Well, one of my 2 meat probes has gone. I had noticed during my last cook where I used the RFX, one of the probes right out of the charger went to “inactive”. I thought I had not properly seated it. So I changed the batteries in both chargers. Unfortunately, that same one did the same thing during my steak cook today. Looks like a call to ThermoWorks on Monday. Not sure what they will ask for to perform debugging steps.
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Yes, call them. I have found that Thermoworks is very responsive to customer issues and questions.Originally posted by GolfGeezer View Post-
I’m hoping so. I’ve only interacted with them once for support and it wasn’t great. That was for their version of the MK that has a built in IR reader. It failed and the only option they offered was for me to ship it to the, and pay them a fee to debug it. Wasn’t worth the cost or the hassle, so it is still sitting in a kitchen drawer. I’m not knocking their products. - I have several MKs, a couple of DOTs, the IR gun, and I used to have the Signals (which worked fine).
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They'll make it good.Comment
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It sounds pretty straightforward that this is a bad internal battery. Everything has an occasional fly in the ointment, I'm sure they've had a few of these go bad. And I know you haven't had this long, so surely it is covered under warranty. I expect they'll take care of it - though I am interested to see how it goes.
As a huge Fireboard fan, I've held off buying into the FB Pulse because of what I have seen as a higher than expected number of connection issues (reported, of course, likely somewhat skewed on social media) and some questionable lack of customer service response. I hate to say that, but that's the perception I've gotten.
I've held off committing to the RFX because... well... it's not Fireboard. lol. I just love the FB software.Comment
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I'm having the same problem with one of my RFX probes. It intermittently switches to "inactive" during cooks. I'm pretty certain mine isn't a battery issue, though. I watched it charge in it's cradle and the red light blinked for about 15-20 minutes indicating that it was charging, and it showed a full charge when it would pop back into service after going dead.
I just emailed them yesterday and they got back to me this morning. The troubleshooting requests they made are not onerous in the least. I expect they'll send me a new probe sometime next week.
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Dang, I just remembered I had an issue with the ambient on a probe. I took a picture of the app with 2 probes and a indoor thermometer I have. Showing the 10 to 12 degree difference. They sent me another probe. Didn't want the bad probe. So, I have 3 with one who's ambient temperature is wacked.Comment
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realdocBBQ I do love my Fireboard products. I have the FB2, the Spark and 3 Pulse probes. I think their App is the best. Combustion Inc's comes close as far as showing what is happening "realtime", but the FB App's cloud storage of Sessions and any details (Notes, Pics) you want to add is terrific, plus being to access it via a regular web browser as well.
My issues with the Pulse are basically design: They are relatively bulky compared to the RFX or CI's probes. They only have 1 temp sensor, at the tip, versus RFX and CI. Those additional sensors really help you understand the variations in temp in what is being cooked, and what the coldest temp is. The Pulse is not rated to handle very high ambient temps, so leaving them over very hot flames or coals could damage them, while the RFX and the new Gen2 CI probes can handle extremely hot temps.
As for Pulse connectivity issues, they do seem to be sensitive to having their signals, even with the S1G antenna, blocked. It has not been an issue for me as I keep my FB2 base with S1G antenna very close to whatever cooker or oven I am cooking in. That is because the wireless ambient measurements are just useless to me, so I always have a wired ambient probe connected. The RFX solves that by not even trying - the RFX gateway has a wired ambient, since it is close the cooker for that to work, connectivity to the wireless RFX probes is not an issue.
Bottom line: if I am cooking something that I am going to sear, I use the RFX. If not, I tend to use CI when cooking in my kitchen oven, and the FB when doing low-n-slow. That is the geek in me.Comment
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I can see myself with such a stable of thermometers someday... I've already got a similar stable of wired thermometers. I'm just a monitoring geek - though I don't use them every time like I used to. I've learned enough about my cookers to not always need or want the ambient, and even doing long cooks, sometimes just using an intemittant instant-read. With the Thermapen One, naturally.
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UPDATE: I called TW a few minutes ago. Walked through the issue with Robert and he is sending me a new probe! One cautionary note that he stressed is making sure the probes are inserted fully past the minimum insertion depth marking - and then monitoring that they stay that way. In particular, monitoring for meat shrinkage that would expose heat sensitive parts of the probes (and this is true regardless of wireless brand!), like short ribs and briskets.
Very happy with TW's support!!Comment
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That's a very good point! I know I've seen enough shrinkage or change in meat shape with large cuts like pork butts and briskets that it can make the thermometer seem to have 'pushed out' a bit. -
Thank you very much for sharing that tip on the proper insertion of the RFX probe. I have not had a problem with mine yet, but I will be more careful now. I have been using mine for steaks over direct heat. I was nervous about that, but so far so good. I really like my RFX. Very accurate and very easy to use with my phone. Great range once I figured out that I need to leave the transmitter unit close to the grill. The probes read fine on the phone in my house now. Using an iPhone, no problems.
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UPDATE 2 : I received the free replacement RFX Meat probe, plus jelly beans! It took a whole 2 minutes to remove the failed one and added the new one. There was a piece of tape on the new one that I do not recall being on the original, around the 2 bands that indicate minimum insertion and desired insertion depths for the probe, with very explicit warnings to pay attention to those bands. I’m guessing quite a few folks damaged probes either by not doing this, or not noticing meat shrinkage that would be just as bad.
again, very, very happy with TW customer service!Comment
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Panhead John Nothing on mine yet. Supposedly due Tuesday. Uh-oh. I just looked at the details and it says it has been delivered to the store….in Concord, NC!Last edited by GolfGeezer; June 13, 2025, 05:40 PM. -
Panhead John Sorry for all the comments. Turns out Lowe’s website tracking data is screwed up. Using the FedEx number that Lowes has on the order, it shows it was delivered to my store this morning. It’s OK Lowes hasn’t notified me yet as I can’t get to it until Monday anyway.
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