Battery was at 1% and we're headed out for the day... I don't think my wife noticed the box, but if I don't post a initial impressions and review tomorrow you know she noticed it and I didn't survive...
Downloading the app and setting up the account was easy, I did have a little issue getting the WiFi setup it kept saying wrong password for about 5 attempts, but then it took and now I just need to wait for the battery and time to cook tomorrow
Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
I know what you mean about the WiFi password... mine does that, too, and it's the original Fireboard. Has to be something with the software/app, but whatever. I know I was typing it in right, I checked several times.
The original will run the fan with its battery, or you can add a portable battery to the fireboard if you need a longer run. I believe the Pro will run the fan without the adapter cable. I’ve never tried powering the fan with the110 adapter, on a full charge the thermometer and fan will easily go 12 hrs.
Correct, the Pro (like the Drive) is plug and play with the fan. Dunno or care at this point what the batter life with the fan is, since I don't have it or anything for it to run on. But I did buy it with the intention of one day possibly having a cooker to utilize that feature
Kinda jealous, I wish I would have bought the Pro since I got the MAK to interchange with their probes and feel more comfortable using at really high temps. Still might some day though. I just have a ton of the FB jack style probes.
Last edited by glitchy; September 19, 2021, 12:12 AM.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
No, I really wanted to buy this on Amazon since I had a $200 gift card but the Pro isn't in stock on Amazon. I tried to use Amazon checkout through fireboard but I couldn't figure out how to apply gift card balance... waited a little bit after reaching out to Fireboard and they didn't know when it would be on Amazon so I just bought it "full price". A T shirt woulda made me feel a little better but whatever
So far I'm impressed, while the MAK wifi and graphing is archaic and simple, it's very easy to use and it works. But over longer cooks it starts averaging which is fine for monitoring but leaves a little to be desired.
The Fireboard on the other hand feels simple, but more sophisticated at the same time. And while the graph appears to average you can hover over a time and it will give you a lot more data than I can get on the MAK. I still need to learn the menus, and At some point I need to figure out a better location for the fireboard to live when using on the MAK (magnets aren't an option on the full stainless 2 star)
Unfortunately I had to reset the fireboard so lost the startup part of the graph for a full comparison. Channel 1 is as close to the MAKs thermocouple at the standard location I could get (it can move around the pit). Channel 2 is in the MAK warming box just to give me more data to play with.
Dunno what I did, was just clicking things, was gonna complain I didn't have time on the graph... Then suddenly it added the data from before I restarted it... Guess I got a reading assignment
Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
A couple tips that will make your data much more useful. You can click on the channel and then you can rename it and set temp alerts. If you click on edit session, you can name the session (this is very helpful when you are trying to find that one pork butt cook because you did something unique, but you have 100+ sessions). If you click on the graph, you can insert notes and pictures (that’s where the blue dots are at on this graph).
yep those are the features I plan on diving into hard next weekend. I'm horrible with not writing down what I did so I almost always produce good to great food... just never can replicate it 100%. I'm hoping the Fireboard will kinda nudge me into better note taking
And I have now paid the price... This morning my wife was like "this is the thing you spent $350 on?" and of course I was like "well I got other stuff too" which was true, I got a few probe organizers with it But that was the end of the conversation and she was still talking to me and I didn't feel like I needed to hide any knives or try and find a poison tester to hire for the next few weeks...
"Oh honey, we need a new vacuum"
There it is, I saw this coming. So I find her a nice renewed Dyson V11 on Amazon for 589 bucks... nope she wants brand new. I wouldn't call it a sale, but got lucky and found the new V15 on the online AAFES website, snagged the last one for no tax and free shipping... but my wife won this round for sure... So my new Fireboard has coast me an additional $689
But on the bright side, the V8 Dyson downstairs will move upstairs and the old Dyson DC59 will end out it's life as my MAK vac until the BBQ gods kill it.
Started playing with alarms and such, I like that it is literally an instant app notification. On my MAK you have to set alarms for 1 degree below what you want it because of the delay to when it actually texts or emails you.
Lots of things I like, the only gripe I have so far is that the probe ports aren't labeled (ie 1, 2, 3). On the pro model I guess it's not a huge deal since there's only 3 probe inputs. And with time I suppose I'll get muscle memory which is which. It's a minor gripe, but for the price...
I also got the fireboard probe holders. I absolutely do not like them. I watched the video on them before splurging, but really they are too bulky. Ok they can hold 2 probes... but if the one you want is wound underneath the other one... Whatever. I would never leave them on the probe holder anyway in use, but I can see where a kettle or other cooker owner might. On my MAK the fireboard has to sit on the hopper lid, on the ground, or (I haven't tested the wifi viability of this yet) under the grill behind the door. So the probe cables are just long enough to reach from any of those spots to the grill or to the warming box. Others may like the probe holders, but I store mine inside the house in a drawer and 2 high doesn't work because of how thick they are.
I don’t really like their probe spools either. I use 3D printed ones from eBay and want some of the Thermoworks spools. Maybe you should sell the Stainless and keep the old MAK, my FB sticks right above the fan in the magnetic case . Or you could find a small strip of steel and span two bolts somewhere on the SS.
TxF I would actually like them if they were designed as a single probe holder. the sq inches of the base is fine, but the height isn't conducive to drawer use.
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