My good ET-732 has died, and my other one has always been kinda flaky, as it really doesn't like to be separated from it's remote.
So, XR-50 or SnS-500? or is there something else I should be looking at in the "I Can Get Away With It And Not End Up Sleeping On The Couch" price point (call it $75-$125). I'm leaning toward the XR-50, since it gets a Platinum from AR, but I seem to remember people souring on something about it, but I could be wrong.
I have both, and like the SNS better. It's easier to use, but the accuracy is a bit off. A couple of degrees.
Both of the receivers eat batteries if you forget to shut them off.
Last edited by Dick Anderson; February 18, 2022, 11:34 PM.
I have two XR-50 since they were launched and they get used excessively.
Have not had a day's regret or problem. Have lost the service of 3 probes though.
The following measure is NOT recommended.
I did forget the main unit outside in rainy weather overnight. On inspection the following day the unit was not functioning normally. I set my oven on low and left the unit inside for a couple hours (again NOT recommended or advised). The unit functioned fine after. There was some cosmetic damage as in a slightly distorted battery cover.
Not having experienced any other makes and models, I can only have a biased opinion.
​​​​​​​The XR-50 has served me well, very well given the hard labour demanded of it.
I understand the couch comment, but what cookers do you own? If you’re a charcoal smoker guy, the Fireboard 2 Drive is hard to beat. I know it’s twice your desired price range, but the ability to add a fan for ATC is great. Otherwise, I got nuttin for ya, I went Fireboard years ago and haven’t looked back. I still have a Maverick ET-732 in the drawer I used in the pre-Fireboard days.
I had an XR-50 and loved it. Left it in the rain twice, shook the water out and packed it in dry rice and it worked fine afterwards. I had to replace the probes once but that was my fault due to mishandling. When I bought my SnSK I took advantage of the bundle price for the SnS-500 and SnS-100 and bought them. I rehomed the XR-50 to my good friend's college sons along with a Wewber kettle and SnS set up. They are just starting their BBQ journey.
I really like the SnS-500. I ran it side by side with the XR-50 and the temps were right on. I liked that the temperature probes are color coded at both ends but the color at the sensor end quickly turned brown from the smoke produced by my cookers so ultimately no benefits there. Otherwise no complaints at all. I'm currently using it to monitor my fridge temps for some dry aging that I'm doing - I don't leave it on all the time, I just spot check several times a day.
I wasn't sure what the differences were between the SnS-500 and Maverick XR-50 and posed the question in my Kamado thread last November. David Parrish of SnS Grills posted this reply:
"Regarding the SNS-500. It's more than a rebadged XR-50. I took the design back to the drawing table. We've killed a couple of bugs the XR-50 had and improved the performance. We lowered the price because there's no middle man.
Improvements include:
Dual color backlight that won't fade when the alarms go off
Volume control for the alarms
Truly waterproof probes.
Consistent operation of both power buttons. Quick press to turn each unit on. Long press to turn each unit off.
Alarms are even easier to program.
The Receiver has a built in dual LED light so you can use it as a flashlight
There's probably more. That's just off the top of my head. We're pretty proud of this one!"
Last edited by 58limited; February 19, 2022, 05:45 AM.
Does the SNS-500 have the ability to switch off the alarms all together and to turn on the light so that it doesn't automatically turn off? Those are 2 XR-50 complaints I have. The other being I wish I could plug in the base unit.
I have the XR50. I use it almost every cook and it is very reliable. I am hoping to get a Thermoworks Signals or Smoke X4 soon though (mainly because I want to use the Billows fan).
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I have both, and a Smoke X4 and I love them all. I didn't like the Original Smoke but the X4 is great. I usually leave my Mav XR-50 on full time 24/7 out on the deck stuck to the side of one of my kettles and it goes a month or two on a set of batteries. Smoke X4 has much less life. (Normal people probably wouldn't leave theirs on all the time though.) I haven't used the SnS-500 as much yet but I do love it too. I personally have found the accuracy to be nearly the same on all 3 devices- 2-4 degrees variance, we kinda expect that in leave-ins with limited life replaceable probes.
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