| Asin | B0C7D27GV8 |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | |
| Weight | |
| Manufacturer |
Meat
CHEF iQ Sense Smart Wireless Meat Thermometer with Ultra-Thin Probe, Unlimited Range Bluetooth Meat Thermometer, Digital Food Thermometer for Remote Monitoring of BBQ Grill, Oven, Smoker, Air Fryer
$4.30
D. Stamatis –
I bought the hub + 3 probes, for $159.99, right after Christmas 2023, and it arrived in 24 hours.
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Setup: 8
I installed and launched the Chef IQ app, from the Google Play store on my phone (as instructed by the quick-start pamphlet). The app then guided me through the remaining steps.
The first thing it instructed was to double-tap the hub’s power button. But it didn’t power on. I realized the hub’s battery may need to be charged, but it doesn’t come with a charger… only a USB-C to USB-A cable. (Most folks likely have spare USB-A wall chargers laying around, but it still would’ve been nice if it was included.) I found a spare charger, plugged it in, double-tapped the hub’s power button, and it powered on.
The app’s instructions should be changed to include instructions to plug in the hub first, prior to tapping the power button. (Someone less savvy may assume it’s defective and return it.)
Next, the app asked to allow Bluetooth access, then choose my WiFi network and type my WiFi password.
Then it asked me to update the hub’s firmware. That took 5-10 minutes to complete. No issues.
Now here’s the kicker: it makes you create a Chef IQ account, and *verify* your email address, before proceeding. That should not be required, just for a meat thermometer! Annoyed, I provided a fake name, and used one of my throw-away emails (where I don’t care if it receives spam). I received a verification email in my email inbox, clicked the link, and within seconds, the Chef IQ app automatically proceeded to the next step: registering the probes with the hub.
I placed the probes in the hub’s probe-charging slots, and it quickly recognized each one, and registered them in seconds.
I left everything plugged in to fully charge. The probes finished in 15 minutes. The hub took 2 hours but communicated just fine with the probes during that time.
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Accuracy: 7
To test the accuracy of the probes, I tested them in ice water as well as boiling water.
I submerged the probes in a thermos filled with ice water, and swirled it for 2 minutes. I hoped they’d show 32 or 33 F, but they never went below 34 F. The ice was all the way to the button, and the probes were fully submerged in the water. They should’ve shown 32 not 34 F.
Next, after acclimating the probes back to room temperature, I submerged them in boiling water. Within 15 seconds, they all showed 212-213 F. Excellent.
Aside from my slight disappointment, it’s of no real consequence to me, if they’re 2 degrees off at near freezing temps. What’s important is that they’re accurate at higher temps. In that regard, they do operate within specs, at +- 1 degree F.
Some probes on the market have a higher accuracy (0.5 F), but they also cost much more than these probes. Given their price, I’m happy with their accuracy.
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Reliability: 9
I did a 4-hour test, where I moved the hub into another room, 40 feet away from the probes. All 3 probes remained connected to the hub the entire time.
The only time one of the probes lost connection was when I sealed the probes in a metal thermos for 2 minutes (during the ice water test). Probe #1 lost connection, while probes #2 and #3 remained connected. When I removed the probes from the thermos, probe #1 automatically reconnected in seconds.
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Features: 9
Chef IQ includes features that other companies either don’t have, or charge extra for: 4 sensors per probe, Bluetooth, WiFi, and a built-in speaker.
Currently, the only sensors on the market with more sensors is the Meater 2+ and the Combustion Inc. probe, but they are $120 and $150 respectively. At $50 each, you can’t beat the price of the Chef IQ probes.
The 5mm diameter of these probes is also thinner than many other probes on the market.
A couple negatives:
1) The hub doesn’t have a built-in screen, This prevents my spouse from using the probes, as they’re paired exclusively to my phone. A workaround is pairing them to a dedicated device (like a tablet or old phone), but that’s not an ideal solution, as it’s one more device that you need to remember to charge.
2) The hub only supports 3 probes. I sometimes smoke 4 briskets, and wish I could add a 4th probe.
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App: 9
The app is pretty intuitive, with several tabs, at the bottom of the screen, for “Home”, “Cook control”, “Recipes” and “More” features.
Both the “Home” and “Recipes” tabs include step-by-step guided recipes, with videos.
Unfortunately, “Home” prominently features a “Just For You” section, with the first recipe being Chicken Francese, which requires the purchase and pairing of the Chef IQ Smart Cooker appliance with the app. Huh? How is that “just for me”? Why show me recipes it knows I can’t actually make?
Fortunately, the “Recipes” tab doesn’t have that annoyance, and only shows recipes I can prepare with the probes, with “Oven”, “Stovetop”, “Grill”, “Smoker” all clearly indicated in each recipe’s tile.
The Chef IQ team has clearly invested a lot of effort in creating these interactive recipes. Kudos for a job well done; it adds a lot to the experience.
In the “More” tab, there’s a cooking history (where I can view all my past cooks), change the hub speaker volume, custom name the probes, and other app tweaks.
The app isn’t overly-complicated which I like. But, one feature I hope they add is a way to export the cooking history (e.g., into CSV, XML, JSON, or similar format).
For advanced users like me, providing a public API would be a neat feature, and I hope they consider adding it.
The app and hub don’t require WiFi (beyond the initial registration and firmware updates). This is important to me, because if the Chef IQ cloud site goes offline (or my WiFi or internet goes down), I can still set up and monitor my cooks via Bluetooth.
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Ease of Use: 8
I think the hub’s built-in speaker is a great feature, as it calls out what to do next. E.g., when it’s time to flip the steaks, or when it’s time to take them off the heat, it gives me a verbal message. That’s really neat, as there’s been times I’ve missed the notifications on my phone, in other companies’ apps.
But, as mentioned earlier: my spouse can’t use the probes, since they’re paired only to my phone. I really wish the hub had a basic digital display that showed all the probe temps.
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Web site: 3
Their web site is mostly useless. You can’t use it to view your cook history, or even to see your probes. At the time of this review, the web site doesn’t even recognize your app’s login credentials. I.e., if you register your email/password in the app, then try to log in to the web site, it won’t recognize your email and you’ll need to register again. Why does Chef IQ maintain separate login databases, between their web site and their app? Makes no sense.
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Final score: 9
The probes are reasonably accurate, reliable, with decent battery life. If I run into any issues, I’ll update this review.
The hub includes great features, like Bluetooth and WiFi, and dunks on its competitors with a surprisingly helpful built-in speaker. But I do hope they consider adding a screen to monitor cooks without relying solely on the app.
The app is intuitive, with a nice balance of usability vs configurability that should appeal to many people. I appreciate the app’s guided recipes, and hope they start allowing the community to contribute their own guided recipes. I also like its seamless integration with the hub’s speaker.
I hope the Chef IQ team takes a page from Combustion Inc. and removes the annoying login/email requirements. Email verification is pointless! It’s not like it’s even linked to the (also pointless) web site anyway. Get rid of the needless login/email verification, or at least make it optional.
Despite some annoyances, given the specs and features included at this price, it’s the best value on the wireless probe market, and an easy recommendation.
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***6-MONTH UPDATE***
POSITIVES:
I smoked two 15-lb briskets, in my Weber Smokey Mountain, and the probes’ batteries lasted the entire 11-hour cook. Very pleased.
NEUTRAL:
In the aforementioned 11-hour brisket cook, the hub had to be plugged in, after a few hours.
That’s understandable, as it consumes more power, since it has to remain connected to the probes, and broadcast their data to the cloud.
NEGATIVES:
The app automatically purges your cooking history after 6 months, with no way to export that data.
This is a very bad decision by Chef IQ and an unforced error. Why must these logs be purged? They’re just tiny files that hardly take up any space; why not allow them to live on my device in perpetuity? Extremely annoying. If maintaining historical cook data is critical for you, you should buy a different brand.
The ambient temperature sensor is often not accurate. As a result, the algorithm that estimates cooking times is often wrong and can’t be trusted to plan meal times. Instead, I’ve been eyeballing the graphs and making common-sense guesstimates.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, I’m still pleased with these probes, and recommend them.
But, the cook time calculations simply can’t be trusted. And, the auto-purging of cook history is annoying.
Let’s see if Chef IQ fixes these 2 issues in future software updates; I’ll update this review, if they do.
Final score (updated): 8.5
Jay –
I use this primarily with a small Traeger smoker and have cooked turkey, tri-tip, brisket, pulled pork, and ribs using this device. Each time the device was accurate and produced delicious results. My only complaint about this product is the multiple notifications to my phone and via the speaker on the case about it losing connection. The smoker is about 5 feet beyond my glass doors to the back yard, the speaker case is sitting on a table a few inches from those glass doors, the ISP gateway is 3 feet from that, and my phone is on a counter in the kitchen within a few feet of that. Every time I use the device I receive roughly 2-6 notifications about disconnections and then within a few seconds to a minute it is reconnected again, so distance as interference shouldn’t be a factor. I did notice that if the probe is wrapped in foil with the meat then I lose connection all together, so I have to tear a small hole in the foil so the probe sticks out. It would be nice if the app had an option to increase the time-out threshold from the probe (to say 1 minute), so that the frequent disconnect messages would stop since they generally resolve themselves in a few seconds. Other than that, the phone app is easy to use based on if you’re making a recipe or going by the cut of the meat, and also accounts for meat resting time during the cooking process. The estimates of time left can vary in accuracy when I use it on the smoker, but the temperatures appear to be spot on and alerts appropriately when the required temperature is reached.
-Me –
These work great. If you needed or wanted step-by-step cooking help, it’s in the app. You can also use these just as temperature probes. The app does help you remove things in time for them to finish cooking as they cool down, that’s a nice plus. They’re also pretty. Its nice to not have that ugly metal cord we see on all the older devices. These are sleak, small and discreet. Get your probe on, that’s what I say, Marty.
Perry R. –
I have used it a couple of times and both times I was very pleased at the results and the information about the cook along the way. The First time was a 9 lb Boston Butt that took in excess of 12 hours to low and slow. I was impressed how long the battery ladted. The next was a 4 lb Picanha I cut into steaks. It turned out a perfect 135 degrees, cooking it Santa Maria style live-fire cooking. I highly recommend this product.
Jay Myers –
I had a first generation probe for determining the internal temp of food I was cooking on the BBQ. The probes had wires that plugged into a base unit that had to positioned near the BBQ grill. The wire were always in the way, getting smashed, messy etc. Beyond that the phone app for the product and it’s user interface were “minimal.”
I recently purchase a new BBQ, a major upgrade from my prior set-up and decided to Up My Game with my accessories a as well. I looked carefully at both the Chef IQ and it’s direct competitor, recommended to me by a neighbor, that comes in a wooden box. I wanted multiple probes and it was a better value buying Chef IQ option. that’s the primary reason I bought it.
I’m so glad I chose Chef IQ. Not only is the build quality of the product fantastic but the user interface and amazing number of options for cooking control are incredible. I really can’t imagine how anything I would ever want to cook on a barbecue grill or in the oven, or even on a stove top would not benefit from the use of Chef IQ probes and it’s incredible software. I’m a customer for life.
A. Chang –
Super easy to set up links. I set up bluetooth and wifi. Both need the communication case is the bridge. I was looking at this Chief iQ or the Meater 2. Both very highly rated with Amazon and on YouTube. I went with Chief iQ with 2 probes. You could get 3 probe Chief iQ less than the price of 1 Meater2. The probe in structures are super straight forward with the guide on the app when you about to use. I used it first on a 4 pound while chicken in my Kitchen Aid oven. Cooke on convection at 375. The app set up with probe temp (4 sensors), target temp, and ambient temp. There is an estimated timer that also calculates time to completion. The chicken got up to 155 degree F and the speaker alerted to remove for resting with target temp of 165 F. I didn’t wrap with fool and let it rest on top of my stove. The estimated timer calculate 15 min rest and alerted completion after 15 min. I looked at probe temp and it was 166 F. Chicken came out perfect. Juicy and fully cooked.
Speaker volume is adjustable and plenty loud
Connection distance is line of sight, so it was not a problem since the case was on top of the counter 5 feet from oven. The wifi in my house extends through my property inside and out and I could monitor on my app. Easy clean up and stored in case. Excellent product which is accurate and easy to use.
Mark Schaefer –
I’m using the thermometer when smoking meat on a Traeger grill. Once paired they are intuitive and easy to use. Temperature updates every few minutes. A bit expensive but your meat comes out great.
Thor20 –
I have a Pitboss vertical pellets smoker. The probes in the grill are not very accurate and often lose connectivity with my phone. I have attempted 5 Briskets, all with This has mediocre outcomes due to bad data. The ChefIQ (3 probes version) is phenomenal. They stay connected throughout the 14 hour-ish cook, providing accurate data regarding brisket temps. My 6th brisket cook went very well, the entire family gave multiple comments on how good the brisket was. The probe walks you through the entire cook, step by step. The base unit has a speaker that tells you what to do, at the end/beginning of each step. Its also used to store and charge the probes. The app is good, but could be a bit better regarding historical info on previous cooks. For instance, the graph on previous cooks show the temperature throughout the cook, but not time. Nonetheless, ChefIQ, is a must have to help take the frustration out of cooking. No more wasted time, money and thumbs down on bad brisket cooks. Can’t wait for my next cook!
aaluck –
Okay. First, I waited for three months to give it a good chance to perform. What I can say is that the internal temperature readings appear to be be accurate within a degree or two of my other two hand-held probes.
The issue I have is this, if you are relying on the external temperature readings of this product DO NOT BUY IT. it is inaccurate by sometimes over 100 degrees. I can stick all three probes into a piece of meat on the Traeger set to, and reading at 300 and the external readings of the three will (and have) ranged from 180-250. In that same situation the internal temps will range between 1-5 degrees, which is fine.
The app is nice and easy to use. It will actually calculate cooking time which would be great BUT because the external temps are so bad the “cooking time” is completely useless. If the external temp is reading 100 degrees off there is no accurate way for the app to calculate the remaining time. I hate this because it would be nice to be able to go do things knowing I have X number of hours before my meat is done.
One final complaint is the range. I have to keep the “charger” within 10 feet of the probes or I am constantly losing connection. This seems to be limited to probe #3.
The photo is some Prime Rib my son cooked with the probes.
Amazon Customer –
It suggests preheat temperature, tells you when to flip the meat and when to remove it to rest. the connectivity for Bluetooth and WiFi are phenomenal. App shows the amount of charge remaining so you don’t get stuck in the middle of a cook with a dead battery. Could not be happier with this product.