ThermoPro - Twin TempSpike 500FT Truly Wireless Meat Thermometer with 2 Probes and Signal Booster - Orange/Gray

I got this as a Mother's Day gift for my wife in April since it was in discount; I personally charged it for a full day before wrapping it. She started using it yesterday but noticed one probe did not give any reading and also showed no connection to the box or phone. I called a friend (who owns one of these), who recommended checking if it was a setup issue. We followed all the instructions in the manual and didn't skip any; we concluded the probe was damaged on arrival; besides that, the other probe worked perfectly. You might have problems with the sticker glue residue of the probes; try to use hot oil and a rough cloth; don't use the brush for that if you plan to use it for cleaning purposes.

Helped me smoke my first turkey breast. Gave me the exact temp and gave me the temp of smoking heat. Companion app is great as well. Phone alerted me when the turkey reached it’s temperature.

awesome, easy to use cooked a 17-pound prime rib to perfection. would recommend to all my friends

This truly wireless ensemble has a range of up to 500 ft, facilitated by having a separate booster that serves as a broadcast station between the grill and your cellphone or iPad, connecting via Bluetooth 5.2 standards. That range depends on a variety of influences, so 500 ft. invokes the “your mileage may vary” disclaimer. The Bluetooth only connection probably is not a detriment, although less robust that a WiFi connection. Since you probably do not do much cooking from a down the block from your grill, a distance of 200-250 feet should be totally dependable, allowing you to go inside, upstairs, etc. The booster box has its own readout screen, so you can leave it near the grill for on site monitoring, without having to pull out your phone to check the app. The probe/booster box should not too close to the heat. They recommend that to lessen risk of heat damage, the booster module be no closer than one foot from the heat source. Each spike measures the internal temp of the meat with the metal shaft, which should be inserted into the meat until it is fully inserted to a marking on the shaft. The thermistor is in the tip of the shaft, so you can envision where to optimally place the probe. The ceramic handle of the spike separately measures the ambient temp. The ceramic of the handle was robust and easy to grip, so inserting and removing the probe was easily accomplished. The value of an ambient temp reading is to discern if your fire is in need of more fuel. If the temp starts dropping, you get an early warning for adding more, rather than a delayed alert when the internal temp is dropping in the meat. The ceramic handle is heat safe up to an ambient temp of 572º F, whereas the spike inserted into the meat has a temp range from 14º F - 212º F. You set the desired internal temp for your food, depending on the degree of done-ness desired. The thermometer will send you an alert when you approach that target temp. The alert is adjustable: either a 5º, 10º, or 15º warning. The “booster” cradle serves multiple functions: as a readout of the current internal and ambient temps of both spikes, the signal transmitter and booster to bridge from the grill to your cellphone, and as the cradle for storing and recharging your twin spikes. The spikes will automatically shut themselves off to conserve battery life after 5 minutes once removed from the food. The spikes are waterproof to IP67 standard, and dishwasher safe, so keeping them pristine is not a chore. The display on the cradle shows the charging status of the spikes, with a USB-C input port on the side. There is a built in battery in the cradle that will recharge the spikes between the uses. There is a warning on the screen when the cradle needs to be recharged. I didn’t get a sense of how frequently the base station needed recharging; I just developed a habit of plugging it back into a USB charger as part of the cleaning of the grill routine. My prior grilling has always been low tech. My grill has an analog thermometer on the top of the grill for ambient temp. And internal temps were determined by opening the grill (loosing lots of heat in the process) and stabbing the meat with an instant read thermometer (ThermoPro, of course). But the process of opening the grill, and sampling two or three areas of one bird or separate steaks all took around 5 minutes, with a rapid drop in temperature of the cooking environs. Many manufacturers make thermometers with long wires connecting an external probe to the display adjacent to the grill, and indeed I have one of those, which was a definite advance on the repeat chilling of the grill insides with multiple checking of “is it done yet”. Such a wired probe requires a tangle of wires leaving the meat to the display, where they are a bit in the way. I fear damage from the metal cover of the BBQ grill damaging the wire lead, as well. So the wireless probe is a major improvement. Having the ambient temperature measurement allays worries about having run out of fuel. In comparison of the ambient temp as reported by the TempSpike and the analog low tech thermometer embedded in the lid of my Weber grill, the two were often up to 20º - 30º off from each other. I trusted the TempSpike more, for it ws immediately at the level of the meat being cooked, rather than a foot away at the top of the dome. “Heat rises” I recall from science class, but it is a rough measure. The trend curve of the internal temperature was more important to me than the ambient temperature. The mobile app has pre-loaded USDA temps selected, but you can adjust these to suit your preferences. I like my salmon grilled a bit less than the USDA dictates; a bit more on the sushi side. And a 5º to 10º warning gave me plenty of time to avoid the heartbreak of dried out salmon. Being waterproof would also make TempSpike monitoring of sous vide cooking an option, but my Bluetooth sous vide wand already has wireless phone connection, so really this thermometer would be redundant. The price of this dual probe wireless thermometer was lower than other wireless thermometers of similar sophistication that I am aware of. I have a trust in ThermoPro build quality and durability, as evidenced by my collection of their products. That trust has been further enhanced by purchase of this device, and gives me an excellent suggestion for gifting for my sons-in-law; one who has a Kamado green cooker and the other with a traditional gas fired grill.

The ThermPro TempSpike is a really nice meat thermometer, though there are things that could be better. I've been using Bluetooth thermometers for the past 5 years with my smoker. This one is much easier to use since the Bluetooth radio is built into the probe instead of connecting it via a cable. Not having cables sticking out of your smoker, grill, or oven makes it so much easier. One minor issue I had was that the probes and booster (base) came very low on battery charge. Not a big deal, but if you bought it to use right away, that wasn't going to happen. Not sure if that is how they ship all of them or mine just drained prior to me using it. Like I said, not a big deal. First thing you need to do is download the app for iPhone or Android. I have an Apple device so I will be reviewing the iOS version. Pairing the device to the phone worked right away...just open the app (ensure Bluetooth is enabled on your phone) and press the S button on the booster. In the app, click the Add Device and select your product name. That's it...no issues. The instructions say that the probes are paired with the booster at the factory, but they do tell you how to re-do it if you have any issues there. Mine were already paired when I got it. When you are ready to use it.you select the type of meat you are cooking in the app (do that for each probe) or set a custom temperature you want to get to. In the app, you can select whether you want the alarm to sound and if you want vibration alerts as well. Each probe also tracks the ambient temperature, so you can select a low or high ambient temp you want it to alarm on. Insert the probe past the notch into the meat. This was one of the lessons learned I had. I pushed the probe past the notch as indicated, but not far enough. When the meat started to shrink back a little, the notch was exposed and the temperature alarmed way too early. I guessed the issue and pushed it further into the meat and the temp went back down to the internal meat temp. I frequently smoke multiple cuts of meat at a time, which is where the first opportunity for improvement comes in. This device is limited to the two probes (one white and one black). It would be nice to get a version with 4-6 probes like many of the Bluetooth thermometers available. Overall, I really like this product and look forward to using it again. It was easy to setup and straight-forward to use. I would recommend this for anyone that wants to track temperatures while cooking.