Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Up In The Air About What Thermostatic Controller To Get

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Up In The Air About What Thermostatic Controller To Get

    I have a Vision Series B Kamado Grill and I have been considering purchasing a blower rig for use on longer cooks. While it is not a must have it seems like a good tool to have in your smoker's toolbox. I have repeatedly read the blower reviews on Amazingribs.com and still I am not sure which unit would be the most practical. I am not a big Bluetooth guy but have not ruled them out. I was hoping some of you Kamado Smoker's might share your experiences as to whether you consider a blower unit a must have and if so what Controller do you use. Does your blower units easy to attached to the lower vent?

    #2
    My experience is a bit old tech relative to some of the whiz bang stuff available today, but it does speak to history/reliability. I've had my KJ for around 8 years and early on I struggled with temp control. I read about something called a Digi-Q from BBQ Guru. Took a shot, loved it after a tiny learning curve. Pretty much a set it and forget it deal unless you're attempting a longish cook. No wifi or the like, just a digital readout on the controller, but the results make using a kamado a breeze. I've read where some haven't gotten long life from the fan, and the company has recently redesigned it for longer life, but mine still works fine. I don't run it exposed to fowl weather, but did use it often when we lived in the Seattle area, though always under cover.

    Comment


    • WVsmoke
      WVsmoke commented
      Editing a comment
      Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. It is much appreciated.

    • Attjack
      Attjack commented
      Editing a comment
      I use a DigiQ DX2 and BBQ Guru fan I got thrown in with my Primo XL when I bought it off Craigslist. It's been great.

    #3
    Wife tells me I'm a blowhard but that is the extent of my blower knowledge.
    Last edited by HawkerXP; January 29, 2020, 05:20 PM.

    Comment


      #4
      I have the PartyQ, from bbqguru.com, and it works well on my kettle. No remote, but my thermometer (Smoke) has a remote that lets me keep an eye on things.

      I would stay away from anything that requires bluetooth, as the range is just too limited. A dedicated remote, or a Wifi connection are the only ways to go. Fireboard and the new Thermoworks Signals are two to look at that have fan options, along with the DigiQ and CyberQ.

      Comment


      • WVsmoke
        WVsmoke commented
        Editing a comment
        Thermworks Signals is one I have yet to look into. I will check it out. Thank you very much for your time.

      #5
      I used a Party Q on my BGE but there was no way to monitor indoors unless you had another device to read the grill temp. It also ate batteries so I converted it to electric. I now use a Smobot which works differently than a blower. I don’t know if it will fit your grill.

      Comment


      • WVsmoke
        WVsmoke commented
        Editing a comment
        As far as performance do you like the Smobot better than the PartyQ?
        Do you feel the Smobot is durable?
        I value your time. Thank you.

      • LA Pork Butt
        LA Pork Butt commented
        Editing a comment
        WVsmoke I like the Smobot more. Of course, it does cost more, but I gained much more. The Smobot gives you more having a grill temp probe to monitor air flow and two meat probes. That makes it possible to get all the monitoring features I need in one device. However, for me the big plus is that I don’t need to continue to go to the grill to check to see if the Party Q is still on target. The Smobot works off of WiFi so I can stay indoors with the temperature warning alarms set.

      • painter
        painter commented
        Editing a comment
        What LA Pork Butt said. I have one for my kamado and am very happy with performance.

      #6
      I’ve been very happy with the Fireboard, Drive, Viper setup. It’s a little pricey though, but I had the Fireboard already when I decided to put a fan on the Performer and then got a WSCG. We’ll see how good the SmokeFire setup is and if I use it as much after unless I’m cooking on the WSCG. Right now it’s used with every cooker for temp monitoring. That would be the downside maybe to something like a PartyQ is that it isn’t as versatile.

      Comment


        #7
        I have the DigiQ with the Pitviper fan from BBQGuru. I also have a Thermoworks Smoke and use the remote on that to check on temp. My Weber is too far away from the house to rely on wifi.

        Comment


          #8
          I have an Auber. Works flawlessly but the user interface isn’t as intuitive as it should be. But, it’s not Bluetooth and works great!!!

          Comment


            #9
            If you are willing to fork out the $$ and don't already have a Wifi-capable remote thermometer set, you can't go wrong with the purchase of the Fireboard Extreme BBQ set plus the driver cable and either their fan or the Pit Viper fan from BBQ Guru.

            I've used Fireboard for a long while now and those six probes come in handy. Plus the capability of following the cook on my phone as I swan about the house during a cook is so convenient. And finally, the fact that you can keep a cooking log right on the Fireboard app while the cook is in progress is invaluable, especially since can look at your cooks retrospectively in case you want to tweak something next time.

            I couldn't be happier. Every now and then Fireboard has a promotion. The last one was for two free probes with a purchase. That's when I bought my second Fireboard control box only, since I have plenty of probes and often have a two or three cooks going on at the same time.

            Fireboard customer service is awesome. They replaced a probe no questions asked, at their expense when one of mine went flaky, even though I told them it may have been my own fault for letting the probe slide nearly into the PBC fire.

            Kathryn

            Comment


            • Troutman
              Troutman commented
              Editing a comment
              +1 on what Ms. Kathryn said. I have a whole drawer full of thermal devices but my go to is still the Fireboard and Pit Viper combination.

            #10
            I used a digi q and pit viper for a while but mine died on me. It was probably my fault however, i left it out for a few days and it got rained on a few times and started freaking out. When i wasnt treating it carelessly, the combo worked flawlessly. Im not sure what i will eventually replace it with to be honest

            Comment


              #11
              Uncle Bob, HawkerXP, jfmorris, LA Pork Butt, glitchy, ScottyC13, scottranda, fzxdoc, grantgallagher, Troutman, painter, and Attjack
              I am so thankful for all your insight in narrowing my selection for picking a controller. Most importantly is that within this cyber village known as the Pit folks such as yourself are willing to share your time and talents with anyone searching to enhance their food preparation, cooking, and presentation skills. The Pit is a virtual
              library of food knowledge waiting to be mined and open 24 hours a day. For those of us who mine that knowledge your individual contributions and those who maintain the website are priceless. So for those of us who mine your talents we say THANK YOU.

              Comment

              Announcement

              Collapse
              No announcement yet.
              Working...
              X
              false
              0
              Guest
              Guest
              500
              ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
              false
              false
              {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
              Yes
              ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
              /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here