HomeHome & GardenPatio, Lawn & GardenOutdoor CookingSmokersMaverick Industries ET-73 Maverick RediChek Remote Wireless Smoker Thermometer |
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
92 of 93 found the following review helpful:
 Decent Product Sep 16, 2004
By J. Risch
I am an avid griller, BBQ'er and Smoker (year rounder, competitions, 15 pound meats etc...). I purchased this product after enjoying using the Williams/Sonoma remote probe temperature gage for quite some time. I now believe that a remote temperature gage is a must.
This particular product works as advertised and I am happy with it. I would describe it as average, nothing special. It seems to work well, has a decent transmitting distance (although I hear there was a bad batch out there that were very weak). The digits are large and easily readable in a glance. The alarm couldn't be louder. The back light is bright. And the probes seem high quality that will last a while.
However, it has a few annoying traits: 1) The on/off switch on the Transmitter is located behind the battery door which means you have to take off the battery door to access it, not a huge problem as the door access screw only takes a quick half turn with a penny or fingernail. 2) Setting the Food and Smoker alert levels is also an annoying as the device only has one "adjust" button that scrolls up one degree at a time. This means that if you currently have a 180 degree setting (beef well done) and wish to change it to 140 degrees (beef rare) you must scroll the digits past the max setting 370 degrees (who cooks anything to this temperature?) around to the minimum setting, and if you miss it or forget to push enter you have to go all the way around again. It reminds me of the early digital alarm clock radios where if you passed 7 AM wake up time you had to go all the way past 7 PM to get back to 7 AM. The feature can be VERY annoying, especially since most other remote probes have both and UP and DOWN buttons, but they don't have the smoker temperature probe that this one does.
Overall I'd buy another one but I wouldn't pay too much for it.
51 of 52 found the following review helpful:
 Great device for Smokers; Grillers and other Cooks Oct 24, 2004
By Hot Smoker
This is a must for serious and amatuer BBQers and cooks. This device not only measures the meat temperature, but most importantly the cooking temperature; it also has a timer. I've been using this with my Bradley Smoker for two months now, and have been receiving excellent results. I am satified with the transmission distance. Like with most radio devices, reception depend on what the signal has to travel through to get to the receiver. Also, as for myself, if I place the receiver too near my computer, it will not receive a signal.
Comments: As mentions in another post, setting the meat, and smoker maximum and minimum temperatures can get annoying, but you don't have to select one diget at a time. Holding the button down, you quickly scroll to the temperature you want. The alarm needs to be louder; but it is adequate if you are near the receiver. For smokers, whose cooking time may take twelve hours or more, battery life may be a problem. If there is a battery failure you need to reset the system, after installing fresh ones. Maverick customer support is excellent. My meat probe failed and they sent me one out immediately.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars, because I feel the documentation that accompany the ET-73 could better, there should be up down buttons to adjust temperature settings, and a belt clip should be included.
27 of 28 found the following review helpful:
So far so good Jul 12, 2005
By J. Elizondo
Although it is still quite new (I've used it on four 15-hour smokes) it works great for smoking.
I'd have to say that it looks/feels more like a gadget than a robust measuring instrument but so far it has worked fine.
Its design can be improved though. The transmitter on/off switch is ver difficult to reach; every time you want to turn the thing on or off you have to remove the stand and then open the battery compartment to access the switch, whereas in the receiver, the on/off switch is easily accessible on the back of the unit.
You cannot easily change the alarms to a lower temperature; you can only increase the setting, so to change to a lower temperature you have to cicle past the topmost temp and start from the bottom.
As far as reception range goes it does not go too far if walls are in the way.
You have to handle with care the probes' braided wires, specially were they exit the smoker.
Tip: I place a baby monitor transmiter right next to the thermometer receiver and the baby monitor receiver close to where I am; that way I can always hear the Hi/low temp alarms thru the monitor. Warning: you should never leave a fired-up grill unatended and be very carefull when leaving a smoker unaunattended.
The competing thermometer (from Poulder) has received very bad reviews here in Amazon. Let's see how this one turns out as time goes by. If you do not hear from me on a follow-up review, it means the gizmo is still working fine.
18 of 19 found the following review helpful:
Works fine for me Jan 02, 2006
By K. Kojima
I cannot comment yet on the probe issue as the other reviewer wrote. I have done 4 smokes with it over the past 2 weeks, and it works fine so far. I use the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker, a.k.a. the Weber "Bullet".
I really like not having to keep going out and checking the temps on the cooker. I can be elsewhere (like inside watching the game), watch the monitor and relax.
The temperature seems to correlate well with other thermometers I have. I stopped using my instant read thermometer.
The alarm function works well. You can set temp alarms for the cooker and the meat, both minimums and maximums. If the temp goes outside of the range, then it will ping you. Since my cooker runs cooler, I set my lower alarm temp just a bit lower than my desired cook temperature. So if it really does lose temperature, then the thing pings me. This avoids getting intermittent pings when the temp hovers right at the lower end. It also has a timer, which is helpful.
Four things I would change if I could:
1. The cable lengths are OK, but they could be longer. For my cooker, I usually have a little side table beside it. But some people might find the cables just a bit too short.
2. The so-called "belt clip" on the receiver is weak. It fell off my belt 2-3 times, so now I don't clip it on.
3. The box in which the thermometer comes isn't so great for repackaging. If you don't use the box again, this isn't a worry. If I was designing it, I would not make everything so compact. Maybe that's why the first reviewer's probe went bad, trying to cram everything back in the box.
4. The manual is only OK. I am pretty tech savvy, so it wasn't too much of a problem to figure out what it was trying to explain. But some might find it lacking.
But I'd recommend purchasing it, especially if you are more than just a novice smoker.
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 Don't Smoke Brisket Slow & Low Without It Oct 11, 2005
By G. Gunderson
"Fulmn8"
The wireless remote double sensor works great
For a 12-14 hour barbecue the RediChek is just the tool for the job. Four alarms are set, Smoking chamber too high, too low, food has reached temperature and time has elapsed.
It has made a big difference in the quality of my BBQ and it's saved me countless trips outside to check on temperature and progress.
See all 268 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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