confused by digital thermometers.

[stevenschwartz]

OK, I'm a scientist, but these websites are killing me. Want to replace my 10 year old redichek (maverick) 2 probe wired thermometers. I only have one (a really old one died,) so even if I were willing to go this route, I need another for the few times I want to cook on 2 smokers or use the grill/rotisserie.

I like the thermoworks RFX system, but here is my confusion. The website states that the probes communicate with the gateway, and then it is able to send the data to the "Thermoworks cloud." How does it do that? Does the gateway have wifi so I can hook it into my local network for data transmission?

Also it seems the ambient temp measurement is via a wired probe directly to the gateway. What if I want to check the temperature on 2 smokers?

Any help gratefully accepted.

Steve

[GolfGeezer]

Steve,

you have it right. The gateway connects to your home network via WiFi. The probes connect via Bluetooth and S1G to the gateway. The gateway does only have 1 ambient probe, and it is wired. You create a cloud account and that allows the App on either IoS or Android to present the data, as well as create alarms/alerts for monitoring.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

GG's covered it. RFX is a good option. I like the Fireboard for its software, but their Pulse true wireless probes are receiving some mixed reviews, it seems.

[Mosca]

My Pulse is fine, I don’t know about any other users though.

My rationale for going with FireBoard (I love my ThermoWorks products) is that I’ll only really need one wireless probe, ever. So my other ports can be wired. With 6 wired channels, I can monitor 2 pits and 4 proteins, with one wireless if I need it. The Pulse appears separately from the wired probes.

For anyone wanting to spend thousands on wireless probes, a single FireBoard can monitor up to 32 Pulses. So if you wanted to, and the pits were close enough together, you could monitor 6 pits, and 32 proteins!

[stevenschwartz]

Thanks folks, if I wanted to go with the RFX, and water to monitor the temp in 2 smokers, what would you recommend? Are the wireless probes good for that?

Steve

[GolfGeezer]

I do not think any of the wireless probes that also monitor ambient are very good at monitoring ambient. The RFX doesn't even try, just having the wired ambient off the gateway. I also have the Fireboard 2 with both wired ambient and wired food probes, plus several Pulse probes; and I have Combustion Inc's Gen 2 probes and Display. CI does not have any wired probes, ambient or food. What I have experienced with the wireless probes that do ambient is that the ambient readings are nowhere near what the cooker is at, at least for the first 2-4 hours of a cook. That is because the probe ambient sensor is so close to the food, the ambient reading is impacted pretty significantly by moisture/evaporation on these.

So, if you want to monitor more than 1 cooker for ambient, I would recommend the Fireboard solution. Downside - it is the most expensive of the 3. You could get the RFX and then add a Thermoworks Square Dot , but the Square Dot does not connect to their App that I can determine. You might consider calling Thermoworks and see what happens if you wanted to add a second Gateway just for ambient - not sure how that plays in their App (2 active Gateways).

[Alan Brice]

I would be curious to know the answer to the two gateway question.

[stevenschwartz]

So it sounds like you are not happy with the pulse combo of ambient plus food. It does seem almost too good to be true that a probe stuck in meat that might be over 200 degrees cooler than the surrounding environment and is only a fraction of an inch away could work. Curious what others have found. Maybe the firebird 2 is the way to go with wires probes for ambient? If just gets really expensive.

Steve

[GolfGeezer]

Not sure where you got the idea that I am not happy with the Fireboard Pulse combo with a Fireboard 2? What I wish is that one of these folks would come up with a purely wireless ambient probe. The tech that is holding them back is that the wireless probe internals (sensor circuitry, battery and Bluetooth/WiFi components) cannot take the heat above maximum food measuring temps - about 220* F. You are right - the Fireboard solution is the priciest.

[Waiting for the Worms]

Full disclosure. I don't own and have never seen the RFX unit in person.

The technology Thermoworks is using to transmit the data for the RFX is very similar to what they use for the Smoke line. A gateway to your wifi, and then to the cloud where you can retrieve the data with an account from your computer or the app.

I owned a Smoke for about a year before giving it to one of my kids and buying a Fireboard. The Smoke operates on the same principle. Main unit to a gateway, to the cloud, and back to you. I wish I had just bought the Fireboard from the get go. When it worked the Smoke was fine, but the app and software was not nearly as good as what Fireboard has. There was also the problem of "when it worked". For me that was not very often and rarely for an entire cook.

I love Thermoworks for their handheld and wired units and own more of them than I care to admit. But for wireless data, I'm team Fireboard all the way.

Maybe Thermoworks has sorted out the issues they were having, but every time I contacted customer service about the problems I had with the Smoke, they concluded that it was an issues on my end caused by this, that, or something else. Oddly enough, switching to a Fireboard solved all the problems with my home network that seemed to have caused the Smoke to not function worth a crap.

Just my 2 cents.
And it may not actually be worth that much.

[Mosca]

Thanks folks, if I wanted to go with the RFX, and water to monitor the temp in 2 smokers, what would you recommend? Are the wireless probes good for that?

Steve

I don’t think the ambient temps are very accurate, because of the meat shadow, where the temp near the protein is lower. I’m pretty sure FireBoard even cautions against using the ambient temp of the Pulse to power a Drive fan.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Also due to thermal conductivity of the probe into the meat - leaching BTUs from the probe end into the meat also keeps the ambient "reading" lower. It's a combo of factors that no one has figured out a true and accurate way around just yet...

[RonB]

I think I saw that one of the wireless probes could be used to deep fry. If so, that means that it should work as an ambient probe up to at least 350°. Sorry, but I don't remember which one did this.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

I think that's the RFX - and that's BECAUSE their wireless probes don't do ambient. You still have to run a wired probe into the oil to get an accurate oil temp.

[stevenschwartz]

Thanks all, was going to go with the thermoworks product, as I've had many of the handhelds, but it looks like the fireboard2 is just more stable.

Steve

[Mosca]

While I don’t think you’d go wrong with either, I’m pretty happy that I switched from the ThermoWorks universe to the FireBoard universe. Build quality is the same.

When you order, load up on those probe pouches. They’re cheap, and they solve a problem you didn’t know you had.

[dpearce]

As others have somewhat
menrioned, the “ThermoWorks cloud” is nothing more than a server (or multiple servers) back to which the devices communicate. So through the account you establish on their site, you’re able to track your devices and their readings from your account. I have a Signals (records my cooking) and a Node (which records my fridge/freezer operations). All in all, I’m able to track those temps (and cooks) using their “cloud” (literally a remote server and database). The benefit is you get trackable, predictable information with a history. The new RFX is no different. It uses the same “cloud”. These are fancy terms for client server communications we’ve been experiencing for the last 20 years.

Based on what I’ve been reading on RFX, it sounds like you’re able to read and identify multiple RFX readings per device (the gateway, used to report RFX readings per device back to the server “cloud”).

and yes, it’s WiFi and Bluetooth.