Anyone got a Meater+ meat thermometer?

[UTH]

One of these: https://store-uk.meater.com/products/meater-plus

My Mrs got me one for Birthday, love it, already nailed 3 amazing meals with it.

But, I'm wondering if I'm being dumb. It says that the wireless range is up to 50m (that's the whole advantage of the plus model apparently), yet when my phone is in the living room with me, which is at most 10m from the oven, it often loses its connection......but will then get it back shortly after without me moving.

Surely with a 50m range this shouldn't be happening? Have I set it up wrong? Or is it just unreliable?

[AlvinSultana]

I have one and they are pretty good.

I also find that wireless range is dependent on you not putting it inside a very well insulated box. Like an oven.

[UTH]

AlvinSultana said:

I have one and they are pretty good.

I also find that wireless range is dependent on you not putting it inside a very well insulated box. Like an oven.

So pretty much one of the only things it's designed for? lol

[benji90]

I dont have one and dont know anything about them but just one question - is the bluetooth repeater inside the wooden case? In which case I would suspect it depends where you put that?

[UTH]

benji90 said:

I dont have one and dont know anything about them but just one question - is the bluetooth repeater inside the wooden case? In which case I would suspect it depends where you put that?

I think it might be, but most of the time the wooden case is right next to the oven. The other day I did bring the case with me into the living room, but again it lost connection a few times.

Either way, all of this is going on within 10m of the oven so it should all be working fine. Maybe it is the fact the oven is just too insulated.
Interesting to see how well it works in the BBQ.

[AlvinSultana]

UTH said:

So pretty much one of the only things it's designed for? lol

No its not that bad !

But you can forget about 50m. Or even the other end of the house.

Works well enough as long as you are in the same room.

[UTH]

AlvinSultana said:

UTH said:

So pretty much one of the only things it's designed for? lol

No its not that bad !

But you can forget about 50m. Or even the other end of the house.

Works well enough as long as you are in the same room.

Yeah I've had no issue when we're all in the kitchen, but moving to the living room it drops in and out. It's not the end of the world, as obviously we have a good idea how long is left so can always just go nearer the oven for it to connect and keep an eye on it, just not ideal as it claims 50m!
But like I said above, maybe in the summer in the garden and using the BBQ it'll be more impressive. Although that said I'm not usually cooking things on the BBQ that I need a thermometer for in the same way as a sunday roast etc.

[JatHanspal]

UTH said:

Yeah I've had no issue when we're all in the kitchen, but moving to the living room it drops in and out. It's not the end of the world, as obviously we have a good idea how long is left so can always just go nearer the oven for it to connect and keep an eye on it, just not ideal as it claims 50m!
But like I said above, maybe in the summer in the garden and using the BBQ it'll be more impressive. Although that said I'm not usually cooking things on the BBQ that I need a thermometer for in the same way as a sunday roast etc.

I picked one up on Amazon early black Friday deal. Was sold by the idea of the 50M range. In reality, its doesn't do more than the room/kitchen. Given I keep the holder near the oven (clearly not in side it) it cannot be that the oven is blocking the range.

I am going to see how it works by linking to my iPad instead, leaving that near the cooker, then using the cloud service to access it via my phone so I can roam around/leave the house etc.

That said, aside the the apparent range issue, it does what it says on the box. Only used it twice so far, but have been very happy with it.

[UTH]

JatHanspal said:

UTH said:

Yeah I've had no issue when we're all in the kitchen, but moving to the living room it drops in and out. It's not the end of the world, as obviously we have a good idea how long is left so can always just go nearer the oven for it to connect and keep an eye on it, just not ideal as it claims 50m!
But like I said above, maybe in the summer in the garden and using the BBQ it'll be more impressive. Although that said I'm not usually cooking things on the BBQ that I need a thermometer for in the same way as a sunday roast etc.

I picked one up on Amazon early black Friday deal. Was sold by the idea of the 50M range. In reality, its doesn't do more than the room/kitchen. Given I keep the holder near the oven (clearly not in side it) it cannot be that the oven is blocking the range.

I am going to see how it works by linking to my iPad instead, leaving that near the cooker, then using the cloud service to access it via my phone so I can roam around/leave the house etc.

That said, aside the the apparent range issue, it does what it says on the box. Only used it twice so far, but have been very happy with it.

Let me know how you get on with the ipad idea, as I have read about that being an option. I do have a very old Ipad I could use for this reason I guess.

[Murph7355]

UTH said:

benji90 said:

I dont have one and dont know anything about them but just one question - is the bluetooth repeater inside the wooden case? In which case I would suspect it depends where you put that?

I think it might be, but most of the time the wooden case is right next to the oven. The other day I did bring the case with me into the living room, but again it lost connection a few times.

Either way, all of this is going on within 10m of the oven so it should all be working fine. Maybe it is the fact the oven is just too insulated.
Interesting to see how well it works in the BBQ.

Rather than take the case with you, have you tried putting it between you and the thermometer?

I'm surprised it gets 10m through an oven and the inside of a typical house with bluetooth.

Considered getting one myself last year but was concerned about the price and range, and mostly about the thickness of the probe. Ended up with an ETI ChefAlarm with a thin probe. It's a great piece of kit and really does make cooking a piece of meat an easy task.

[David A]

Does the plus model not connect probe to box with Bluetooth then the box joins your wifi network? Hence you get coverage anywhere in your wifi area?

[UTH]

David A said:

Does the plus model not connect probe to box with Bluetooth then the box joins your wifi network? Hence you get coverage anywhere in your wifi area?

That's what I thought would happen, but it doesn't seem to. I think the only way to make that happen is like suggested above, you leave another smart device near the probe to connect via bluetooth, then THAT device can connect to your phone through the wifi.
So you need another phone/tablet to act as a middle man!

[David A]

UTH said:

David A said:

Does the plus model not connect probe to box with Bluetooth then the box joins your wifi network? Hence you get coverage anywhere in your wifi area?

That's what I thought would happen, but it doesn't seem to. I think the only way to make that happen is like suggested above, you leave another smart device near the probe to connect via bluetooth, then THAT device can connect to your phone through the wifi.
So you need another phone/tablet to act as a middle man!

Well that’s a bit carp. I’ll ask on one off the fb bbq groups where meater post for clarity.

[UTH]

David A said:

UTH said:

David A said:

Does the plus model not connect probe to box with Bluetooth then the box joins your wifi network? Hence you get coverage anywhere in your wifi area?

That's what I thought would happen, but it doesn't seem to. I think the only way to make that happen is like suggested above, you leave another smart device near the probe to connect via bluetooth, then THAT device can connect to your phone through the wifi.
So you need another phone/tablet to act as a middle man!

Well that’s a bit carp. I’ll ask on one off the fb bbq groups where meater post for clarity.

Great, do let us know if you find anything out.
I think the problem is that the Meater thing itself doesn't connect to wifi, so it relies on a good bluetooth connection to something?

[David A]

Well I never. It’s certainly not how I read the info but seems you are correct. Here is one answer so far

I bought the plus for this reason too, however! I need to have the prob in the meat/bbq then the charging pod as close to the bbq as possible, then a tablet connected to it close by, then I can connect to my app on my phone where ever I am via cloud

[UTH]

David A said:

Well I never. It’s certainly not how I read the info but seems you are correct. Here is one answer so far

I bought the plus for this reason too, however! I need to have the prob in the meat/bbq then the charging pod as close to the bbq as possible, then a tablet connected to it close by, then I can connect to my app on my phone where ever I am via cloud

Hmmmm yeah there we go, sounds about right from what I'd found out as well.
A bit of a faff and not quite what we 'bought into' but I guess if it does the job no real harm done.
I'm sure I've got some old Iphone hanging around somewhere that I could use just for this purpose.

[David A]

And the official response on the fb group :

Hi David, I work for MEATER. Yes, the probe connects to the charging unit via Bluetooth, with the charging unit on the Plus having a Bluetooth repeater in it which communicates with the app. To access wifi, you are right, you will need a spare smart phone or tablet as you describe, but this will increase your devices range to as far as your wifi extends. This is especially useful if you have obstacles such as walls, windows disrupting your signal, or if you have a thicker cooking vessel such as a kettle bbq. I hope this helps.

[UTH]

David A said:

And the official response on the fb group :

Hi David, I work for MEATER. Yes, the probe connects to the charging unit via Bluetooth, with the charging unit on the Plus having a Bluetooth repeater in it which communicates with the app. To access wifi, you are right, you will need a spare smart phone or tablet as you describe, but this will increase your devices range to as far as your wifi extends. This is especially useful if you have obstacles such as walls, windows disrupting your signal, or if you have a thicker cooking vessel such as a kettle bbq. I hope this helps.

Ok great, good to know that's the official response, makes sense. Thanks mate.

[Scantily]

David A said:

And the official response on the fb group :

Hi David, I work for MEATER. Yes, the probe connects to the charging unit via Bluetooth, with the charging unit on the Plus having a Bluetooth repeater in it which communicates with the app. To access wifi, you are right, you will need a spare smart phone or tablet as you describe, but this will increase your devices range to as far as your wifi extends. This is especially useful if you have obstacles such as walls, windows disrupting your signal, or if you have a thicker cooking vessel such as a kettle bbq. I hope this helps.

That’s quite disappointing, unless there’s a decent bit of power then Bluetooth range is generally very poor. I’ve been using a bbq guru cyberq WiFi for the past few years, and using the WiFi functionality I can monitor and control the bbq from the pub. The cyberq WiFi is discontinued now, and this seems to be the replacement - https://bbqguru.com/info/UltraQ

Not cheap, but if you want a complete temperature monitoring & control system then this is what you need.

[randlemarcus]

Does this still apply to the Meater block - the website is slightly confusing, as it seems to suggest the WiFi is just a range extender, then other bits talk about the Meater Cloud. Good product, dreadful marketers.