BARDSLJR Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 So, I have a 32" KK and my BBQ Guru has lost its meat temp probe. Not life-shaking, but I wonder what other members' experience with temp/smoke controllers like BBQ Guru is, whether there are some that are more reliable than others, have better bluetooth connectivity, etc. Simply put, if you had to replace a BBQ Guru, what would you go with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheesehead_Griller Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 Fireboard 2 Drive or Pro. Check those out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C6Bill Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 I have a FlameBoss but if I had known about Fireboard I would have bought one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 Cheesehead nailed it. Fireboard 2 drive. And the bonus is that you can still use the fan you have with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Chang Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 (edited) i have a fireboard 2 pro. i chose this mainly for the large easy to read screen and the use of an external fans with guru ports. but for probes, i prefer thermoworks probes, they are much better quality than fireboard. avoid fireboard accessories. mostly garbage. Edited March 10, 2022 by David Chang 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BARDSLJR Posted March 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 Okay, just to verify: the BBQ Guru fan and connecting cable are compatible for use with the Fireboard 2 Pro? BTW, I agree with David about the Thermoworks products- in my experience, very high quality. I have given away the Thermoworks pen probe so much that I've accidently sent friends/family doubles! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 10 hours ago, BARDSLJR said: my BBQ Guru has lost its meat temp probe A bit confused (comes with old age! 😄), did you misplace the actual temperature probe/wire (or it died) or did the meat temperature read-out on the actual Guru quit working? From the discussion, I'm guessing the latter, otherwise why look for a complete replacement and not just buy another probe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 (edited) BARDSLJR...the power cord on the fan plugs directly into the Fireboard. I've never had a probe failure or problem with Fireboard probes. I had the regular Fireboard for around 6 years and just recently bought the Fireboard 2. I bent the probes so they'd fit through the port on the Komodo...just like I did with the first ones. Works like a charm. I'm pretty sure the Fireboard 2 pro and the Fireboard 2 have the same screen. I can make it where it displays the pit temp full screen. Edited March 10, 2022 by Poochie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BARDSLJR Posted March 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 Cool, this is very promising. BTW, will be down there in your neck of the woods for the Festivale Internationale later in April. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BARDSLJR Posted March 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 Tony B: what happened is that in the BBQ Guru the probe connects into the control unit through a sleeve, and that sleeve came loose and is rattling around inside the chassis of the control unit- so the meat probe can't connect. Other than that, my issues with BBQ Guru are minor: the blue-tooth connectivity could be be stronger and have better range; and occasionally I can't get the temp setting to update when I change it- some buggy software issues like that. But overall, I think the BBQ Guru is a good investment, and a real god-send when you are doing long cooks like brisket or shoulder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 37 minutes ago, BARDSLJR said: Cool, this is very promising. BTW, will be down there in your neck of the woods for the Festivale Internationale later in April. That's cool. Not sure if our vacation starts that week or not. I'll have to double check. How far away are you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BARDSLJR Posted March 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 I'm in Denver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 Have you considered contacting the guru people for a possible repair?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffshoaf Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 I have both the bbq guru cyber-q and the thermoworks signals with the bellows fan and battery pack. I'm not sure either does Bluetooth since I'm using both with WiFi. While the cyber-q works, it irritates me - the app is cloud based, notifications are via text or email instead of local to my phone, setting it up manually is painful, and it's prone to forget it's settings if not used for a while. The signals has a much better user interface, both in the app and on the unit itself, I can add as many alerts/alarms as I want, and I like the app much better than the cloud-only cyber-q. The control unit can be used without the fan to monitor temps when not using the fan and since it has rechargeable batteries built in, no external power is needed when not using the fan. With the external battery pack, you can use the fan without AC as well. If you're using it with multiple cookers, the various fan adapters are less expensive than the bbq guru adapters. I believe the signals has a higher water resistance setting than the bbq guru units as well. Note that the bellows fan is 46 cfm so it moves way too much air for the KKs so the optional $3 damper is a requirement unless you're using it on a large very high air flow cooker. I've had the bbq guru much longer (years) than the thermoworks (months) but so far I like the thermoworks much better. The only thing I like better on the guru is lid open detection; the signals doesn't have this so the fan will ramp way up when you open the KK lid. I also have the Meater Block but it doesn't have an option to control the temp so it doesn't fit into this discussion. It has its own set of pros and cons but I really like it for grilling (instead of smoking) since the completely wireless design makes flipping stuff much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 What adapter do you use for the billows fan?Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnymnemonic Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 (edited) Based on feedback from this forum I bought my first controller to use with my KK. I had been green egging for years without one. I bought the Thermoworks Billows with the "universal" mounting kit. Fits perfectly and tightly in the port of the KK. I use it with the smoke X2. Make sure to get the billows damper for $2.99. They pump a lot of air and the damper helps limit the intake for low temp cooks. Anyway IMO it's stupid easy to use, built like a tank. I've cooked with it something like 5 times now. Great product, no complaints. Edited March 10, 2022 by johnnymnemonic accuracy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted March 10, 2022 Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 One of the things you can do with the Fireboard is check your temperatures when you're 100 miles away. Useless? Not really. It's more likely you'll be at a store or visiting and not only can you check pit and meat temps, you can tell it to go from 230 to 250 degrees remotely. Naturally this only works if you have a fan running. Setup is so easy it should be against the law. You input your wifi password and that's it. I also had the Cyber Q and and figured it was forged in Hell. Like jeffshoaf I had a horrible time getting it to send notifications if I was over 50 feet from it. They all have their pros and cons, but I've yet to have any trouble with Fireboard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swoff1 Posted March 11, 2022 Report Share Posted March 11, 2022 I started my bbq adventures with BBQ guru. .I upgrade to there lastest Ultra Q and had issues . Maybe it was just a bad day, but the customer service Was not good for me. I gave my unit to a friend and Invested in Fireboard. I have the Fireboard 2 and the Pro. It does what its supposed to do ALL the time. . I did have a problem with my sprinkler system dumping water on one for about and hour and it stopped working, So its not water proof. A few sprinkles are fine. There are some other good ones out there , but you wont go wrong with these.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffshoaf Posted March 11, 2022 Report Share Posted March 11, 2022 3 hours ago, 5698k said: What adapter do you use for the billows fan? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk https://www.thermoworks.com/billows-mounting-kit/ To fit the guru port on a KK, you need the "universal" mounting kit @$8.99. I have an older kk that doesn't have the cold smoker port, so I use billows without an adapter and attach it to my old single dial damper assembly when the cold smoker is used in the guru port. I removed the dial and used duct tape to seal the other two holes in the damper plate. There's a post here on the forums with pics. I also have the 1-1/2" threaded adapter to use with my new gravity feed smoker. BBQ Guru wants $38 + shipping for a guru to 1-1/2" adapter while the bellows mount was just $13 + shipping ($18 total). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dono Posted March 11, 2022 Report Share Posted March 11, 2022 3 hours ago, johnnymnemonic said: Based on feedback from this forum I bought my first controller to use with my KK. I had been green egging for years without one. I bought the Thermoworks Billows with the "universal" mounting kit. Fits perfectly and tightly in the port of the KK. I use it with the smoke X2. Make sure to get the billows damper for $2.99. They pump a lot of air and the damper helps limit the intake for low temp cooks. Anyway IMO it's stupid easy to use, built like a tank. I've cooked with it something like 5 times now. Great product, no complaints. Ditto @johnnymnemonic except I have the Signals. I am very happy with both of them. I SECOND the damper. A must have! And no complaints here either. I am a Thermoworks fan…..great products all around. They had some app issues in the beginning, but they fixed them a while ago. I might add, great customer service and support as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
