicing good internet hygiene, of course, does not give location access to apps that have no logical reason to need it. There is no error message or warning about this; only Thermoworks Tech Support knows.
Despite that fact that the phone is initially connected to the Gateway's own SSID network, there is a bug that Thermoworks does not understand that may require that the phone's cellular access be disabled.
The Gateway automatically powers off after maybe 5 minutes when it doesn't see any activity. This greatly complicates troubleshooting, because typically the whole troubleshooting sequence has to be restarted every time the damned thing shuts down. I can't tell you how many times I had to re-"Synch" my Smoke to the Gateway because of this.
At the bottom, the problem was that the designers of the Gateway have taken it on themselves to select the type of network security that users are required to run. AFIK every network device on the planet, except the Gateway, accommodates all of the common security schemes. The Gateway, however, thinks that it is the tail that can wag the dog. So if you aren't running their selected security scheme (which is not documented anywhere) you either send the product back (at your own expense, thank you) or you reprogram your WAP and every WiFi device that connects to your network according to the scheme that the Gateway designers have selected for you.
I would not be at all surprised if Thermoworks discontinued the product. The cost of these poor design decisions must be making their tech support costs go through the roof.
Oh, and BTW, the recharger connection to the Gateway is a mini-USB. When have you ever seen a mini-USB on a currently-shipping product? I have enough grief keeping both micro-USB and Type C USB cords around and untangled. I don't need someone to throw an outdated connector into the mix.
I can't remember when I have seen as many dumb design decisions in a single product. Caveat Emptor
(I am running box-stock Android 8 on a box-stock Nexus 5X phone.)
The product ships with no documentation. "Follow the instructions from the app." Well, that's fine, but the app frequently gets stuck and loops the user between two or three screens with no explanation. "Hello? Tech support?"
The app will not work if it does not have permission to access the user's location. It fails with no explanation. Anyone practicing good internet hygiene, of course, does not give location access to apps that have no logical reason to need it. There is no error message or warning about this; only Thermoworks Tech Support knows.
Despite that fact that the phone is initially connected to the Gateway's own SSID network, there is a bug that Thermoworks does not understand that may require that the phone's cellular access be disabled.
The Gateway automatically powers off after maybe 5 minutes when it doesn't see any activity. This greatly complicates troubleshooting, because typically the whole troubleshooting sequence has to be restarted every time the damned thing shuts down. I can't tell you how many times I had to re-"Synch" my Smoke to the Gateway because of this.
At the bottom, the problem was that the designers of the Gateway have taken it on themselves to select the type of network security that users are required to run. AFIK every network device on the planet, except the Gateway, accommodates all of the common security schemes. The Gateway, however, thinks that it is the tail that can wag the dog. So if you aren't running their selected security scheme (which is not documented anywhere) you either send the product back (at your own expense, thank you) or you reprogram your WAP and every WiFi device that connects to your network according to the scheme that the Gateway designers have selected for you.
I would not be at all surprised if Thermoworks discontinued the product. The cost of these poor design decisions must be making their tech support costs go through the roof.
Oh, and BTW, the recharger connection to the Gateway is a mini-USB. When have you ever seen a mini-USB on a currently-shipping product? I have enough grief keeping both micro-USB and Type C USB cords around and untangled. I don't need someone to throw an outdated connector into the mix.
I can't remember when I have seen as many dumb design decisions in a single product. Caveat Emptor