A Guide to Selecting a Wireless Meat Thermometer
Cooking seems pretty straightforward: you just follow the cooking instructions in a recipe, including cooking time, and everything should go all right. But, there are more challenging methods of preparing food, such as grilling, smoking, rotisserie, or sous vide, where the internal temperature of the meat is very important for the right results. It’s not only a question of whether the food will be tasty, but also of food safety, where you have to reach the right temperature to kill any bacteria in the food. Also, once the meat reaches the desired temperature, it may have to undergo a “resting time” to cook through and through. For these reasons, a meat thermometer is a great addition to your kitchen. And a wireless meat thermometer can give you helpful reminders about how your food is progressing while cooking.
We’ll study some of the wireless meat thermometers available on the market nowadays. Some use a receiver that displays the temperature of your food, and the ambient temperature inside your oven or grill. Others send the information to your smartphone via an app. You’ll receive notifications when the food is ready. And some can be hooked up to several probes at once, so you can monitor the cooking of many pieces of meat.
Types of Wireless Meat Thermometers
Looking at the Best Reviews Guide list of kids’ wireless meat thermometers, you’ll notice that they fall into two main categories:
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Without phone alerts: This type of thermometer consists of a probe that you insert into the meat and into a transmitter. The transmitter then sends temperature information to a separate receiver unit. The ThermoPro TP27 Long-Range Wireless Meat Thermometer is an example of such a unit. The transmitter has an amazing range of 500 feet. You can be grilling outdoors, and keep track of the temperature indoors! It has 4 different colored probes so that you can monitor the progress of 4 different types of meat when grilling them.
.ThermoPro TP27 Long-Range Wireless Meat Thermometer
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With push notifications to your phone: There are also wireless meat thermometers that use Bluetooth and WiFi. These also subdivide between probes that are totally wireless, and those that have a cable between the probe and a thermometer unit, but sends the information wirelessly to your phone.
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Totally wireless: The Meater Plus Smart Meat Thermometer is an example of a totally wireless meat thermometer. You insert the probe into a piece of meat that you’re cooking, and it will send the temperature information to a block that is a Bluetooth repeater. The repeater will then send the information directly to your phone, displaying the present temperature, the target temperature, the ambient temperature, and the time left remaining to cook. You have to install an app on your phone to communicate with the repeater unit.
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Meater Plus Smart Meat Thermometer
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With a wired probe: There are also wireless meat thermometers where the probe is inserted into a piece of meat, and a wire leads from the probe into a transmitter unit. The transmitter unit then sends the temperature and cooking information to your phone or to a receiver. An example is the BFour Bluetooth Wireless Meat Thermometer.
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BFour Bluetooth Wireless Meat Thermometer
There is also the Weber iGrill 2 Thermometer unit, which has a very long, 4-foot cable, which allows you to keep the transmitter unit far away from the heat source where you are cooking.
Weber iGrill 2 Thermometer
What reviewers say
We went over some customers’ impressions of the wireless meat thermometer that they bought:
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Can monitor food anywhere: Customers who bought the Meater Plus said that they were pleased with the fact that cooking progress can be tracked anywhere in your house where you still have WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity. You aren’t limited to staying in the kitchen to supervise the cooking!
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Benefit of a purely wireless probe: As we said, some wireless thermometers have a wire running from the probe to a transmitter unit. Customers noted that you can’t use such a probe in a rotisserie, because the meat keeps turning around! So, the purely wireless probe will prove to be more versatile. However, if you wrap your meat in aluminum foil, it may interfere with the probe’s ability to communicate with the receiver unit. You’ll have to make sure that the probe isn’t covered with foil.
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Waterproof and dishwasher-safe: Take note of whether these thermometers can be washed or immersed in water. For example, the ThermoPro TP826 has an IPX4 waterproof rating, which means that it’s safe from splashes of water. But it’s not waterproof, so don’t immerse the device in water! On the other hand, the probes on the Meater Plus are dishwasher-safe.
Important Features
Here are some features that are worth looking for when selecting a wireless meat thermometer:
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Range of distance: We mentioned before that wireless thermometers send the information from the probe to a receiver or to your smartphone. But they differ greatly in how far they can be from your phone. They all use radio frequency to send the information, or Bluetooth or WiFi technology, so physical barriers are not usually a problem. The MeatStick X Set has a range when outdoors of 260 feet, and a range of 100 feet when used inside your house. The ThermoPro TP826 Wireless Meat Thermometer has the most impressive range of any thermometer we reviewed, at 500 feet!
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Temperature range: These thermometers will have a defined temperature range of their minimal and maximal temperatures. For example, the Weber iGrill Thermometer can measure temperatures from -22 ℉ to 572 ℉, and the probes are heat-resistant to as much as 716 ℉. Also, take note of the response time of the various thermometers, as well as their accuracy. Some customers were surprised to see a discrepancy between the different thermometers, with the purely wireless Meater Plus coming out more accurate!
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Interactive app: The thermometers that use an interactive app will inform you of the correct temperature for each type of food. Typical temperatures that experts recommend are: Chicken should be heated to 165 ℉, ground beef to 160 ℉, and steak to 145 ℉. For example, on the MeatStick X Set, you can select the type of meat that you’re cooking, and it will display the target internal and ambient temperature.
MeatStick X Set with its smartphone app
Final Verdict
We went through some of the best wireless meat thermometers. Although sometimes “smart” devices that you control with your smartphone may seem overkill, these wireless thermometers are actually quite convenient, since they help you monitor the progress of your food without having to check every so often. They can send you push notifications and an audible alarm if you wish. They usually have an LED display, so that you can see the temperature both during the day and at night. Look over the Best Reviews Guide list of wireless meat thermometers. They can ensure perfect cooking results every time!
